BILLINGS, Mont. — One local business owner is opening his fourth sandwich shop in Billings. after college, Billings native and founder of Topz, Tucker Veltkamp took the majority of his savings and opened his first sandwich shop in November of 2015. He later opened his second location in 2019 to provide the option of a drive-thru.
Tucker said owning two businesses comes with many sleepless nights, he added, the covid pandemic gave him many challenges. According to the federal reserve across the U.S. over 700k businesses closed their doors.
“We came up with the drive-through right before covid and it ended up working out as an incredible blessing, that not only got us through, but it helped us thrive through covid we thrived to the extent that I felt confident opening a third store and I really wanted to bring Topz to the heights and that is a drive through only and that kind of came out of covid just realizing you know there is less demand for sit down and the take-out demand is so high,” said Veltkamp
Tucker said he was blessed because the community’s support helped him keep his door
“So I was very grateful for the billings community, they supported us so well through that, I asked for help, I came out with a live video, and just the responses…to that the very next week and all through that summer it really pulled us through and it made me believe in what I’m doing even more.”
Tucker said the success of the second location allowed him to open a third and is now on his way to a fourth.
Seth Weldun, who has been coming to Topz since the very beginning said its inspiring to see Tuckers succeed as a local business owner
“Me being a young business professional as well, it’s inspiring to see someone have a desired goal and really just have the drive to be successful. He uses local, fresh, everything, and that’s what I think attracts me and keeps me coming back because one he’s a great entrepreneur in our community, and then two he’s really good at giving back, and he makes a dame good sandwich.” said Weldun.
Tucker advises his fellow entrepreneur and business owners to never give up and look to the community for support. Tucker added he is also looking to expand Topz Sandwich Company beyond the Big Sky.
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