Founder and CEO Scott Gittrich and VP of Human Resources Robin Gittrich will start the tour on March 14th, with the goal of collaborating with all Toppers team members, listening to feedback, finding ways to improve and celebrating the pizza industry as a whole.
Toppers Pizza, the ever-evolving pizza delivery brand, recently announced that two members of its executive team will be embarking on a nationwide road trip with the goal of visiting 70 Toppers restaurants in 70 days. Founder and CEO Scott Gittrich and VP of Human Resources Robin Gittrich will start the tour in Whitewater, Wisconsin on March 14th.
“I spend time in restaurants every few weeks, but I’m usually just there for a workday,” said Scott. “The longest trip I’ve done touring stores is just a few days, so this is a monumental event. Robin and I run marathons — we ran three marathons in three months — so we like to set a big goal and then do it big and have fun.”
Throughout the tour, Scott says the team will be visiting stores, hosting town halls with staff and meeting with franchise owners. “We plan to spend two to four hours in each store, and in some cases host town halls where all members of the team in that market will participate in a listening session,” he said. “We’ll have times where we’re helping make pizzas or rolling dough. We’ll also do some site visits with expanding franchisees and meet with some prospective franchisees along the way. We may also have the opportunity to go with franchisees to some community events they have planned.”
Overall, Scott says the primary goal of the road trip is to celebrate all Toppers team members and highlight the differentiators that have made the brand thrive despite the challenges of the past few years. “We want to listen to everything team members have to say, make Toppers an even better place to work, and do an even better job at serving our customers,” he said.
The road trip will start and end in Wisconsin, followed by:
- Two weeks in Michigan & Minnesota.
- South Dakota to Texas, via Nebraska and Kansas during week four,
- The Carolinas and Virginia in week five before heading back to the Midwest.
- During weeks six, seven and eight, the team will visit Ohio, Indiana and Michigan
- The eastside of Wisconsin in weeks nine and ten, including Kenosha, Green Bay and Milwaukee.
- Last, but not least, they will end the trip visiting stores in Madison and Whitewater to round out the visits back in Wisconsin.
“I had this tipping point where I was reading franchisee feedback saying how hard and challenging it’s been throughout the pandemic,” said Scott. “I decided we just needed to take action and spend time in person at our stores all across the country.”
Scott says the Toppers team also plans on mixing in some special experiences, like meeting with other CEOs of restaurant concepts. “We are looking forward to visiting restaurants and meeting their teams and then bringing them to Toppers locations to create some cross-collaboration,” he said. “We want to celebrate the pizza industry. We’ll hit some hole-in-the-wall places and some iconic brands as well. We are also going to meet with some vendors — we plan on visiting a dairy farm in Wisconsin, for example.”
Overall, Scott says the primary goal of the road trip is to celebrate all Toppers team members and highlight the differentiators that have made the brand thrive despite the challenges of the past few years. “We want to listen to everything team members have to say, make Toppers an even better place to work, and do an even better job at serving our customers,” he said.
The entire journey will be documented through video and Scott says the team is open to making this roadtrip a regular event.
“We expect this to have a major impact on the cultural connection between headquarters, the executive team, franchise owners, restaurants and team members,” said Scott. “We’re already strong in that regard, but we’ve always believed that we are one great team, and that unification is what makes Toppers a special place for us and for our customers. We’re a small company that beats some of the biggest companies in the world when it comes to our support team size, market comparisons, and part of how we do it is by staying committed to each other and finding new ways to connect.”
Founded in 1991 as an alternative to big box pizza, Toppers is built on a bold attitude with the product to back it up. Headquartered in Whitewater, Wisconsin, 70+ Toppers locations are on a mission to redefine what customers should expect from QSR pizza. The menu features unique flavors, bold recipes, crave-worthy Topperstix, signature wings, specialty desserts and a growing selection of offerings for diverse lifestyles. By consistently giving customers what they want, Toppers has forged an untapped space in the pizza industry and is thriving in a digital first post-pandemic world. World class technology ranking among the top QSR pizza concepts, consistent menu innovation, a powerfully focused digital media strategy, and Gen Z-centric social media channels drive 75%+ of sales online for the brand. With franchisees achieving a $1,100,000+ average unit volume across the entire system and 14 consecutive quarters of same store sales increases, Toppers Pizza is primed for major growth and is looking for like-minded franchisees to join its system. For more information, visit https://www.toppers.com/franchise and follow the brand on Facebook and Instagram.
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