An agreement has been signed with Tim Humes for the development of 24 nontraditional Topper’s Creamery units in Pinellas County, Florida. Greg Sausaman, the Topper’s president and chief operating officer made the announcement relative to the territory west of Tampa. Pinellas County has Clearwater as its seat and its largest city is St. Petersburg. Pinellas County is included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan statistical area. Presently there is one Topper’s location in Pinellas County.
“Tim is a solid addition to the Topper’s team,” Sausaman says. “With 30 years of experience that includes overseeing development from 150 Papa John’s locations to 2,000 locations in six years before becoming a franchisee, he is the right person to build Topper’s in Pinellas County. He is a national leader and innovator and I’m excited about him being our first area developer. The work that Tim also did with Domino’s, Jersey Mike’s, and Beef O’Brady’s gives us great confidence and enthusiasm in this initiative.”
Humes says, “The same thing I saw in Papa John’s in the early going is what I see in Topper’s: a great business model, quality people, and a terrific product.”
The 24-unit deal signed with Humes follows the “18 in 18” announcement by Sausaman in July, in which a company-wide goal of adding 18 new Topper’s Creamery units over the next 18 months was set.
“Clearly we are in growth mode,” Sausaman adds. “We are solid with the locations we presently have across Central Florida, both traditional as well as nontraditional Topper’s Creamery Express and are fully committed to this blueprint we’ve laid out going forward.
“We are rapidly expanding our nontraditional model of adding our Express brand into existing venues. Our expertise in multi-branding has opened a door to ROIs well above 100 percent in year one for our operators, with an investment of only $5,000.”
With its own recipe for its brand of soft serve ice cream, Topper’s Creamery has freestanding restaurants, as well as nontraditional locations in hotels and colleges spanning central Florida from coast to coast.
