Responding to Customer Feedback
Since being named CEO of Toppers, Oldenburg has seen consumers rein in their pizza spending. “We saw this coming. I’ve been in the pizza business for 18 years; I’ve watched a couple of economic downturns. In these time periods when the wallets start tightening, people are fixated on price,” he said.
Last fall, Toppers wanted to understand why previously loyal customers had abandoned the brand. Oldenburg and seven of his colleagues divided up a list of lapsed customers and called them. “The success rate of cold calling customers nowadays is low, but we did it anyway. We left a message, ‘Hey, we’ll get you some free pizza. We just have a couple of questions.’”
The promise of free pizza swayed nearly 400 customers to return the call. Combined with data, the customer feedback “really helped us decide what our strategic priorities were (for 2024). We took four price increases during COVID. We could not keep up with the demand for our products,” he explained. “You think you’re invincible during those time periods; every good thing can come to an end quickly.”
Customers repeatedly said the brand had become expensive and cited problems with delivery wait times and no-shows.
“When your ears are open, you can learn a lot from your customers,” he said.
As a result of its data analysis and customer feedback, Toppers made the strategic shift to promote carryout. In February, Topper launched a carryout promotion: one topping pizza for $7.99, or $9.99 for a three-topping pizza. “This covers 80% of our entire menu at a discount,” he said.
Customers are opting for pickup for the cost-savings. Even before the promotion, delivery sales had been on a “a really fast slide” from high to low demand, he said. “…Our carryout has gone through the roof because people are changing their spending habits. We’re trying to make it more profitable for us to hand a pizza over the counter at a discounted price than doing delivery,” Oldenburg said.
