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Tish Howard operates the Toppers Pizza franchise on the campus of Texas Christian College. With faculty college students as built-in clientele, the pizzeria has an ethos of enjoyable.
Tashina “Tish” Howard did not got down to be a Toppers Pizza franchisee — however she labored for one whereas placing herself via nursing college.
She had moved to the Inexperienced Bay, Wisconsin space to get her registered nursing diploma and she or he and her associates ate at an area Toppers fairly a bit. She realized she wanted a job to assist with tuition and the price of dwelling so she utilized to work on the native Toppers in 2011 and began as a supply driver.
“Toppers was simply completely different,” she mentioned in a cellphone interview. “I simply liked it. … I’ve at all times favored being a driver, so being a supply driver simply labored completely. Our core values at Toppers actually simply type of matched what I am about. And the truth that Toppers says ‘Have enjoyable!’ as one in every of their core values that simply actually resonated with me.”
Howard acquired her diploma, however by no means gave up Toppers. 4 years into nursing, nonetheless, she realized how a lot she liked the Toppers model. So she took a step away from nursing and determined to work her method up within the Toppers administration ladder. She went from a driver to a retailer supervisor and common supervisor after which served as an space supervisor. She then turned an space coaching supervisor and later a senior space coaching supervisor.
Aaron Johnson, who owned a number of Toppers in her area, requested if she’d be interested by transferring to Texas to begin a franchise. Johnson instructed Howard concerning the Toppers location on the campus of Texas Christian College, and the timing was excellent. Co-owning a Toppers franchise with Johnson and his associate, C.J. Bast, appeared like the subsequent step in Howard’s Toppers journey.
Howard saved her job as an space supervisor in Wisconsin whereas on the identical time working the Toppers TCU location, which she purchased into final February. She flies backwards and forwards each week.
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TopperStix are standard on campus. Photograph: Toppers Pizza |
Core values
A part of what drew Howard to the Toppers model is its core values. There are 5: to have enjoyable, to offer clients what they need, convey it with ardour, construct one thing particular and to stay with integrity.
“Clearly to have enjoyable,” Howard mentioned. “You aren’t getting these minutes again. You aren’t getting any of it again. Many individuals, they spend all nowadays and weeks and years and so they’re sad. … Me, I get to go to work at present. I get to have enjoyable, and I get to work with individuals who stay with integrity (and) who wish to do the fitting factor, who wish to work collectively (and) who give a heck of loads of care for patrons.
“I at all times say if your organization has the fitting core values — and so they really attempt to stay them — that is an organization you wish to work for. That is an organization you wish to be a part of.”
Campus life
The TCU retailer caters to school college students, because it’s in the course of campus and Toppers and pizza go hand in hand, Howard mentioned, as many Toppers’ places are in faculty cities. TCU has a roster of 13,000-plus college students, making enterprise heavier when college students are on campus. Nonetheless, even when college students aren’t there Howard mentioned it is vital to ensure the placement can nonetheless survive on locals.
“It is as much as us to speak to the hospitals within the space and all the opposite companies and make it possible for we’re getting that advertising on the market,” Howard mentioned. But she doesn’t make use of TCU college students, so she would not lose employees over breaks and summers.
The Meat Topper pizza, with pepperoni, Canadian bacon, sausage and bacon is standard, as is a pepperoni pizza and the model’s well-known TopperStix, which Howard says faculty youngsters cannot get sufficient of.
Pizza and TopperStix make up 50% of gross sales, with wings and sides making up the remainder of gross sales.
Capturing the coed market is crucial, so how does Toppers Pizza at TCU compete with different pizzerias within the space?
Howard mentioned there may be loads of competitors, however Toppers is open till 3 a.m. each day (they’re closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas). Toppers catches that after market when bars have closed and college students are hungry.
The franchise additionally hires people who find themselves part of the model’s “enjoyable” picture, and the meals — like rotating specialty pizzas reminiscent of a mac and cheese pizza — and loaded tater tots, are interesting to late-night crowds.
“They’re all enjoyable and type of off the wall,” Howard mentioned. “They are not simply your common pepperoni and sausage.”
Howard likes seeing college students who begin as freshmen after which ultimately come again to campus to go to, with an order from Toppers included.
Operations
When requested what her largest problem is, Howard mentioned she’s been within the enterprise for thus lengthy and is not somebody who likes to sit down in an workplace. As a substitute, she’s in shops making pizza proper subsequent to her crew. “To be an excellent chief, you must present what you need,” she mentioned.
As a franchisee, although, there’s additional accountability within the type of paperwork and calls with distributors and banks.
“I am very operations centered, after which so as to add the opposite aspect to it — that is been a problem,” Howard mentioned. “However I am loving it.”
Having enjoyable is a core worth for Toppers TCU, and when Howard got here to TCU, she introduced together with her Slinkies, balloons and finger flingers. It is okay to play with a Slinky in your down time, she mentioned, or to speak, nevertheless it’s arduous to impart how a lot enjoyable the workers even have whereas working.
“You’ve got acquired these individuals who come from all walks of life. Toppers is so numerous,” Howard mentioned. “The baseline for everyone is that it would not matter the place you come from. You are going to belong. These are your individuals.”
Coaching is paramount to the model’s success. Howard believes in case you’re not hiring the fitting individuals and you are not coaching your employees correctly, you are by no means going to achieve success. And coaching is fixed — it would not cease as soon as somebody is onboarded, together with coaching for leaders and retailer staff alike.
With coaching, “you are giving all of them the instruments to be wildly profitable,” Howard mentioned, including she’s acquired staff who’ve been with the model for years and so they’re thriving.
“We’re consistently coaching one another and dealing to get higher and higher.”
