A couple weeks ago I said I was pissed off that the big pizza chains are selling cheese of questionable character (and I’m still pissed off about it).
In that article I said “We started Toppers 25 years ago with a simple idea: Killer pizza focused on bold, innovative toppings, delivered fast by friendly, passionate people.” Well, that’s the truth, but when I heard someone repeat it I immediately realized that it fell WAY short of the real IDEA that lead to Toppers. The real reasons for starting Toppers are much bigger than toppings and fast delivery. That’s the “what” of our start. I want to tell you WHY…
WHY Toppers Pizza exists:
- To challenge the status quo! When I started at Domino’s, it was a movement. When I left Domino’s, it was a big corporate machine, and I was a cog in that machine. I hate to say “corporate” because it sounds so glib and pop-speakish and the truth is that I admire many businesses large and small. But Toppers is a movement! And I work with people who jump out of bed every day to challenge that big “corporate” status quo! Pizza Marketplace recently called us, “A cocky brand that dares to take on the big pizza guys with no apologies”. I am a counter-culture, skeptical, do-it-right, under-dog. That’s who I am, and that’s who Toppers is.
- To challenge the idea that “fast” food has to be “fast-food”! When I worked at Domino’s, it was ALL about service. They engrained in me the idea of keeping everything simple so that we could be fast and efficient. At that time we had ten toppings, two sizes of pizza and one flavor of drink (yes, one: Coke). Yep, that’s all. Every single thing came on a truck in a bag, box or can and all we did was assemble it! What about the food?! Now they reformulate something about their pizza or their advertising, or both, and we’re supposed to believe they suddenly make great food. God love those marketing people. At Toppers, we make our dough in our kitchens from scratch by hand every day. We hand cut fresh vegetables daily. And yes, we use 100% fresh Wisconsin Mozzarella cheese!
One of our famous House Pizzas – The mouthwatering “Buffalo Chicken Topper”
- To build a cult of pizza crazies who are shooting the moon. We are builders and movers. We send teams of passionate pizza people to open a new restaurant. (We have a team in Mission Kansas right now!) Team Members go door to door telling people what we do, then we hustle back to the store to do it all night long! The pride that Toppers Nation feels for what we do drives us. We are small, but we are mighty! People who believe will outperform people going through the motions every time. We live by our Core Values and therefore our core values go into every pizza box. Included in the price of the pizza, I might add.
A few Toppers Rockstars left to right: Robyn King, Assistant Manager – Wauwatosa WI, Dustin Duarte, General Manager – Burnsville MN, Amber Stark, Corporate Area Supervisor – Indianapolis IN, Kwmaine Johnson, General Manager – West Milwaukee WI
- Because we love pizza: the world’s greatest food, bar none. When you respect pizza, pizza in turn makes your life better! Commit yourself to eating great pizza and treating it like hallowed food, and see if what I’m saying isn’t true! How in the fire has the greatest food to ever exist become increasingly made and sold by fast food chains. I’m sorry to say it, but they have turned pizza into a lump of food; a meal replacement, something cheap and filling you buy for the baby sitter while you go out for real food. They lost their way. We found it. We respect pizza.
Everything we do is still based on these reasons WHY we exist. I suppose Toppers isn’t for everyone. It usually costs a little bit more to do it the way we do it, but our Customers love us. That’s why they are often referred to as “fanatics”. Toppers is different, and so are our Customers.
Never Settle!
Telling it like it is,
Scott
