TCU has a new neighbor on Berry Street—Topper's Pizza.
The Wisconsin-based chain is over 1,000 miles away from its headquarters in Whitewater, Wis., but the location was carefully chosen by the CEO of Toppers Pizza, Scott Gittrich, and franchise owners, Jim and Heidi McGregor.
Toppers Pizza will have its grand opening Saturday, Sept. 8. The first 50 customers will be given a coupon book in order to receive free food for a year.
Gittrich said there are no more opportunities to open stores in Wisconsin, and there was a lot of opportunity in Texas. The Fort Worth location is the only Toppers Pizza in Texas, but there are other locations already in consideration for the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
“That’s the beautiful thing about Texas,” he said. “Texas has a very good economy, it’s a fabulous place where the demographics are good for us and there’s lots of opportunities.”
After two years, the McGregors decided Toppers Pizza was the different concept they’ve been looking for. The great food, late hours and the energy of company are what sold the couple to invest in the franchise.
“Toppers is very a fun brand,” field marketing coordinator Mac Malchow said. “It’s cool for the Fort Worth community to realize very quickly what we can offer them in terms of variety and service.”
Not only is the company known for its late night of pizzas, breadsticks, subs and wings, it is know for it’s quick delivery service.
“As far as location goes, it’s perfect with the students because Toppers really markets to the student population with the late hours,” Heidi said. “That’s definitely an advantage to have the huge student population here and also backed by a huge residential area. Plus, we deliver to the hospital district and a lot of the businesses in the area so it was a great core delivery area.”
Toppers Pizza has received a good response from the community, but they are trying to partner with the university as well, she said. The restaurant wants to engage with students.
“We want to partner with the students, just be energetic and have fun with them and provide food for them when they want it,” Heidi said. “The Toppers brand is really built for them and that age group.”