Toppers pizza

So I managed to get "Free food for a year" from Toppers pizza. The deal was that the first 50 customers on opening day won. I researched and monitored the event, but was too apprehensive about what the free food for a year actually entailed to brave a 24 hour wait in freezing rain. I did stop and talk to the first two guys early in their sit. Said they were just bored. Anyhow, I alerted my brother to the situation, as he too is a fan of free food. I had given up on the idea of waiting, but got a text from him the day of the event at 7:30a saying there were only 35 people in line. (The store opened at 10:30) By the time my brain started working, I figured that there was still a possibility I could win, and headed to the store. I got there at 10:20a and was #66 in line. That wasn't all-she-wrote though. 13 more FFFAY prizes were to be raffled off. I waited around and got the last one. Oddly, only 3 people who came to the "event" didn't win. They got free pizzas though.



As it turns out, the terms of the deal are that I have a coupon book with one coupon for each week for a specific item. This week it was a 12" grinder. Next week it's a large 2 topping pizza, etc, etc. At around $10 an item, I figure the coupon book it worth around $520 - not bad for waiting in line for a half hour!



For those unfamiliar with Toppers, (as I was) it's worth noting that it is a Wisconsin based franchise with the first store opening in Champaign, IL. (I am noticing a trend with "college" oriented restaurant chains starting in C/U.. see La Bambas) The West Lafayette store is their first in Indiana. The food seems to be of good quality. The chain's image seems to be mildly goofy and pop culture centric.. For example, when calling for an order, you get hold options like "hear Morgan Freeman read a page from his diary", etc. You can check out their site at www.toppers.com

So anyway, the food.. So far I've had the bacon stix and a baked italian grinder. The bacon stix were pretty good. Similar to Mad Mushroom cheesestix and covered in bacon. They have several other topped cheesestix, and I will investigate those in the coming weeks I'm sure. The grinder was not bad. It was pretty basic, with bread like Quiznos, and for what it's worth, a 12" is definitely enough for two people to split.

I'm looking forward to trying out the pizza. I will report on it when I get the chance and see how it fits in Lafayette's pizza landscape.