• James “Jimmy” McFeeters will oversee franchise development as Toppers Pizza looks to grow its footprint.
• McFeeters aims to double Toppers’ 2022 growth next year and continue building out the pipeline in 2024.

Toppers Pizza, headquartered in Whitewater, Wisconsin, recently named James “Jimmy” McFeeters as vice president of development.

McFeeters brings more than 10 years of experience to the role. Most recently, he served as vice president of development and franchise sales at WOWorks. Before that, he spent over five years as senior director of franchise sales at FOCUS Brands, where he was a significant contributor in pushing Schlotzsky’s economic growth and development.

Toppers currently has more than 70 locations. “Bringing Jimmy onto the Toppers Pizza leadership team to oversee franchise development is a major step for us as we look to double down on franchise development in 2023. We look forward to the vision and leadership that Jimmy will bring to the brand,” said Toppers Pizza CEO Scott Gittrich.

“When I visited with the team before being hired, I immediately experienced the warm, inviting and highly relational culture that Toppers has built,” McFeeters said. “There’s a lot of rich history here with the Toppers team, and it is apparent that Toppers has built a team that is deeply connected to its mission, vision and origins. The brand’s longevity and the team’s culture are major reasons I took this position.”

In recent years, Toppers has been heavily focused on corporate development. In his new role, McFeeters will begin to build franchise development more strategically.

“Toppers hasn’t historically been well known for franchise development, but they have all the right ingredients for huge success,” McFeeters said. “We are focused on unit-level economics that set the franchisee up for greatest success.”

McFeeters will leverage the brand’s approach to real estate, which is a more streamlined and simple model compared to others in the franchise development space, the company says. Toppers is expected to have three new units open this year, and, coming into his role, McFeeters expects to more than double that in 2023 while building that pipeline even more in 2024.

Click here for more information on Toppers’ franchising opportunities.