Just in time for the summer selling season, Kronik Energy drinks are being added to the vaults of more than 140 company-operated Maverik convenience stores across seven western states. Kronik Energy is being introduced as a new product to the Maverik stores based on customer demand for a fresh, chug-able and thirst-quenching, alternative to the [...]
Shell is changing the way it rewards senior managers, less than a year after shareholders revolted against its executive-pay policies, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a letter to investors, Hans Wijers, chairman of Shell’s remuneration committee, said salaries paid to Chief Executive Peter Voser and Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry-who stepped into their current [...]
Calgary, Alberta-based Suncor Energy has reached an agreement with Progress Energy Resources Corp. to sell certain natural gas properties for about $390 million (in Canadian dollars). Current production on these lands is about 43.8 million cubic feet equivalent per day (mmcfe/d). The sale includes properties known as Jedney, Beg and Blueberry, which are located in [...]
TOP PERFORMERS Hershey’s Mars HONORABLE MENTIONS Nestlé Ghirardelli While the current recession has slowed down sales of everything from cars to organic groceries, people seem happy to keep shelling out for chocolate, and convenience store owners couldn’t happier. Chocolate is one of the more recession-resilient food sectors. With consumers eating out less and eating at [...]
TOP PERFORMERS Oreo (Nabisco/Kraft) Kellogg’s/Keebler Chips Ahoy (Nabisco/Kraft) HONORABLE MENTIONS Bon Appetit Mrs. Freshley’s (Flowers Foods) Prairie City Bakery Sweet snacks purchases are on the rise at convenience stores creating new sales opportunities across all dayparts. Packaged sweets accounted for 2.6% of the $114,010 stores acquired through average monthly sales in 2008, according to the [...]
TOP PERFORMERS Altria Sales & Distribution (Philip Morris USA) R. J. Reynolds Lorillard HONORABLE MENTIONS Liggett Vector Natural American Spirit/Santa Fe (Reynolds American) Commonwealth Brands Despite the wild nine-month ride that saw a large federal tax increase and the Food & Drug Administration gain control over the category, cigarettes continue to dominate in-store sales, accounting [...]
Cool Products Unveiled The top new items viewed by retailers at the NACS Show include: • Dippin’ Stix Healthy Snacks, Reichel Foods Inc. • Pringles Extreme Peggable Bags, Procter & Gamble Distributing Co. • Eclipse ELS, ElectraLED Inc. • Stride Gum, Cadbury North America • Dole Fruit Bowls in a Clear Merchandise Glide, Dole Food [...]
Signs of the Times Overextended and anxious about the economy, consumers are responding to economic pressures by buying less, borrowing less and paying down credit card debt. The amount Americans owe on credit cards and other consumer loans plunged a record $21.6 billion in July, dimming prospects that the budding economic recovery will extend to [...]
Increases on cigarettes have put the category’s long-term viability in jeopardy. By Jim Callahan, Convenience Store Solutions I recently saw a statistic that declared tobacco was no longer king in convenience stores. While that is not yet true for most of us, it’s about to become an indisputable fact. The entire country now gets to [...]