Toppers’ Average Unit Volume Surpasses the $1,000,000 Mark

Toppers Pizza, the ever-evolving pizza delivery franchise with 69 corporate and franchise-owned locations in 12 states, has reached a milestone all franchise brands hope to achieve: surpassing an average unit volume (AUV) of $1,000,000. The brand’s AUV for the fiscal year of 2020 was over $$1,010,000 for stores open three years or more.*

“The restaurant industry is a top-line environment with a sizable percentage of your costs fixed by third parties — rents, utilities, — and increasing top line sales allows for more dollars to flow through to the bottom line,” said Kendall Richmond, Toppers’ chief financial officer. “Overall, Toppers has greater top-line revenues compared to other concepts with similar investment requirements.”

Richmond points to a few factors as to why Toppers has seen an increase in top-line sales over the past year while other restaurants shuttered stores or saw major sales losses. For one, the COVID-19 pandemic created an increased demand for off-premise service in the quick-service pizza segment, and Toppers’ commitment to providing convenience to customers through a customized POS and online ordering platform created a strong infrastructure that allowed the brand to adapt quickly and thrive.

“Concepts that had self-performed delivery and a great technology stack have outperformed those that have just entered the arena,” Richmond said. “Self-performed delivery is tough, and we are already one of the experts in this arena and have a huge lead over other brands.”

Toppers’ proprietary e-commerce platform allows franchisees to leverage a first-party delivery system, available through each owner’s POS system. This means franchisees save a significant amount of money on the notoriously expensive fees associated with the usual third-party delivery providers. The direct delivery platform also ensures Toppers franchise owners can exhibit more quality control and communication with the customer. 

In addition, Richmond says the actual technology behind the brand’s proprietary POS and online ordering platform is some of the best in the industry. “We doubled down and invested more resources into technology by hiring more in-house developers, which allows us to quickly pivot as conditions change.,” he said. 

The largest department on Toppers’ robust corporate team is the IT and technology department. With eight developers on staff, the team’s size allows it to quickly adjust to all of the ever-changing wants and needs of customers as technology continues to evolve within the pizza category. For example, Toppers was the first in the segment to roll our curbside delivery during the pandemic.

“These investments made us more user-friendly for our customers and made our restaurants more efficient for our team members,” said Richmond. “The efficiency piece is huge — when a lot of concepts were reducing menus, for example, we expanded ours throughout the year and are still servicing our guests faster than ever. Without our POS system, we could not have been able to accomplish this.”

With steadily rising AUVs and consumer behavior starting to shift to a healthy mix of off-premise and on-premise dining, Richmond says it’s no wonder the level of franchisee inquiries Toppers is receiving is as high as it’s been in five years. 

“It is an exciting time, and it shows people recognize the well-positioned value of our type of concept as more and more entrepreneurs look to start their own business and work for themselves,” CEO Scott Gittrich said. “Now, Toppers is continuing to look for qualified entrepreneurs in key growth markets across the country who are eager to utilize our proven systems and grow with the brand.” 

The investment range for a Toppers Pizza franchise is $314,075 to $530,000, with the initial fees coming in at $10,000 to $30,000. For more information on franchising with Toppers Pizza, visit: https://www.toppers.com/franchise/.

*The financial performance set forth is for the one year (52 weeks) commencing on December 30, 2019, to December 27, 2020 (364) days, and is for the 56 restaurants open and continuously operating for a minimum of five full fiscal years. Of the 56 restaurants, 22 met or exceeded the average gross sales, as defined in our Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).  Please refer to our 2021 FDD for additional information. Minnesota Franchise Registration No. F-4129. This information is not intended as an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy a franchise. It is for informational purposes only. Offer is made only by prospectus.