STORE MANAGERS Ideas for building up your store leaders
NACS SHOW
A first look at the 2025 NACS Show
Intoxicating hemp, canned cocktails and functional ingredients mix up the cold vault
STORE MANAGERS
Ideas for building up your store leaders
NACS SHOW
A first look at the 2025 NACS Show
Intoxicating hemp, canned cocktails and functional ingredients mix up the cold vault
FEATURES
28
Level Up at the 2025 NACS Show
Get ready for this year’s event in Chicago with a sneak peak of what’s to come.
40
Flavor Focus: International Trends
This Q&A is brought to you by International Food Solutions.
Offering international foods on the menu can help draw more customers and prevent foodservice leakage.
42 Fuel Your Frontline Workforce
Retailers are going beyond the basics and evolving their hiring, training and retention strategies to engage their store employees.
56 Putting the Energy Back in Energy Drinks
Energy beverages see sales booming and new brands entering the market—as usual.
74
Sipping Smarter: Functional Beverages Are In the Spotlight
Consumers are gravitating to toward ingredients that support health and brain function.
ONTENTS
80
Building Better Store Managers
Providing store leaders with the right support— even before they take on a management role— sets everyone up for success.
88
Raise a Can to Spirits
Convenient RTDs and flavorforward brands are driving shopper demand for spirits— and c-stores are meeting the moment.
A Seed of Opportunity
Intoxicating hemp beverages could represent a huge market for convenience—if it’s not locked out.
Subscribe to NACS Daily—an indispensable “quick read” of industry headlines and legislative and regulatory news, along with knowledge and resources from NACS, delivered to your inbox every weekday. Subscribe at www.convenience.org/NACSdaily STAY
THE KEY INGREDIENT FOR SUCCESS IS YOU.
With over 30 years of experience in the c-store industry, Hunt Brothers® Pizza has perfected a program designed to maximize your profits. The only ingredient missing is you.
EDITORIAL
Jeff Lenard
VP of NACS Media & Strategic Communications (703) 518-4272 jlenard@convenience.org
Jennifer Nichols Leidich National Advertising Manager/Northeast (703) 518-4276 jleidich@convenience.org
Ted Asprooth
National Sales Manager/ Midwest, West (703) 518-4277 tasprooth@convenience.org
PUBLISHING
Nancy Pappas Marketing Director (703) 518-4290 npappas@convenience.org
Logan Dion Digital Media and Ad Trafficker (703) 864-3600 ldion@convenience.org
NACS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CHAIR: Brian Hannasch Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.
TREASURER: Annie Gauthier, CFO/Co-CEO, St. Romain Oil Co. LLC
OFFICERS: Chris Bambury, Bambury Inc.; Varish Goyal, Loop Neighborhood Markets; Lonnie McQuirter, 36 Lyn Refuel Station; Charles McIlvaine, Coen Markets Inc.; Tony Miller, Retail Delek US
GENERAL COUNSEL: Doug Kantor, NACS
MEMBERS: Lisa Blalock, BP North America Inc.; Tom Brennan, Casey’s; Andrew Clyde, Murphy USA; Brian Donaldson, Maxol Limited; Terry Gallagher, Gasamat Oil Corp./Smoker Friendly; Erin Graziosi, Robinson Oil Corporation; Raymond Huff HJB Convenience Corp.
NACS SUPPLIER BOARD
SUPPLIER BOARD CHAIR: Vito Maurici, McLane Co. Inc.
CHAIR-ELECT: Bryan Morrow, Chobani & La Colombe
VICE CHAIRS: Mike Gilroy, Mars Wrigley; Jim Hughes, GALLO; Kevin LeMoyne, The Coca-Cola Co.
MEMBERS: Tony Battaglia; Ryan Calong, Pabst Brewing Co.; Jerry Cutler, InComm Payments; Jack Dickinson, Dover Fueling Solutions; Matt Domingo, Reynolds; Mark Falconi, Greenridge Naturals; Ramona Giderof, Diageo Beer; Danielle Holloway, Altria Group Distribution Co.; Kevin Kraft, Tropicana Brands; Jay Nelson,
dba Russell’s; Mark Jordan Refuel Operating Co.; Brian McCarthy, Blarney Castle Oil Co.; Natalie Morhaus, RaceTrac Inc.; Jigar Patel, Fastime; Robert Razowsky, Rmarts LLC; Stanley Reynolds, 7-Eleven Inc.; Kristin Seabrook, Global Partners LP; Travis Sheetz, Sheetz Inc.; Babir Sultan, Fav Trip; Doug Yawberry, Weigel’s Stores Inc.; Scott Zietlow, Kwik Trip Inc.
