Owner: Jeremy Julian
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
brand, pizza, franchisees, stores, toppers, people, franchise, pepperoni, restaurant, grow, product, wisconsin, market, locations, founder, bit, sell, run, talk, top
SPEAKERS
James (66%), Jeremy (33%), Intro (1%)
I
Intro
0:02
This is the restaurant technology guys podcast, helping you run your restaurant better
JJ
Jeremy Julian
0:13
Welcome back to the restaurant technology guys podcast. I thank you guys for joining us each and every time because as I say, I know that you guys have 10s of 1000s of choices of podcasts to listen to. So the fact that we get the privilege of talking to each each week when we post one of these is, is our privilege. Today, we are joined by a restaurant tour. I guess it’s his title, he’ll I’ll have him give it to you here in a little bit. But, but we’re gonna talk restaurants, we’re gonna talk about restaurant tech, we’re gonna talk a lot about about growing a brand. But, James, why don’t you introduce yourself to our audience, and then we can talk a little bit about the brand that you get to work for day in and day out.
JM
James McFeeters
0:50
Yeah. Hi, Jeremy. Thanks for letting me join you today. I am the VP of development for toppers, pizza. And we’re based out of Whitewater, West Wisconsin, and we’re brand looking to grow.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
1:04
I love it. I love it. And I don’t know. I mean, I guess there’s lots of cheese in Wisconsin. So you know, the fact that you guys have got a pizza brand that’s coming from Wisconsin. I guess that makes sense. Not that there’s not pizza everywhere? Because I think I do think that pizza is the number one food category in the United States, though, is that fair?
JM
Confirming Speaker…
1:20
I would definitely agree with you. And I would say that cheese is very important. And that’s why we have a blend of Made in Wisconsin cheese that we have on our pizzas.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
1:30
I love it. I love it. So talk to me a little bit about what you get to do every day. I know you and I talked pre show. But for those that are less familiar with toppers, talk to me a little bit about what toppers is, its history, where it’s at, you know, where we’re, you know, kind of what’s the brand? How do they experience it and all of that.
JM
Confirming Speaker…
1:46
Yeah, so we’re a 73 location brand. We’ve been around, believe it or not, for over 30 years, Scott, get rich, our founder founded it in Champaign, Illinois, back in 91. He then shifted up to MESC, Wisconsin, whitewater was constantly because of an opportunity he had there to add some locations. And from there, the brand blossomed, it grew, it then began began franchising and blew up, when I say blew up, you know, not into the hundreds or anything like that. But you know, into the the 20s, the 30s, the 40s, you know, locations, and they had a really great run in the 16, seven teens, operationally, the brand needed to step back from the development realm just because they, they want to prioritize their, their EBA and make sure that they’re putting out really successful first successful stores. And at that point, they halted the development and made the brand really great. And that’s what we’re here to do. Now we’re we’re here to grow the brand, we’re at a situation where, you know, our A UVs are at the 1.1 5 million mark. And people Yeah, we, we put up a really strong number, and our franchisees are really happy, they’re getting a good return on their money. And, you know, the unit level economics are just in a good spot right now, real estate, you know, for those those folks who are looking for the drive throughs and in caps of the world, it’s really difficult right now I worked for focused brands in my past and all of our brands were specifically looking for those types of real estate. And it became very, very hard to do a deal just based on that fact alone, our brand we can, we can go to a strip center, and find the empty middle, you know, spot that’s available, that’s 12 to 1700 square foot, you know, we optimally look for, like about a 1500 square foot location, but we’re flexible we can we can work with the site and, and that’s what we’re doing right now we’re really excited, we’ve got a phenomenal fourth quarter that we just finished up was the best quarter that the brands ever had with five deals, eight unit agreements. And, you know, for some brands, it might not be a lot but we want to grow in a way that we can support it and we’re not looking to put up 100 stores in one year, like some of these brands have done in the past where they get over their skis and can’t support it. We really want to make sure that as we bring people on, we’re supporting them in a way that is is sound and can be proficient and making sure their numbers are where they should be and they’re getting the support they deserve as a franchisee
JJ
Jeremy Julian
4:34
I love that you’re, you’re one of the Restaurant Brands that I’ve been part of why I like talking with Restaurant Brands is I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’ve watched a lot of people grow too fast and they don’t have the support for these franchisees so they they buy you know 10 stores in LA and then they can’t support them and then nine of the 10 fail and only one of them makes it and you know it doesn’t really doesn’t really get legs. Let’s I’m gonna go back to the start back to 91 Why pizza Uh, there’s, there’s clearly a, you know, it’s a huge competition, you know, and I wonder at times, like, what differentiates you guys because you’re not, you know, pizza is a very well supported market. And at the same time that you know, the incidence of people, you know, buying pizza is probably increasing as time goes on as well. So there’s, you know, a little bit of give and take, but at the same time, I just wonder, why did the founder start pizza, just because pizzas easy, because the unit economics talk to me a little bit more about that?
