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Growing up, Jon P. Crowe watched as his father try to create the perfect pizza dough. P. Crowe and his father, Jon S. Crowe, always wanted to own their own pizzeria.
"We always had pizza in our blood," P. Crowe said. "We had pizza three to four times a week."
Two years after his son graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, S. Crowe found his answer.
While searching for franchise opportunities in the pizza business, S. Crowe's research brought him to Toppers Pizza, a franchise out of Wisconsin. And from that came an opportunity to open the first Toppers Pizza in Nebraska.
S. Crowe recently left his life and job in Sydney, Neb., for Lincoln, where he and his son are now the owners of the first Toppers Pizza at 1226 P. St., next to Five Guys Burgers and Fries. The grand opening is this Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
Several things about the franchise attracted the men. Its demographic, P. Crowe said, appeals to 18- to 24-year-olds, and the business stays open until 3 a.m. — perfect for college students.
S. Crowe reached out to Toppers, to gain an understanding of their demographics and motives, he said.
A little more than a year ago, the father and son flew to Whitewater, Wis., the location of Toppers headquarters and Toppers' first location. They saw how Toppers was run.
"They didn't take themselves too seriously," P. Crowe said.
While the men tried to keep themselves calm from the excitement, they were impressed with Toppers' food and service, P. Crowe said.
After that weekend, Toppers sent the Crowes an offer.
And they accepted.
"It's a marriage so to speak," S. Crowe said. "You want to make sure they're the right people for you, and you're the right people for them."
The men spent one month working every job at a Toppers in Wisconsin, even running a store for a week.
The next challenge was finding a Lincoln location.
"We literally just stumbled upon the location," S. Crowe said.
His son agreed.
"This one just spoke to us," P. Crowe said.
As Lincoln's Toppers, the farthest location west so far, prepares to open its doors Saturday, the Crowes also plan to give free food for a year to the first 50 customers who spend at least $10.
The lucky 50 will receive their own coupon book, and one specified menu item will be free every week all year, P. Crowe said.
The items range from pizza to other items that aren't commonly found in pizza restaurants. This includes quesadillas, wings and buffalo chicken pizza.
"70 percent of our menu items, our competitors don't have," P. Crowe said.
However, the competition is friendly, and not aimed at local pizza places, such as Yia Yia's and Lazzari's.
"We love the local guys," P. Crowe said. "I don't want anyone to stop going to Lazzari's. I went to college here and I love Lazzari's." He went on to say that he doesn't expect Yia Yia's patrons to give up their loyalty, and after long days of training, the future staff at Toppers winds down at Pies and Pints in the Haymarket.
With deliveries, Toppers always includes paper plates, crushed red pepper, napkins and Parmesan. It also includes toys such as little army men for kids, dog treats and ping pong balls.
Scott Gittrich, CEO of Toppers Inc., and the original owner of Toppers, came up with this notion. He started the pizza business in 1991, and the Lincoln location will be the 37th store. He said Toppers has always made food from scratch and featured "fun menu items" such as Toppers Sticks and Potato Topper pizza, a pizza that features miniature potatoes and is loaded like a baked potato.
Gittrich said Toppers offers 20 "unusual pizzas."
New non-pizza items are placed on the menu based on trial and error of recipes, Gittrich said. While not every recipe works in the long run, Toppers consistently makes sure the recipes can be made quickly and efficiently, Gittrich said.
Toppers first expanded in the late 1990s, when two Toppers workers who had just graduated college, approached Gittrich about opening their own franchise. Now the crew at the original Toppers is excited about Lincoln's location, Gittrich said.
In 2012 alone, Toppers has opened four locations.
P. Crowe and Gittrich both said Toppers plans to expand to Omaha and is looking at other Nebraska college town locations such as Kearney and Hastings. The stores must open in markets of at least 25,000 households. They would like to see about eight locations open in Omaha.
"I love meatloaf and spaghetti, and tacos are fine," Gittrich said.
But Gittrich, who gained most of his experience by working at a Domino's Pizza in Illinois, said the ideas of both the free food for a year and the delivery items came from suggestions. Toppers asked local college students how it could improve, and a resident assistant in a dorm talked about how students tore apart boxes for plates, and used paper towels for napkins. Soon, every single delivery provided paper plates and napkins, and the quirky toys soon followed.
For now, the Lincoln location has joined the Chamber of Commerce, and is prepared for large crowds. One man has even asked to camp out a few days early, though his tent is nowhere to be found.
"The only way they're (the customers) going to know what it's all about is if they come down," Gittrich said with a laugh.
tammybain@dailynebraskan.com