Just as Michigan State University (MSU) students were abandoning campus for winter break, Ryan Kaminski opened Toppers Pizza, a new pizza joint on Grand River in East Lansing.
“Our target market is 18 to 24-year-olds, so we prefer to be in college towns,” Kaminski says about his decision to open the first Michigan-based Toppers franchise in East Lansing. Toppers is a Wisconsin-based pizza chain. 
“I felt like East Lansing was a straightforward campus,” Kaminski says. “It’s not too big, but it’s not too small.”
Kaminski took over the 2,800 square foot, former Papiano’s pizzeria at 1219 E. Grand River Ave. He plans to have 25-30 full and part-time employees. He says he does the majority of his business between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m.
Kaminski grew up in Wisconsin. He says Michigan and Wisconsin are fairly similar, pointing out that “You can’t make normal left hand turns in either state.”
You can expect to see more Toppers Pizza locations in Michigan in the next few years.
“Michigan is one of the places where we will work with franchisees on opening stores,” says Abbey Freeman, marketing coordinator for Toppers Pizza. “We really want to expand in that market.”
Source: Ryan Kaminski, Toppers Pizza
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie
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