JM
Confirming Speaker…
5:28
Well, you know, anytime we’re mixing flour, water and yeast, and you create a product that you can sell, you know, there’s going to be some margin there. As far as why he wanted to do pizza is because he grew up in Domino’s, he was a Domino’s manager for quite some time. And he was just bored with the product line. At that time, there was about eight topping options. And he, you know, love the idea of what California Pizza Kitchen was doing with avocado and chicken and some of those types of items. And he took it upon himself to say, you know, I can do this, I can grow a brand that is going to have the ability that dominance has with a quick service restaurant with delivery and carry out. And then also take it up a level and have a product line that’s just more favorable for those who want to get a craveable item. I don’t know about you, but me. I’m always looking for that next thing that you can eat that allows you my wife always gets mad at me because I’ll try new things. And I’ll be good because I don’t like it. And I’m like, Ah, shouldn’t have got that. But that’s always what I’m looking for is that next thing that has that great taste or, or something just different. I don’t like the boring, same old stuff.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
6:39
Well, it’s a it’s got to be something about being restaurant people because I’m the same way. And sometimes I’ll order to I’ll order what I want and what I normally eat, and then I’ll order something else, where it’s like, do you really need two entrees, I’m like, shut up, leave me alone, I’m gonna eat four bites. This one, I mean, eat the rest of what I really wanted, because I wanted to try it. I got the privilege of growing up in Southern California and, and got the privilege of going to Cpk you know, in its inception and watching barbecue chicken pizza, I’m like, Who the hell’s gonna put barbecue sauce and red onions, chicken on a pizza and have people eat it. But to your point, they they change the palate. Again, let’s dig a little bit deeper on top or say, you know, there’s been kind of there’s been a big push over the last 10 years or so of kind of this made to order pizza subway style Chipotle style pizza top versus not that, but toppers offers more than what your big box or your really large brands might look like in that. So talk to me a little bit about, you know, what’s the experience look like at a toppers? How do I engage with the brand? And what can I expect if there’s one down the road? And I’ve been trying? You know, considering trying it? And I? I haven’t yet what would that? What’s that interaction? Was that guest interaction with the product look like?
JM
Confirming Speaker…
7:46
Yeah, so first off, we have an amazing ability to order pizza just like like a lot of the other brands out there. Right now we’ve captured the ability to gain customers through multiple revenue streams, whether it’s walking in and ordering phone call online application. You know, we’ve most recently started using a call center. That’s that alleviate some some pains in the house. But answer is yeah, absolutely. You know, don’t have so many hands. Yeah, and because they’re in mo most of them, we weren’t making pizzas. So, you know, the leverage of using those really helps. You know, if you want to order pizza, my recommendation is go online, you can check your order over and over again, and make sure it’s exactly what you want, you place your order. There’s a tracking system that’s built in, that tells you how long it’s going to be approximately, and you just go to toppers.com. And, you know, simply go to menu and order that pizza, it’s really simple. You can do that from a mobile, we have an application that you can go to to order that pizza as well. You know, we’re really top of mind thinking outside the box on that, you know, our VP of technology Tony, Alice’s, his background is in the ability to, you know, order, almost like the product line that that’s online TV sales, basically, what does that product called?
JJ
Jeremy Julian
9:16
Oh, QVC QVC.
