Barbecuing brisket wasn’t anywhere on Rudolph Aue’s agenda in 1929, when heopened his one-pump country store in the tiny community of Leon Springs, TX,just a few miles west of San Antonio. In fact, it wasn’t until 60 years later,when Aue sold the operation, that the pit was first lit. The buyer was restaurateur Phil Romano, [...]
Huck’s Food & Fuel (Carmi, IL) is no stranger to big ideas. The company’s latest brainstorm has the chain saving on phone calls made from stores to regional and district managers. It’s also getting operations staffers more involved in the decision-making process surrounding competitive gas pricing. A little more than a year ago, Huck’s President [...]
Some O’Connell Oil stores receive upwards of 30 call-ahead orders per day. Store-made sandwiches are popular, but deli meats and platters are the big draw. Which came first, the deli or the sandwich program? Pittsfield, MA-based O’Connell Oil may be in the minority, but it was trying to become a destination for deli meats long [...]
Rotisserie chicken. Cold sandwiches. Pizza. Fresh fruit. Display cases boost the sales potential of any food item. Display cases hold and merchandise products effectively and offer customers a quick showing of the operator’s menu selections. The idea is to give Mr. Customer the opportunity to view the retailer’s fareand increase the likelihood of him making [...]
Branded fast food and a retooled ’people process’ inspire New West Petroleum to new-found profitability in the Golden State. California’s New West Petroleum often interviews 40 candidates to fill one store manager’s job or 20 candidates for one sales associate’s job. But the pools of talent in the two major markets in which the company [...]
Valero and Wesco are among the ’do-it-yourselfers’ finding efficiency and sales opportunities by handling their own distribution. Earlier this month, Valero Energy Corp. changed the way it conducted business at 650 of its Texas-based Diamond Shamrock Corner Stores. The chain leased a 130,000 sq. ft. warehouse in the San Antonio area and spent $7 million [...]
Petro Stopping Centers’ new prepaid card programs diversify the chain’s product mix. They also boost sales in the store, at the pump and in the dining room. The rapid transformation of the telecommunications superhighway hasn’t come without its share of potholes, detours and a few roadkill carcasses. Just five years ago, after all, longdistance cards [...]
Trend-setting fuel marketer Bill Knight serves up ’chef-crafted meals to go’ at his amazing NexStore MarketPlace in one of South Florida’s most affluent locales. The birds living in the lush foliage adorning the NexStore MarketPlace in South Florida’s affluent Boca Raton community couldn’t have it much better. Thrushes and mockingbirds look happy and well fed, [...]
A critic’s mock cooking competition paints convenience stores in a slightly more refined light. (Note the use of the word slightly.) Are the words “convenience store” and “gourmet foods” mutually exclusive? With a little help, according to one non-scientific “study,” virtually any convenience store can supply the goods for a delightful night of fine dining. [...]
Carrying on a local college tradition has given New York retailer Albert Smith new menu items and a new generation of grateful customers. In the 28 years Albert Smith has operated the Shortstop Deli (Ithaca, NY), he has never gotten a hug from a customer. Sure, his patrons appreciate that the coffee is fresh, that [...]
The roller grill has evolved. Today’s versatile roller grills cook up and merchandise a lot more than just hot dogs. Roller grills are a great way to prepare and merchandise a growing number of foods in convenience stores. In fact, operators are finding that roller grills are much more versatile than once thought. Not long [...]
Nice N Easy’s foodservice expert took its programs to the next level by applying a more scholarly approach. By Kate Quackenbush, Associate Editor Jack Cushman has made foodservice the focus of his education and careerand pizza is his forte. He received his Ph.D. from Kansas State University in Hotel, Restaurant, Institutional Foodservice and Dietetics. He [...]
QSR Pal’s Sudden Service expects and gets outstanding results from a well-trained workforce ofstrategic thinkers. by Dave Scopinich, Contributing Editor Pal’s Facts Pal’s has lost just four general managers since 1981—the last one left in 2000 to buy his own restaurant. Pal’s President and CEO Thom Crosby calls today’s young workers "part of the best [...]
A decade ago, RJ Reynolds took a journey to the center of its Doral brand, located its DNA, and began rebuilding it from the inside out. For convenience retailers, there is much to be learned from the example. Flash back to that infamous Friday in 1993, when Philip Morris took swift and dramatic action to [...]