PAST CHAIRS: Victor Paterno, Philippine Seven Corp.; Don Rhoads, The Convenience Group LLC.
SUPPLIER BOARD
REPRESENTATIVES: Vito Maurici, McLane Co. Inc.; Brian Morrow, Chobani & La Colombe
Excel Tire Gauge LLC; Jordan Nicgorski, JUUL Labs; Nick Paich, TriggerPoint Media; Sarah Vilim, Keurig Dr Pepper; Derek Zahajko, CAF Inc.
GENERAL COUNSEL: Doug Kantor, NACS
STAFF LIAISON: Bob Hughes, NACS
RETAIL BOARD REPRESENTATIVES: Tom Brennan, Casey’s; Scott Hartman, Rutter’s; Kevin Smartt, TXB
PAST CHAIRS: David Charles, Cash Depot; Brent Cotten, The Hershey Co.; Kevin Farley
NACS Magazine (ISSN 1939-4780) is published monthly by the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), Alexandria, Virginia, USA.
Subscriptions are included in the dues paid by NACS member companies. Subscriptions are also available to qualified recipients. The publisher reserves the right to limit the number of free subscriptions and to set related qualifications criteria.
Ispend a lot of time explaining to people who aren’t in this industry (friends, neighbors, relatives) why it’s so great. One of my talking points is that as ingenious, innovative and complex as the convenience retail world is, its focus is relentlessly human—that’s true for both the customer and the frontliner worker.
As a former frontline worker myself (at a Kum & Go in Iowa), I believe in this industry’s ability to become an employer of choice. C-store jobs are great jobs, and retailers are proving that every day by deepening their commitment to the people who run the store.
This issue of NACS Magazine has two articles that dive into the frontline experience, looking at what innovative companies are doing to attract, retain and train their frontline workers and build them into managers. “Building Better Store Managers,” by Steve Holtz, explains how to treat your new frontline worker like a potential manager, while “Fuel Your Frontline Workforce,” by Lauren Shanesy, explores how to create a culture of engagement.
My favorite sentiment in this issue is in “Fuel Your Frontline Workforce.” It’s courtesy of Maurice Lamarche with The Market by Tiger Fuel in the Charlottesville, Virginia-area. According to Lamarche, the most important indicator of whether an employee will stick around is … how they were treated on their worst day on the job.
We also do a deep dive into the cooler. Intoxicating hemp beverages could be the next big thing in our industry, and convenience—with its proven record of responsible age verification— is the right place for consumers to find them. Melissa Vonder Haar’s “A Seed of Opportunity,” explores the promise and pitfalls of this buzzy beverage. We also cover spirits, functional beverages and energy—both drinks and shots.
Last but not least: The NACS Show returns to Chicago this year, and our preview, “Level Up,” gives you everything you need to know to start planning. It will be my third NACS Show and my first in Chicago, and I’m so excited to head to McCormick Place, October 14-17.
Ben Nussbaum Editor-in-Chief
Visit NACSShow.com to register for the 2025 NACS Show, which takes place in Chicago October 14-17.
24,000+ Endless
Opportunities for selfies with your favorite celebrities
1
1 GIANT GLOBE, 1 SKUNK MASCOT, and 1 SPEAKEASY—learn more during the Ideas 2 Go videos at the General Sessions
164
New NACS Show exhibitors
50
People expected to attend the 2025 NACS Show
20
Education Sessions miles of carpet gets laid the night before the NACS Show Expo hall opens
2,688
convenience stores in the city of Chicago
150
Approximately how many 3,000-square-foot convenience stores could fit on the NACS Show Expo floor
Lisa Dell’Alba Convenience Industry Leadership Scholarship Supports Industry Education
The NACS Foundation will launch the Lisa Dell’Alba Convenience Industry Leadership Scholarship this fall. The scholarship will support emerging industry leaders who demonstrate leadership potential and a passion for developing others within their organization and/or the greater convenience and fuel retailing industry.