JM
Confirming Speaker…
9:20
Yeah, like, he comes from a world like that. And so he’s always thinking outside the box, how we can sell more in a different way. So, you know, we’ve tried doing some unique stuff and and, you know, we’re looking at maybe, you know, text order, you know, the number and bam, you can order. There’s just different things we’re going to try. We always want to be not miss maybe the first people to do it, because, you know, the first people usually fail. It’s those people that rip off the idea and run with it is the ones that have the most success. So, you know, we’re always looking to make it more convenient for customers because that’s what it’s really all about the stages is the convenience that you can bring to the customer. And that’s why, you know, over the last several years, we’ve had that upward trend of growth of a UV and ability to make sure the product line is easy and convenient to order. We’ve had 18 months of straight comp sales increases. That’s incredible. Yeah, so uh, you know, we, we, I will say we made it, that’s gonna repeat this last one. But you know, we’re still there, we’re still going forward. And we know that at some point that that is inevitable to not have anymore. You know what flat toe and you know, there may be a valid, but just to show that we’ve had that 18 months of increase is probably what, that in 2018 2019, when they put a pause to the development, and really focused on the brand itself, it shows in those numbers directly. What they did, really was smart, and now we’ve got the brand where we want it. And now we can actually go out and replicate that and we can really focus on growth. You know, we opened three stores last year, really proud of that. I joined toppers in just late September. This is 2022. And as a fourth quarter, like I said, the very beginning, you know, we had the best quarter of sales we’ve ever had. As far as deals franchise deals. And we see that only going up, the interest is piqued. We’re getting a lot of new new leads that we weren’t seen in the past, and a lot of interest in our brands. So it’s exciting times.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
11:37
I love it. I love it. You mentioned the crave ability factor. And I know for myself having grown up with Cpk. You know, when I think about pizza, I think about one of two things. I think about kind of the run of the mill, you know, Pizza Hut Domino’s, you know, kind of your standard toppings or I think of a unique pizza. You and I talked a little bit about pre show and kind of kind of your product offerings are not the run of the mill. You know, you talked about the founder really looking at what did life look like at Domino’s? And say, How do I how do I create an even better guest experience? And oftentimes on the show, we talked about guests experience and and what does that look like? Talk to me a little bit about how menu innovation works. What what do you guys look to add to pizza? You know, because it is a blank canvas. And I think it’s an interesting dilemma. I know that, you know, even even the founders of CPK said that same thing. It’s like it’s a blank canvas. It’s some dope, and you can throw some stuff on it. So talk to me a little bit about that and where you guys are at today and and how does that manifest itself in guest experience and, and the capability factor?
JM
Confirming Speaker…
12:37
Yeah, so I mean, that’s our goal, right is to be extremely craveable. So we’ve got a product line that has extremely craveable items. They’re not bland, like I was telling you earlier, we have three different kinds of pepperoni, we’ve got cut, classic pepperoni, we’ve got that thin, thin sliced pepperoni that gets real crispy and curls up. And then we’ve also got like a grant grounded or shredded pepperoni that will blend into that sauce. So you get almost a pepperoni bite in every single bite. And then we’ve got the roasted garlic. Tomatoes that we’ll put on with that. It’s like the old school style, you know, pizza, it’s just absolutely delicious that the garlic flavor that’s created in that tomato with the crispy pepperonis with the pepperoni throughout the sauce completely every bite is amazing. And then we got things like the tots of pizza. That’s absolutely fantastic. You know, tots on a pizza. Got some nacho cheese on top of it, you know, just some really unique different blends of toppings that make things very craveable isn’t maybe even something you wouldn’t even think of something like cheese curds, you know, Wisconsin cheese curds. So there were you slapped Wisconsin cheese curds on top of a pizza that give it that extra that extra flavor and that extra burst of goodness on top of that pizza. What’s really cool about the innovation that we have in house is we had a longtime partner that was an innovative creative type guy. And then now we have Brian who is actually our our Director of Innovation or he actually is our menu innovation guru in house toppers that is working to perfect even more craveable items. And then lastly, I’d say the one thing that I didn’t mention earlier that I have to mention I can’t forget to mention is our topper sticks. Topper sticks is like a foundation of our brand as well. They’re just cheese sticks and you know you think just cheese sticks. What could be special about that? Well,
JJ
Jeremy Julian
14:36
let’s start there. So sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you but I’m sure that there’s some level of Wisconsin there.
