A Day in the Life of Toppers Pizza Franchisee Jon P. Crowe

Just over five years ago, Jon P. Crowe opened his first Toppers Pizza* location in Lincoln, Nebraska with his father Jon S. Crowe. And in the past five years, no two days have ever been the same. While franchising is often perceived to be an nine to five routine, with the same daily tasks repeated over and over, this is not the case. The franchisor provides structure and a business model, but franchisees are left to fill in the rest. Fine-tuning processes, hiring and managing employees--these are just some of the daily tasks for a franchisee.

“The franchising relationship is all about communication with corporate and knowing they are here to help us,” explained Jon P. “We are both working towards the same goal of making Toppers a bigger, better and stronger company. When we have input for corporate, we deliver it to them to improve processes. They do the same for franchisees.”

Since opening their first location in Lincoln, Nebraska in February of 2012, Jon P. and his father have fine-tuned processes to be able to grow throughout the state. The father-son duo have now expanded their multi-unit empire to three Toppers Pizza locations and were named Franchisee of the Year throughout the entire Toppers system in 2014. Reflecting on the past five successful years, Jon P. elaborated on what it takes each day to become one of the system’s top franchisees.

“I typically spend most of my days working with the general managers, assistant managers or shift leaders making sure we are living up to the service, cleanliness, and quality standards,” said Jon P. “With multiple stores, I try to spend 8-10 hours at each location per week, accumulating to about 30 hours between the stores. I’ve found meeting with the team on a daily or weekly basis allows me to really understand what is going on at each location even when I am not able to be there.”

Jon P. clarifies that although he is in an owner position, he still gets his hands dirty on a usual basis.

“I jump in where I am needed. I love helping out stretching dough and getting the pizza prepped for the day,” said Jon P. “If we have a big task at hand, like folding hundreds of pizza boxes, I try to turn it into a competition to make the task feel less daunting. One of my favorite things about Toppers, and one of the reasons I joined the brand from the beginning, is that it’s a fun environment to be in. There are different crews at each store, but it seems that employees are always jumping around and having fun on the job, no matter which location.”

Yet, in the midst of a business where every day is unpredictable, Jon P. finds consistency in his daily schedule with his father.

“I have a phone call every day with my dad at 10 a.m. to talk about the day before, how things went and what is on deck for that day,” said Jon P. “We also go to lunch every Thursday to catch up on the week and prepare for the weekend ahead.”

Even with a franchise model when there is structure in place, things change on a day to day basis. For franchisees like Jon P., who puts everything into his business in order to grow and sharpen his skills, sitting back and watching the day go by is not exactly an option. But then again, what fun is that?