New pizza chain coming to Sioux Falls

Wisconsin-based Toppers Pizza plans to expand to Sioux Falls.

The pizza chain is close to an agreement with a franchisee who would open six locations among Sioux Falls, Brookings and Sioux City, said Mark Cairns, director of franchise development.

"We're coming that way," Cairns said. "We are actively working with a candidate in Sioux Falls to open up some stores."

Toppers was founded in 1991 and started franchising in 2005. There are 60 locations, including several in states surrounding South Dakota. The concept uses made-from-scratch dough and a wide range of toppings, including French-fried onion, oven-roasted tomatoes and tater tots.

"It's really delivering exactly what customers are demanding these days," Cairns said.

The menu also includes wings and a signature item, Topperstix, which is a bread stick that comes in varieties such as cheese, taco, bacon, cinnamon and chocolate bacon.

"It's kind of a game-changer for us and our franchisees. It represents as much as 20, 25 percent of our sales," Cairns said. "We serve it in a big, 14-inch pizza box and have 16 types of dipping sauces, so customers love it. It's a very sharable, crave-able thing, and it can be a pizza replacement, a snack, late-night (meal). It's a great menu extension."

Toppers largely serves customers through delivery but has some seating in the store and carry-out service.

"But if you went into a traditional delivery concept like Papa John's and Domino's, we would be very different," Cairns said. "We have these cool lobbies, limited seating, real high-quality products, but you can come in and dine in or take your pizza out, so we're kind of a hybrid in between those two segments."

The plan is to do three stores in the Sioux Falls market. No locations have been chosen yet. Cairns said the company looks for popular retail areas with good access and a high density of homes and businesses nearby.

"We want to intersect customers' lives and be close to the schools and churches and businesses where people work."