JM
Confirming Speaker…
14:43
Oh yeah, it’s the West we got a cheese maker blend, Wisconsin cheese maker and it is absolutely phenomenal and the cheese is amazing of course but just the the dough that we use and the way that it’s cooked and then the topping As we put on it, so you can get just regular cheese cheese sticks, which are phenomenal. But then you can also get pepperoni sticks which have the the graded pepperoni on top of them. So it’s different than what you’re going to see anywhere else. A lot of them have like the stuff pepperoni that are the full slices, this is literally ground pepperoni all over the top, and then we’ve got Nacho Cheese, cheese sticks, which are you think there’s too much toppings on them, and you’d think they’d be mushy, but they’re not. We put, there’s little ground beef on them. And then we put nacho cheese on them. And then we also have some peppers and some tomatoes that we bake on top. And then it’s topped with some nacho cheese sauce over the top. And they’re there as well.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
15:41
I’d say I feel my pants getting tighter just thinking about those menu items. But they also sound fantastic. And I know you and I talked about the capability factor remember that. But that’s that I mean that that is awesome from a consumer perspective. And I’m sure for you selling franchises and running successful franchises, that creates complexity. That’s crazy, like Steve for talking to me a little bit about what that looks like, not just from a supply chain, which all of us in the restaurant brand, have have been hit with supply chain challenges over the last year, talk about supply chain talk about, you know, you’ve got to make sure you deliver a consistent product, because ultimately, people are trusting that toppers. If I go to the store, and you know, the home home state of Wisconsin, and I go to the store in Texas, then I’m gonna get the same product. But if this franchisee isn’t able to execute, because his fryer is not working properly, or he doesn’t have the same kind of talks, but a little bit about what that looks like from your perspective. I love the idea of innovating. I love the idea of doing that. But you also have to create some consistency because if you don’t, the guests end up getting disappointed in you, you struggle to grow.
JM
Confirming Speaker…
16:44
Yeah, 100%, we have, you know, an amazing franchise team. From a support level, we have Matt Martin, who who manages he’s our VP of franchise systems, he and his team trained specifically to make sure those products and we hold people accountable. I mean, that’s I think that’s a big part of a franchise system is is having a system that is easily followed. Yep. And easily measured, you know, we have TPR scores, top of pizza scores that make sure that people are following, you know, the guidelines that we set. And, you know, we hold people accountable on that, and we reward them, we reward them for meeting the standards. And then we also, I I’m not gonna say punish, but we actually hope that you, you know, we do hold people accountable that that’s, that’s part of being a franchise system. And so that makes it I’m not gonna say easy, then, you know, being a restaurant tour or operating a restaurant is not an easy thing. Yeah, it takes a special person, it takes a special breed of person to be a restaurant tour. It’s really that level of someone that can manage people at the end of the day and run good operations. You know, I listened a lot of podcasts myself, and I like to listen to, to help people manage people more than anything, because I think that’s one of the hardest things to do these days, is make sure that you’ve got good health and good people, and good passion involved in your company. And I think that’s where it comes in. If you’re a person that believes in yourself, and you believe in people, and you believe and be able to coach up and help other people, you’re probably a good fit, you know, especially if you’re you got a good nest egg and, and you’re looking to invest in something, your brand is a great brand. We have the longevity of 31 plus years, we’re not a startup, they can slow we’ve done it the right way. And, you know, we compete directly with the Domino’s and the Pizza Huts of the world, we we literally in the numbers fall in between those two, we’re not above, we’re not below, we’re right in between those two. So you know, you get a lot of people that are looking to franchise one of those brands, and they’re all roadblocked, there’s not options to go out there. We’re that brand that you can go to. And we have runway, if you if you want to, you know, go to Kansas City, or you want to go to St. Louis, Indianapolis, even Cleveland, you know, those are some of the areas we’re really looking at growing and expanding. And you have the availability to do three 510 20 of these stores, and really own your own destiny. And that’s that’s what we bring to the table. You know, not to say those other brands aren’t great. I have good friends in those other brands. But the one thing they don’t have is runway with the kind of numbers we have. Yeah,
JJ
Jeremy Julian
19:31
and the product offering because quite frankly, nothing. It sounds like you guys are also innovating like crazy constantly. It’s not you know, you’ve got innovation people and again, not the Domino’s and Pizza Hut and Papa John’s aren’t innovating at the same time. They’re huge. So they’re turning the Titanic whereas you guys are still small enough that you guys can be nimble and make changes to the brand across across all portfolio.
