The REAL First Toppers Store
The first Toppers Pizza store opened on August 9, 1991. My then wife Carol and I had lived like paupers for about 8 years saving nearly everything we’d made working...
Pizza IS a Growth Industry (for some)
This is the first article in a series exploring Toppers’ sustainable competitive advantage. Growth oriented business investors study various industries and their segments for emerging growth opportunities. Even casual business observers recognize...
My Uncle Al won the Powerball!
When I was little, maybe 10, my Uncle Al pulled me aside and said something like “if you want to be rich, then you shouldn’t have a family.” Yikes. I...
“Two Die in Tragic Accident”
It drives me crazy to sit in a long line of traffic on the highway and eventually come to the front of the line and see that it was an...
Leaders Don’t Sandbag
Toppers has an ass-kicking franchisee in Minnesota that recently called me out. He told me that one of his people read something I’d written in which I claimed that we...
Easy Jobs Suck!
In September, my 18 year old son Clay packed up his car with most of his worldly belongings and moved to Portland Oregon, 2000 miles from home. I love the...
Core Values
Toppers Pizza is incredibly special to me. I know it is the same for many of you. What makes it special is not the logo or the breadstix or the...
Restaurant Proud!
I started in the restaurant business making $2.30 per hour in 1978 when I was 15 years old. Though I studied Engineering and eventually got a degree in Psychology, I...