The Lisa Dell’Alba Convenience Industry Leadership Scholarship is administered by the NACS Foundation and was funded by industry peers and friends to honor the passion and commitment Lisa Dell’Alba had for mentoring future leaders. Dell’Alba, who was president and CEO of Square One Markets Inc. and very active in NACS, most recently serving on its Executive Committee as treasurer, died in February 2025.
“There was no part of Lisa that wasn’t about giving back. She was more than passionate about our industry—she was passionate about the people. She led by example and inspired and motivated so many people,” said NACS President and CEO Henry Armour.
The scholarship provides graduates of the NACS Leadership for Success program (endowed by Hershey), which Dell’Alba co-moderated several years in a row, the opportunity to participate in the weeklong, in-person NACS Executive Leadership Program at Cornell University (endowed by Reynolds). The scholarship covers the full cost of program tuition, which includes instruction, course materials, assessments, lodging, scheduled meals, networking and
entertainment. An additional $1,000 stipend will be available to cover transportation and out-of-pocket expenses. Cornell University will match the annual scholarship, allowing for two scholarships to be awarded annually. Applications for the scholarship will be judged on the following criteria:
• Industry leadership and future potential, which incorporates relevant experience, industry and/ or community references and a short essay
• Significance, impact and innovation of a proposed project that would benefit the community
• Demonstrated service to the convenience and fuel retailing industry and community
Applications will be available in October and must be received by December 15, 2025. The scholarship recipients will be announced in February 2026 to enable participation in the 2026 program year. To learn more about the scholarship or to inquire about contributing to the program or the NACS Foundation, e-mail scholarship@conveniencecares. org or go to the official scholarship web page at conveniencecares.org/ lisascholarship.
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UP FRONT NACS NEWS
Top Takeaways From CSE in Copenhagen
In May, retailers from all over the world gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark, for NACS Convenience Summit Europe (CSE). Industry leaders spent several days networking, learning from each other and touring convenience stores around the country to gain insights into the European market. Mark Wohltmann, director of NACS Global, recapped key learnings and insights from the summit this year.
What
were your top highlights from the event?
Three things were really notable to me during my time in Copenhagen for CSE.
First, we had a great event turnout and you could really see the desire to learn among the delegates. We are in really tough times right now. There’s so much turmoil around the world and no matter what happens or where, supply chains will be disrupted, consumer spending will change and our business is just getting tougher. People wanted to maximize every opportunity to talk to each other, learn and to prepare themselves for the future.
Second, the two top-selling 7-Eleven locations are both in the city’s central train station. 7-Eleven dominates in Copenhagen—there’s one on every corner. What 7-Eleven does very well there is that they don’t just build a box or try to squeeze their store into whatever location they have. They focus heavily on differentiating by location and paying attention to the consumer needs for each individual store to make them successful. It’s about speaking in depth with the franchisees to determine what products or services they need on a location-specific basis.
Third, cybercrime is top of mind for retailers right now, especially in Europe. It’s not a question of if you will be hacked, it’s when. There will be an incident, so are you prepared for it? All retailers need to look at how prepared they are for a breach.
What stands out about the convenience market in Copenhagen?
Fresh food and better-for-you options are prevalent in Copenhagen. 7-Eleven already makes more than 44% of their inside sales from healthier options. But they managed to not just add niche options for some customers who want a salad, for example, they built it into a real business model. They found that adding specific better-for-you foods didn’t just satisfy their existing customers, but actually attracted a completely new customer group to start shopping at 7-Eleven and therefore expanded their business.
Why is it important for retailers to gain a global perspective of our industry?
Whatever you’re working on, issue you have, opportunity you see or idea you have … there is already someone, somewhere in the world that is more advanced than you are. So you don’t have to reinvent everything or make the same mistakes as others do. Talk to them and learn from them about both positives and negatives.
What do you hope attendees took away from this summit?
When we think about the future of our industry—the combination of petrol and electric vehicles, along with convenience and foodservice, we need to know how that whole ecosystem works together. In Copenhagen we saw so many different types of stores and formats, and the key learning comes down to, “How do I get people onto my site and into my building? What can I sell that makes a profit?” And I think foodservice has been the big topic for the past three decades and will continue to be going forward.
During the store tours, Convenience Summit Europe attendees got a behind-thescenes look at some of Copenhagen’s convenience stores—including this Circle K.