JM
Confirming Speaker…
19:54
What I do want to say is sometimes with innovation, people kind of fear the complexity of it. Um, we keep it simple, you know, yeah, we have some really crazy pizzas. But again, at the top, at the end of the day, we’re just throwing toppings on top of a blank slate Yep. And it’s not that complex to do. It’s more about managing the people to make a really great successful restaurant.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
20:16
I love it. I love it. So, I’ve been doing this for a long time, our longtime listeners know this, I’ve watched different brands, you know, be like a shooting star, and then they flame out, I’ve watched brands that that will grow exponentially by selling master franchise agreements, where you, you get this whole city, and then you’re responsible for growing out and selling. I’ve also watched brands that will only sell you one or two stores until you make it successful, and they might not sell you, you know, there’s a really big chicken brand out of Atlanta that everybody knows, and loves. And you know, you can only get one store, if you’re really lucky. But they’ve clearly figured it out. And you know, they’ve got a couple 1000 stores and have a couple 1000 franchisees and then there’s other brands that, you know that that are like, hey, I’ll sell you an entire mint. I know, one of your competitors. And in the I remember the founders I met I met the founders of a little caesars years ago. And that was part of their deal is is they sold master franchise agreements. Talk to me a little bit about what what your guys’s strategy is, are you guys looking for the guy in Cleveland that’s already running 40 restaurants that look that’s looking for his next career, we’re looking for his next brand to add to it. You know, I guess Tell me Tell me a little bit, a little bit more about kind of what you’re looking for in a franchise partner out there.
JM
Confirming Speaker…
21:26
Yeah, so that’s a little bit of both, it’s, you know, fill in all the pockets. So we want to make sure that we do have opportunity to grow with people that are viable, great operators, you know, that meet all the requirements that we have. So obviously, that multi unit guys is probably a good fit for us. Because they’re operating a restaurant system of some sort, whether it’s 510 2040 locations within a market, we’re good pizza tag on to that, that company. And we would love to be a part of a group like that. But we also are going to have markets where they’re filling markets where we want someone that’s the hometown hero that can can really, you know, own that market be a part of that Chamber of Commerce really, you know, be the heartbeat of that community with our brand, and really own it. So the way we do that is through an area development agreement. So we we don’t do any master agreements, or anything of that sort. What we what we’d love to do is find a nest of three to five, that’s going to be a good fit for a growth plan, and then go that route. Now. If there’s a larger group that has the ability and the development potential, we will talk to them. But that’s got to be extremely, you know, thought out answers your conversation. Smart plan. Yeah. Because I think I mentioned earlier in the show, we’re not looking to overrun our skis, we don’t want to, we don’t want to get beyond our skis. And we don’t want to do what we’ve seen other people do, where we can’t support what we grow. Yeah, we want to make sure like right now we’re open last year three, like I mentioned earlier, we’re looking to open nine, hopefully, you know, we surpassed that with 10 or 11. This year. But you know, our goal is to open nine stores, it’s a reasonable number, the next year is 15. We’re not looking to blow the doors at this point, because we want to make sure the foundation is built not to say if we hit you know, 15 this year and 25. Next year, we won’t be a static, because that’s a good number. But but we are not to be quality
JJ
Jeremy Julian
23:29
franchisees they’re going to be operating well. They’re going to be delivering unit economics and delivering value back to the community and back to to your guys’s franchise brands. Because selling them and having them flame out super fast is not good for anybody.
