After a successful test in the Madison market, the beloved Wisconsin-based pizza franchise is inviting its customers everywhere to enjoy its new vegan menu.
Whitewater, WI – Toppers Pizza has been serving beloved cheesy offerings, high-quality pizza, Topperstix and wings with a signature Wisconsin flair for over 25 years. Now, after a successful test of its new vegan menu in the Madison market, the brand is rolling out the menu at its 60-plus locations nationwide starting on Monday, October 5.
“We’ve been testing these recipes and toppings in our Madison market, and the response from the community has been tremendous,” said Toppers Pizza Director of National Marketing & Menu Innovation, Mac Malchow. “We couldn’t be happier with the results we’ve seen and are looking forward to offering these options to the vegan community, which is largely underserved in the space.”
The menu, curated by Melanie Manuel, vegan chef and owner of all-vegan Milwaukee restaurant Celesta, will introduce four new toppings — dairy-free mozzarella from Follow Your Heart, plant-based crispy chicken, dairy-free ranch and Korean BBQ sauce (also available in individual Dippin’ Cups).
Each of the new ingredients will be featured in three new, all-vegan house pizza offerings: the Vegan Buffalo Chicken-less Topper with mild buffalo sauce, smothered in dairy-free mozzarella cheese, topped with plant-based crispy chicken and green onions and drizzled with dairy-free ranch; the Vegan Korean BBQ Chicken-less Topper with Korean BBQ sauce, smothered in dairy-free mozzarella cheese, topped with plant-based crispy chicken, onions and green peppers; and the Vegan Tuscano Topper with homemade pizza sauce, dairy-free mozzarella cheese, topped with garlic-roasted tomatoes, green olives and tasty spinach.
All of the new vegan menu items feature plant-based, dairy-free cheese from pioneering plant-based brand Follow Your Heart. Customers will be able to “veganize” any signature pizza or Topperstix with Follow Your Heart’s Dairy-Free Mozzarella Shreds, as well as enjoy the brand’s High Omega Vegan Ranch Dressing as a dipping sauce. All vegan-friendly choices at Toppers can be viewed HERE.
NEW CHOICES, NO DAIRY
Toppers partnered with Milwaukee-based vegan chef Melanie Manuel to develop its vegan menu who chose Follow Your Heart products as key ingredients on the chain’s menu. Already a key player in the plant-based cheese space, Southern California-based Follow Your Heart was thrilled to be a part of this progressive menu with a restaurant that takes its cheese seriously (for its non-vegan pizzas, Toppers prides itself on using only 100% real Wisconsin Cheese). The three vegan pizzas topped with Follow Your Heart products include Vegan Buffalo Chicken-less Topper, Vegan Korean BBQ Chicken-less Topper and Vegan Tuscano Topper. Follow Your Heart’s Dairy-Free Mozzarella Shreds have real cheese taste, melt and texture and are non-GMO and soy free. Its High Omega Vegan Ranch is creamy and tangy yet entirely dairy-free, egg-free, non-GMO and vegan, plus is made with omega-3 fatty acid-rich hemp and flaxseed oils.
“One of our goals is to align with restaurants like Toppers who are looking to add plant-based options to their menu,” said Katie Franklin, Vice President of Product & Marketing at Follow Your Heart. “Our partnership with Toppers will help introduce our products and bring more options to long-time vegans and those who are new to plant-based eating.”
“Our vegan customers have been lacking options in the pizza delivery and pickup segment of the restaurant industry, and we’re excited to be able to offer delicious new pizzas and toppings for them to enjoy,” said Malchow. “We’re in the process of innovating flavors for our core offerings of pizzas and Topperstix and have a lot of new, exciting items in the pipeline.”
Manuel, a plant-conscious chef who has been a vegetarian herself since the age of 16, says she’s thrilled to have been able to work with Toppers to showcase vegan food as a regular part of the classic menu.
“It’s been a fantastic experience to partner with a leading brand with fans across the country to normalize vegan offerings,” said Manuel. “We’re looking forward to being able to provide a platform for vegan food through a predominantly cheese-based pizza brand.”
The vegan menu offerings will be available at all Toppers locations starting on Monday, October 5.
ABOUT TOPPERS PIZZA
Capitalizing on the booming better pizza category and fueled by the passion of Founder & President Scott Gittrich and a team of experienced industry veterans, Toppers Pizza has formulated the perfect recipe to appeal to both pizza enthusiasts and savvy investors. Headquartered in Wisconsin, Toppers is committed to quality and consistency throughout the system, and plans to maintain corporate ownership of 25 percent of all locations while the brand expands to continuously improve on best practices and product development. Toppers fanatics love the brand’s fresh, handmade and customizable pizza baked in about 360 seconds and delivered extremely fast, with more than a million combinations of fresh, high quality toppings, and the brand’s signature line of flavored Topperstix and baked Buffalo wings. In 2018, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Toppers as one of the Top 200 Food-Based Franchises. For more information on Toppers Pizza, visit https://www.toppers.com/.