NACS and Convenience Retailers Help Celebrate the ‘Great American Road Trip’
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the Great American Road Trip earlier this summer, a new ongoing campaign to promote American-made vehicles and automotive tourism.
Introduced through a car show and expo outside the U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters in Washington, D.C. in May, the Great American Road Trip campaign helped kick off the broader America250 initiative, a series of nonpartisan civic celebrations coordinated by the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission leading up to the nation’s 250th anniversary next year.
The convenience industry took part in the event, alongside automobile and RV manufacturers, quick-serve restaurants and others in the hospitality and tourism sectors. NACS members Pilot and RaceTrac were among the companies welcoming visitors with refreshments and giveaways at the expo’s main stage. Their teams also distributed a handout featuring an infographic with NACS data on road trips and highlighting NACS Magazine articles about road trips: “Worth the Road Trip!” from the May 2025 issue and “The Worst Road Trip Ever” from the December 2022 issue.
Calendar of Events
NOVEMBER
NACS Innovation Leadership Program at MIT
November 02-07 | MIT Sloan School of Management Cambridge, Massachusetts
NACS Women’s Leadership Program at Yale
November 09-14 | Yale School of Management, Yale University New Haven, Connecticut
2026
MARCH
NACS Human Resources Forum
March 16-18 | Galt House Hotel Louisville, Kentucky
“Convenience stores are an integral part of road trips, not only as a quick stop to refuel and refresh, but also increasingly as destinations along the way because of their exceptional food and overall customer experience,” said Matt Durand, NACS deputy general counsel, who attended the expo. “We’re honored that the U.S. Department of Transportation asked NACS and our members to be part of this celebration.”
“There’s nothing quite like a great American road trip, and we are excited to see the Department of Transportation encouraging people to experience our country’s highways,” added Eva Rigamonti, vice president of government and legal affairs for Pilot.
“RaceTrac is an essential part of all road trips, which is why RaceTrac was thrilled to participate in the USDOT Great American Road Trip Summer Kickoff. RaceTrac appreciates Secretary Duffy highlighting the important role convenience stores play in meeting the needs of road trippers, enabling them to focus on creating unforgettable memories wherever their travels take them,” said Jake Olson, RaceTrac’s executive director of public policy.
NACS Day on the Hill
March 17-18 | Four Seasons Washington D.C. Washington, D.C.
APRIL
NACS State of the Industry
Summit
April 14-16 | Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel
Schaumburg, Illinois
NACS Leadership for Success
April 27-May 01 | Hershey Lodge Hershey, Pennsylvania
JUNE
NACS Convenience Summit Europe
June 02-05 | Hilton Warsaw City Warsaw, Poland
JULY
NACS Financial Leadership Program at Wharton
July 12-17 | The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
OCTOBER
NACS Show
October 06-09 | Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas, Nevada
For a full listing of events and information, visit www.convenience.org/events.
UP FRONT NACS NEWS
Member News
RETAILERS
Weigel’s announced the promotion of Douglas Yawberry to fill the position of chief executive officer. Since first joining Weigel’s as director of operations in 2008, Yawberry was promoted to vice president of operations in 2011 and became president/chief operating officer in 2017. Yawberry serves on both the NACS and Ambest Boards, bringing a voice of operational excellence and innovation to the broader convenience industry.
William B. Weigel will continue to serve as chairman.
Love’s Travel Stops named Patrick McLean as the company’s first-ever chief marketing officer (CMO). He will be responsible for aligning Love’s marketing efforts with its core values and strategic priorities to drive customer acquisition and retention, while continuing to enhance the overall customer experience. He will report to Love’s president and lead nearly 300 team members in the Marketing and Customer Experience departments.
Shell named Colette Hirstius as president of its U.S. business, Shell USA. She will take on the responsibilities of president in addition to her current role as executive vice president, Gulf of America.
Terri Micklin joined 7-Eleven as senior vice president of store development and facilities. In her role, she will play a pivotal part in executing the company’s plan to open 1,300 new stores across North America by 2030. She will oversee areas including facilities, energy, design, development and construction.
EG Group appointed Erik Chalut as its group chief legal officer. Reporting to Russ Colaco, CEO of EG Group, Chalut will be based in the United States, the Group’s largest market by revenue, and he will have a global remit and responsibilities.
SUPPLIERS
General Mills Inc. announced that Dana McNabb will be promoted to group president, North America Retail (NAR) and North America Pet. This change adds oversight of a key growth area, North America Pet, to McNabb’s current responsibilities over NAR, the company’s largest business segment. Liz Mascolo, segment president, North America Pet, will report into McNabb with this change.
Prior to being named group president, NAR, in 2023, she was the chief strategy and growth officer for the company, where she was responsible for the company’s enterprise growth capabilities and portfolio shaping.
Black Buffalo Inc. hired Loren Eggleton as its chief financial officer. He will be responsible for overseeing the company’s
financial strategy, operations and capital structure as it scales its retail footprint, strengthens its omnichannel presence, and deepens investments in R&D, compliance and supply chain infrastructure.
Paytronix appointed technology industry veteran Nonita Verma as its new general manager. A seasoned executive
with over two decades of leadership experience, Verma brings a proven track record of scaling global platforms and driving hyper-growth. Verma’s appointment, along with changes to the executive team, will help accelerate Paytronix’s growth and provide its customers with a flexible, industry-leading guest engagement platform that meets their challenges.
KUDOS
Modisoft announced the grand opening of its new four-story headquarters with a ribboncutting ceremony held May 29, 2025. The new 40,000-squarefoot facility was purposefully designed to enhance customer engagement, support innovation and foster collaboration.
At the heart of the new headquarters is The Hive, an innovative lab dedicated to product development, testing and providing hands-on experience with Modisoft’s complete suite of solutions—including POS systems, back-office software and digital display technologies.
Patrick McLean
Douglas Yawberry
Loren Eggleton
Nonita Verma
FOOT TRAFFIC IC
UP FRONT NACS NEWS
New Members
NACS welcomes the following companies that joined the Association in May 2025. NACS membership is company-wide, so we encourage employees of member companies to create a username by visiting convenience.org/create-login. All members receive access to the NACS Online Membership directory and the latest industry news, information and resources. For more information about NACS membership, visit convenience.org/membership
RETAILERS
Beltway 8 Travel Plaza Tomball, TX
Ed Staub & Sons Petroleum dba Fast Break Stores Klamath Falls, OR www.edstaub.com
G&G Investments LLC Parma, ID
Kimura General Store Hilo, HI
Lucky Seven Food Store Charlottesville, VA
National Coalition of Associations of 7-Eleven Franchisees Ceres, CA www.ncasef.com
Ohana Foods Inc. Hilo, HI www.ohanafoods.com
Power Plus Technology Inc. dba Magnetic Hill Irving Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
Rainbow Markets Sparks, NV
Red Oak Group dba Signals Salamanca, NY www.redoakgroup.net
Robert’s Taylor, AL
Shamrock Marina Towe, MN www.shamrocklanding.com
Sobral e Palácio Petroleo Ltda Fortaleza, Brazil
Swamp Stop Laplace, LA www.swampstop.com
Terrible Herbst Oil Las Vegas, NV
Wilkinsburg Beverage Co. Wilkinsburg, PA www.wilkinsburgbeverageco.com
SUPPLIERS
AgeChecker.Net
Westlake Village, CA www.agechecker.net
Anchor Sign Inc. Charleston, SC www.anchorsign.com
Bayou City Hemp Company Houston, TX www.bayoucityhemp.com
Be Love Austin, TX drink.love
Ben E. Keith Beverages Dallas, TX www.benekeith.com
International Paper Charlotte, NC www.internationalpaper.com
JMSC POS
Downers Grove, IL www.jmscpos.com
MiO Chicago, IL www.getmio.co
MJD Trucking dba DB Trucking Ft Lauderdale, FL www.dbtrucking.com
NuStrips
San Diego, CA www.nustrips.com
OwlOps Simcoe, Ontario, Canada www.owlops.com
Realize Sacramento, CA
RoofingSource Niles, IL www.roofingsource.com
SandenVendo America Inc. Dallas, TX www.vendoco.com
Sani Professional Woodcliff Lake, NJ www.saniprofessional.com
Star Importers & Wholesalers Tucker, GA www.starimporters.com
StrasGlobal Temple, TX www.strasglobal.com
Sweet Robo LLC Brooklyn, NY www.sweetrobo.com
Teazzers Dallas, TX www.teazzers.com
Telmark Sales Solutions Appleton, WI www.telmarksalessolutions.com
Topicz Cincinnati, OH
Tossits LLC Clarkston, MI www.tossits.com
Unlimited Service Group Addison, IL www.ulimitedservice.com
Verizon Asbury, NJ
Wildhorse Management Chesterfield, MO www.wildhorsemanagementllc.com
Professional football player Kayvon Thibodeaux joined QuickChek volunteers to host a field day with the Boys & Girls Club of Newark, New Jersey.