JM
Confirming Speaker…
23:40
That doesn’t help anybody that is exactly it’s a black guy in the market. It’s a black guy on the brand. We don’t want that. And in our brand has kind of had that in the past. There was a couple years where in the 17, eight teams that they they opened 15 stores in a year and nine of them closed. That was, I think more of a poor real estate strategy as opposed to anything else. And that was also dealing with one large restaurant operator. And that one group had some really great sites but overall wasn’t the best fit for them. So they decided to close them down. So you know, there’s a story to everything. We were recently highlighted in another big article. I won’t mention on here, but they basically said this is a phenomenal BANT brand. And we’re really surprised that more people aren’t looking at it. And then they have that concern. To answer that concerns is exactly like I said it was more of a situation where it was a large group that that opened multiple, five plus stores in a year. And they did really well and and the operator itself had left and done something different. And then that’s when things fell apart. And there were some really strong stores that we didn’t want to close yeah, that were still in the system, but as the system as a whole. They closed them all in that That’s what hurt us. So we’re not looking to do that we’re looking for people that are in it for the long run, and we’re looking for, whether it be the small guy that just loves our brand that knows our brand that wants to grow, or it’s someone that doesn’t know our brand, and wants that, that portfolio diversification and can really pull in a pizza brand that they can’t find elsewhere. Like the Papa John’s, or the Pizza Huts of the world or Domino’s, and we can be that, you know, fill in for one of those brands. And we have the potential to be even, you know, just as good or better.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
25:34
So well, and I’m sure being your, you know, your background and your history, I’m sure that I’m I’m certain 100% certain that you have franchisees that you’ve met with that had more stores, and you guys even hesitant to have as an entire as an entire company. And so, and at times, I mean, I know that you know this, but there’s times that they end up throwing their weight around, oh, no, I know, you guys are using us foods, we got to go to Cisco, because I’ve got a better relationship with Cisco over here. And, and so talk to me a little bit about, you know, you’re new to the role. Obviously, they hired you to not only grow the brand, but but to bring your experience and your exposure and give me some cautionary tales out to the, I guess the world as a whole and those that are in the franchise community because those things happen. And those people the you look at that guy, and you’re like, hey, we’re at 73 right now, and this guy could open 50 stores, he’s gonna be, you know, make us a ton of money, and they start throwing their weight around. Talk to me a little bit about how you guys combat that, because now they start wanting to change the menu, they want to start changing the location, they want to throw, you know, 200 seats in the property and you’re like, This is not our brand, this is not who we are stop trying to make, you know, this brand your own pizza brand. But you’ve seen it, I’m sure you’ve seen it.
JM
Confirming Speaker…
26:43
Yeah, I think it’s the expectation that you said that really sets the pace on that conversation. Regardless of how big your franchise base gets, whether it’s one that has, you know, a majority of the stores or not, it’s really the relationship that you create with them, that’s going to be the, you know, the winner in that relationship. And I would say, you know, the, one of the biggest things you can do is just make sure that they understand that you’ve been doing it for 31 years, in our case, we’ve been doing it for a very long time we understand where this brand is going and where we want to take this brand. So we’re gonna take the lead on that and, you know, follow the system and take your success and, and, you know, we all will get along perfect, so
JJ
Jeremy Julian
27:34
well. And at the end of the day, if they’re successful, meaning they’re making money, they’re growing sales, they’re hiring staff, they’re keeping food costs, in line, they’re keeping labor costs in line, which you guys have all those solutions to help them with that they’re happy. Typically, they only start trying to change the system when they’re not making money the way that they hope they had. And then they start to tinker and ask this, that or the other. So I love that you guys have not only been doing it for 31 years, but also the fact that you guys have got systems, you guys have got tech, you guys have got the ways to help make them successful. Because the more you can make them successful, the better off it will be. And to your point, the more success you guys will have someone franchises.
JM
Confirming Speaker…
28:12
Yeah. And that’s why we own a good percentage of our stores. I mean, we, we have the 73, we’re at 26 stores. So you know, the balance is really good. It’s a little heavier than what I’d like as a system. But we’re getting there, we’re growing our franchise base. So I’d rather be about 10%. But as we get closer to, you know, 200 stores that I think will sit in perfect with what we have currently, it allows us to test our product that allows us to make sure that the unilevel economics are just squared away perfect. It also allows us to test you know, our menu innovation, because that’s a big part of our brand. So it just it really is a good mix, to be able to really. And I know I’ll also say this while we’re on here, we have 26. Now, that doesn’t mean we’re going to keep 26 Right now, you know, we’ve got some really amazing locations that are set out in different markets. We’ve got a brand or one in Cincinnati market, that set set alone. We don’t have any other stores out there. The closest one is Indianapolis, you know, we we are looking to use that potential as a seed market store. Likewise, Indianapolis, we’re we’re going to other stores right now in that market. We’ve got one go and just south of Indian Bloomington and one just north in Muncie, but those are a little far from our headquarters. We’re, you know, the endgame there might be that we set someone up with an amazing opportunity to take over current operations of their stores with a growth plan there.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
29:38
That’d be so that’d be really that’s that’s not that’s somewhat unique. I mean, I know that there’s, there’s quite a few, quite a few brands that have that have talked about doing that, but I haven’t heard of a lot that have done that.
