The Lure of Limited Time Offers

When it comes to pizza nothing creates more urgency for me than the words “limited time”. 

When I hear “limited availability” all decency goes out the door as I scramble for the nearest slice—I resemble George Costanza from the sitcom Seinfeld shoving women and children out of the way when he hears “Fire!”.

Toppers Pizza, bless their hearts, has got my business locked down for the month of February by playing on this age-old law of human nature.  For the brief 29 days, Toppers has gifted us back two beloved old school all-stars: Taco Stix and Cool CBR (chicken, bacon, ranch) Pizza and I am extremely stoked (Hallelujah it’s a leap year, we get an extra day of Tacostix!).

Growing up in Whitewater WI. the home of “topperstix” I’ve been ingrained with a deep infatuation with cheesy, garlicky breadsticks of all varieties, especially Topper’s Tacostix.

Every so often I’ll get a craving so intense I’ll have no choice but to flip “pizza-night” into “cheesy-breadstick-night” and last weekend with their limited-time offer bewitching me I couldn’t ignore my urges and headed straight to stick-town.

Tacostix. 

Luckily for me, I have got an inside man (Thanks Adam!) who leaked this intel so I could start feasting January 31st as soon as they hit the menu (though I had to give a refresher to the employees on how to make Tacostix).

After my first dunk in the ranch cup, I was transported back to a better time—when I could eat Tacostix whenever I wanted.  I relished those little bits of taco meat that nestle themselves into melted mozzarella, cheddar cheese, and garlic-butter basted dough.

A deadline is a powerful thing.

Years ago I could enjoy Tacostix from 11am-3am any day of the week (yes, they have insane hours), but now that those zesty stick’s days are numbered that has unleashed an undeniable enticement within me.

When somethings about to go bye-bye it makes us want it ten times more—that’s the law of scarcity.  Or in Topper’s case artificial scarcity; clever marketing to create demand with a limited run (but hey it works for me!).

Though Topper’s brief return of my most beloved classic feels a little like they’re tugging at my heartstrings (I’m not the only one who shares that sentiment, see below), there’s no doubt they’ve engaged an effective strategy to create some buzz and secured some business for the month.

What I’m eating: Toppers Tacosticks with ranch dipping sauce.

What I’m reading:   Benjamin Franklin: An American Life –Walter Isaacson

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Learning from the Master

For many the new year is marked with memberships; gym memberships, monthly meal-kit memberships, and digital streaming memberships.  This year though, I think I landed the best membership of all.

When my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas it may come as no surprise that I asked for pizza.  Half joking I suggested she deliver my favorite Rosa’s or Gus’ pizza from my hometown of Whitewater to Madison.

To my delight, my parents took my request to heart and delivered (not with a Rosas extra-large pizza and large sticks special, although bless their hearts they have done that), but with a pizza gift that will keep giving this whole year:

A Pizza of the Month Club Subscription.

That’s right, I’m now the proud member of a Pizza of the Month Club by Amazing Clubs. Every 3 months a variety of “gourmet” pizzas is going to just show up at my door and in my first shipment, I got a pretty off the wall combo.

“Hot Italian Beef” deep-dish pizza.

When I received that initial dry-ice packed box on my doorstep it felt like Christmas morning all over again.  As I inspected my new arrivals I did a double-take as I found a pan-style “Hot Italian Beef” pizza complete with spicy giardiniera and all.

I’m a sucker for spicy giardiniera.

I was pleasantly surprised at the composition; very thin strips of meat wove themselves through mozzarella and tender bits of giardiniera that softened from the 25 minutes in the oven.  The crust wasn’t too thick and basically acted like a bowl that contained the layers of cheese, beef, giardiniera and an ultra-light base of pizza sauce.

Good old mom not only gifted me some excellent pizza but taught me an important lesson in communication:  Listen.

Turns out effective communication is more about listening and responding appropriately to someone’s needs rather than trying to convey our own point.

Author Adam Grant uses a quote from former CEO Joe Quigley in his book Give and Take:  “Many times, you can have a bigger impact if you know what to ask, rather than knowing what to say.  I don’t learn anything when I’m speaking.  I learn a lot when I’m listening.”

It obviously doesn’t take a lot of investigating to realize my passion for pizza, but after all these years of jib jabbering about it, it turns out my Mom was paying attention.

So, she not only scored the “best Mom of 2020” award and stocked me up with delicious writing material for the next year, but reminded me of a skill that will surely prove useful in my own parenting adventures. 

What I’m eating:  Hot Italian beef Chicago Style deep-dish pizza from Amazing Clubs-Pizza of the Month Club

What I’m reading: How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk –Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish