The 109 will welcome Toppers Pizza to West Berry Street in July.
The Midwest pizza chain plans to open its first Texas location next to Fuzzy’s Taco Shop in the space formerly occupied by The Moon Bar. Brooke Wylie, senior brand communicator for Toppers Pizza, said it is excited to bring the successful chain into the Fort Worth pizza market.
“We are happy to share Toppers’s success and hope to build a great foundation in Texas,” Wylie said.
Ranked in the top 500 franchises in 2011 by Entrepreneur Magazine, Toppers offers a unique approach to the pizza experience in the way it keeps in tune with its customers.
President and Founder Scott Gittrich describes this approach in a video on the Toppers Pizza website:
“Our secret, besides a great pizza, is understanding our primary market, and for us that primary market is this passionate, enthusiastic, and always hungry 18-34 year olds. They demand quality and that’s why we give them a product of the finest ingredients with Wisconsin cheese and our secret sauce recipe.”
The Toppers menu includes options such as 18 specialty house pizzas, toasted subs, buffalo wings, quesadillas and Topper’s signature product line, Topperstix.
Since Toppers is not one of the giants in the pizza industry, Wylie said, it is able to maintain an edgy and fun atmosphere. She said that when someone walks into a Toppers, they are greeted with lively music and a sight of employees having fun interacting with customers.
This young-at-heart atmosphere is a concept that Toppers Pizza was founded on more than 28 years ago in the small town of Whitewater, Wis. Since then, the chain has added almost 40 locations and 8 states. By 2013, it hoped to expand to 100 locations.
For the 109 location opening in July, the first 50 people in line will receive free food for a year. Wylie believed this would be a great way for Toppers to introduce itself to the community.
Toppers will not be alone in the 109 pizza market. It will join several other pizza places including Little Caesars, Domino’s and Perrotti’s Pizza that already have locations in the area.
Felicia McCool, manager at Little Caesar’s in the area , said she wishes Toppers luck and that with nearly four or five other pizza places in close proximity, it will boil down to prices and quality.
Bo Martino, Fuzzy’s district manager, said he thought that Toppers would be a good addition as students from TCU make up a large segment of the clientele, he said.
“I think that the introduction of Toppers Pizza will create more free traffic to the area, which is beneficial to every business in the area,” Martino said.
109 resident and TCU student, Leah Fiorini, said she thought Toppers would be successful. She planned to be one of the first 50 people to receive free food for a year.
One challenge Toppers probably will face relates to its location. The Moon, a bar that previously occupied the space, struggled with the limited parking in the area.
However, Wylie said, Toppers would not have an issue with parking, considering a large portion of its business will come from deliveries or local foot traffic, especially with the proximity of the TCU campus.