JM
Confirming Speaker…
29:49
Yeah, our so one thing our Scott our founder is is headstrong on is that we’re gonna prove out a market you know, he’s not afraid to put his money where his mouth is and and go open stores when you were growing as a as a franchisor, as well as growing as franchisees growing our franchisee base. So, you know, we’re just not holding and, you know, times are hard right now constructions up, you know, we’ve got two builds right now going we’re right in the battle with him and and we want to make sure that we understand what’s going on out there. So we feel what’s going on in the market so our franchisees so we can tell them, exactly, that’s how you become professional, while you’re also coaching. So it’s, it’s, it’s a unique situation, I learned that at Focus brands, we did seed markets, McAllister has had a really great opportunity to do the same, they’d go out and build, and then and then sell as a market around that seated location. And I saw that as amazing situation now, with the way McAllister is did it. There’s a lot of real estate involved with ours, it’s there’s not much real estate. So, you know, some, some may not see the advantage in it as well. But I think anytime you can sell a development area with open operating stores, you know,
JJ
Jeremy Julian
31:05
yeah. Brand loyalty, you’ve got some brand following there. Yeah. Especially if that store is doing well. And operating. Well. You know, I mean, and again, I’ve watched a lot of brands that grow outside of their core market and struggle to gain traction, because, you know, I mean, a brand that we work with, in in California years ago, they, they had 50 stores in the California market and did fantastic. And as soon as they got out of the core and went to DC and went to Boston and went to New York and and Virginia, they struggled because they put one store there, it sounds like you guys kind of I mean, not that you guys are completely cracked the code, but you guys have got stores in those regions that people can build around and use the brand equity that you guys have already built there from an operating store for 135 10 years, and grow it into their own deal.
31:50
100% That’s what we’re looking to do.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
31:53
Awesome. Awesome. So Jimmy, if people are looking to learn more about toppers, not just as a you know, where can they figure out how to engage with you guys, whether it’s going on ordering a pizza, you know, with tater tots on it, nacho cheese because dammit, that sounds good. It’s getting close to dinnertime where we’re both at and, and or the opposite. You know, they want to learn more about franchising, and they’re in the market to add to their portfolio or they’re a first time restaurant tour that’s, that wants to get to a place where they can consider the brand.
JM
Confirming Speaker…
32:21
Yeah, it’s really easy. toppers.com t o p p e r s.com. Right there, you can go in you can see our menu, you can see the locations, we’ve got a franchise tab. So I don’t even have to give you any longer web page to have to go go look at just go to toppers.com and you can find all the information you need on franchising or just you know, you want to try our pizza.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
32:44
Hopefully Hopefully the toppers doesn’t set off any of the the you know, the the alarms on the on, you know somebody somebody’s looking for topless, something I don’t know, you know? And you’re smelling it. I’m like, oh, that could be bad. I got a couple of teenagers in my house. You know, they’re setting off the setting off the adults alarm sets. Well, I I’m super excited, selfishly, to try your guys’s product. I’m excited to go check it out. I know, you told me that there’s some stores close to me here. And you guys are growing in the Texas market. So Jimmy, thank you. Thank you very much for sharing a little bit about your history personally and history of toppers as a brand. As I said on the onset, guys, I know that you guys have lots of choices on how you spend your time. So we appreciate you guys spending 45 minutes or so with us each week when we post one of these. Jimmy, thank you so much for your time and to our audience make it a great day.
I
Intro
33:33
Thanks for listening to the restaurant technology guys podcast. Visit restaurant technology guys.com For tips, Industry Insights and more to help you run your restaurant better
