One Year of Never Settling

Boldly positioned on the outside of every pizza box that lands in the hands of hungry customers, Toppers Pizza’s rallying cry says it all: “Never Settle.”

It might seem like a simple phrase, but it carries huge meaning. “Never Settle” serves as the guiding mantra for everything Toppers does. From their food and delivery service, to their franchisees and corporate team, it’s about being the very best at what they do—and that’s pizza.

“Never Settling is about stealing market share from the big pizza chains out there. We wanted to create a campaign that would teach customers that they don’t have to settle for cardboard cookie-cutter pizza,” said Scott Iversen, vice president of marketing at Toppers. “Toppers will never settle for slow service times, inaccurate orders and less-than-fresh food. And our customers should never have to settle for anything less than awesome.”

In January 2015, the “Never Settle” rebranding officially made its debut, appearing on everything from Toppers’ imagery and advertising to their menus and cardboard pizza boxes. But while the bold branding might have seemed new to customers, it’s a sentiment that’s been with Toppers since the very beginning—the problem was, they just didn’t know how to define it.

The story behind “Never Settle” starts at an ad agency. It was there that Scott Gittrich and his team was asked a seemingly simple question: “Let’s talk about what your brand is. What is Toppers Pizza?” The agency started spewing out catchy slogans and messages that they thought encapsulated the brand—but nothing fit. Gittrich didn’t feel comfortable settling for things like “the funny college place” or “the place that focused on taste.”

So the brand took a hard look at itself. They studied their customers. The goal was to put a finger on what exactly “it” is that sets Toppers apart. Gittrich and his team quickly realized the answer—their people, their compassion, their quality and their speed distanced themselves from the behemoth pizza chains. Toppers was the “little guy” in a big industry, and they not only set out to be better than their competitors, but they were succeeding, too.

“Toppers is a place that people can love. We provide the fast service they expect, but at the same time we have that ‘little guy’ reputation. We’re small in comparison. We’re the up-and-comer. We make everything from scratch. That’s what’s beautiful about it,” Iversen said.

To really drive this mentality home, the slogan “Never Settle” was born.

“Introducing ‘Never Settle’ was sort of like adding the period to the end of a longstanding mission statement. We had always embraced and stood for this mission, but we never really knew how to put it in words. Now, we’re putting Toppers in a position for everyone to see what we’re all about—this is a brand that never settles for anything less than great,” Iversen said.

A year later, that branding has had a huge impact. In 2015, 73 percent of all stores boasted record sales, boosting overall system-wide sales up 22.5 percent from 2014. Now, as Toppers continues to charge forward with their aim to “Never Settle,” their end goal is fairly simple—being the best pizza place dishing up fast-casual quality with second-to-none delivery speeds.

“Our expectations are high for the future, because we’re saying ‘Listen, don’t settle for the other guy.’ This campaign will keep us honest. We need to keep upping our game so that we’re better than the big chains in every way,” Iversen said. “We’re putting our brand out there in a consistent way that is true, and I think that’s going to resonate with people looking for a business they can invest in and really get behind. Our concept works, and we’re going to continue to grow as people understand what we stand for.”