Smoker Friendly International has named Darren Collett, owner of Collett Enterprises and a Smoker Friendly Authorized Dealer (SFAD) with 17 stores in Southern Indiana, its Director of Brand Growth. Collett’s responsibilities will include working industry trade shows, selling the SFAD program to retailers and distributors, to continue the Smoker Friendly brand expansion in retail store [...]
Four workers have been hurt in today’s oil refinery explosion in Big Spring–as the blaze continues to burn. Officials said they are unsure on caused the explosion at the West Texas unit operated by Dallas-based Alon USA. Authorities said one company worker suffered burns and has been transported to a hospital. His condition wasn’t immediately [...]
An overwhelming majority of Dunkin’ Donuts franchise owners in New England and New York oppose new partnerships between Dunkin’ Brands, Sara Lee Foods, Procter & Gamble and Hess convenience stores. The majority also believes these actions will ultimately devalue the iconic coffee brand. A spokesman for Dunkin’ Donuts disagreed saying the chain did extensive due [...]
The Anheuser-Busch Foundation is donating $100,000 to the American Red Cross to aid relief efforts for victims of last week’s Southern tornadoes. The devastating line of thunderstorms and tornadoes swept across the midsection of the United States last week, leaving a widespread path of destruction in its wake. The storms killed at least 55 people, [...]
As the industry changes and evolves and you must continually battle blurred channels, changing technologies and decreased differentiation, one thing is constant: the experience you offer your customers can set you apart from your competition and keep your customers coming back. Great customer experience begins with knowing how your customers view your stores, your product [...]
Alon USA, one of the largest 7-Eleven licensees in the U.S., has hit a snag in its bid to rebrand the Skinny’s stores it acquired last year. Margaret Chabris, a spokeswoman for Dallas-based 7-Eleven, told the Waco (Texas) Tribune Herald it is not inclined to support expansion into the Waco market. It would prefer to [...]
Dunkin’ Donuts is stepping up its pressure on convenience and fast food retail, by launching its new, all-day Oven-Toasted menu. The new platform marks the most significant change to Dunkin’ Donuts product lineup since the company launched espresso-based beverages in 2003. The menu items are now available in 3,500 shops throughout the country, including participating [...]
Wesco, a self-distributed operator of more than 50 convenience stores in Michigan, has selected the KSS suite of fuels pricing products, incorporating PriceNet, PriceNet Mobile, and KSS Visualizer, for a company-wide implementation. Wesco chose the KSS product suite to improve the process through which it gathers, validates and presents market-level information to the pricing team. [...]
Phil Freeman, vice president of human resources for Sheetz Inc., said he is stepping down after 19 years of service and will be replaced by the chain’s current manager of internal communications, Stephanie Hoover. Freeman began his career with Sheetz in 1988 as corporate controller in the finance department. He served in that role until [...]
With plans for a $40 million addition underway to its W.K. Kellogg Institute for Food and Nutrition Research (WKKI) in Battle Creek, Mich., and a host of new products hitting store shelves, Kellogg Co. continues its focus on innovation. Since WKKI opened in 1997, the company’s net sales from innovation have almost doubled. In addition, [...]
Staying Alive: Planning to Thrive! Staying Alive is both the title of an old disco tune, as well as a description of the challenge that today’s c-store operators face. C-store growth in numbers as well as quality continues unabated. I certainly don’t have all the answers about staying relevant, but I have some very interesting [...]
<p> Tomlinson Industries has purchased of a new manufacturing/warehouse facility in Macedonia, Ohio. The building is 72,000 square feet with area for potential further growth. As a result, all production and warehousing for the foodservice products division will be relocated to Macedonia, the company said. Consolidating foodservice operations will allow for greater control of product [...]
As part of its transition to a franchise-based business, BP said it has put up for sale 78 stores in the Chicago market. The British oil company now has hundreds of stores available through sealed-bid auctions managed by NRC Realty Advisors LLC across the country. Of the 78 Chicago sites, 65 are available for franchise, [...]
A new benchmark study conducted by Retail Systems Research (RSR), and sponsored by Eqos, titled, "PLM Squared: Product Lifecycle Management Powers Private Label Merchandise" reports on key industry trends that have affected private label programs during the past two years. Additionally, this report identifies best practices implemented by the most successful retailers and offers recommendations [...]
Wright Express Corp. reached a deal to acquire certain assets of privately held Pacific Pride Services Inc. for approximately $32 million in cash. The deal will be financed through the company’s existing credit facility and is expected to close before the end of the first quarter of 2008. The U.S. fleet fuel distributor channel represents [...]