QuickChek and NFL Player Team Up to Give Back
The company hosted a field day with the Boys & Girls Club of Newark, New Jersey.
QuickChek teamed up with the Boys & Girls Club of Newark, New Jersey, and professional football player Kayvon Thibodeaux of the New York Giants for a field day focused on promoting community involvement and youth leadership. QuickChek team members led a variety of sports-focused activities to help Boys & Girls Club members develop new skills and experience the power of community support.
One of Thibodeaux’s own philanthropic pillars is youth leadership. The QuickChek brand ambassador joined in on the fun to show how discipline, healthy choices and community involvement can set young people up for future success.
“It was an honor to get to share my experiences and be a positive influence in the lives of kids and teenagers right here in New Jersey,” Thibodeaux said.
Along with fun and games, the day’s schedule included a Q&A session with Thibodeaux and subs and fresh-baked cookies from QuickChek.
“The launch of the QuickChek Field Day with the Boys & Girls Club has allowed us to deepen our partnership with the organization and Kayvon Thibodeaux,” said Blake Segal, SVP and head of QuickChek. “We are excited to see additional ways we can come together to improve community connections, healthy living and youth development.”
In The Community
Every year, the convenience retail industry dedicates billions of dollars to advancing the futures of individuals and families in our communities. The NACS Foundation unifies and builds on NACS members’ charitable efforts to amplify their work in communities across America and to share these powerful stories.
Learn more at www.conveniencecares.org
1 PILOT HONORS AMERICAN STROKE MONTH
In recognition of American Stroke Month in May, Pilot raised funds for the American Heart Association to promote stroke prevention and education. Guests were invited to round up their purchases at checkout at participating Pilot, Flying J and One9 Travel Center locations nationwide. All proceeds went to support life-saving programs, helping bring critical stroke education and resources to communities nationwide. In addition to fundraising, Pilot provided its team members with virtual CPR training and access to stroke prevention resources throughout May.
2 CASEY’S DONATES LOTTERY BONUS
Following the sale of a winning Mega Millions ticket at a Casey’s store in Cortland, Illinois, the company donated a portion of its retailer bonus to local food pantry Barb Food Mart and the DeKalb County Veterans Recognition Fund.
“At Casey’s, our guests are also our neighbors. When something extraordinary happens—like winning the lottery—it creates an opportunity to give back,” said Patty Leonard, Casey’s district manager.
3 THE WAWA FOUNDATION DISTRIBUTES $1.5 MILLION
The Wawa Foundation said it awarded 33 Fly Beyond Key Issue Grants, totaling $1.5 million, aimed at providing youth with increased access to more nutritious meal and snack options through school or community-based programs.
The Wawa Foundation said it reviewed proposals and awarded grants based on Fly Beyond criteria and goals, program reach and impact, and the size of the Wawa market served.
4 YESWAY DONATES $100,000 TO OPERATION HOMEFRONT
Yesway donated $100,000 to Operation Homefront in celebration of Military Appreciation Month in May. Operation Homefront is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building strong, stable and secure military families so they can thrive.
In addition, the company expanded its “Free Fountain Drink for First Responders” program to include all National Guard members.
5 EG AMERICA RAISES $560,000 FOR THE AMERICAN RED CROSS
During a nationwide fundraiser, guests at EG America’s Certified Oil, Cumberland Farms, Fastrac, Kwik Shop, Loaf ‘N Jug, Minit Mart, Quik Stop, Sprint Food Stores, Tom Thumb and Turkey Hill stores were able to donate $1, $5 or an amount of their choosing to the Red Cross throughout the month of March. EG America then increased the total donation by matching the amounts raised by the top stores.
6 MURPHY USA HOSTS COOKOUT FUNDRAISER
In May, Murphy USA held a cookout to benefit its Need Fund. “Our merchandise team fired up the grill with 100% of proceeds going directly to the Murphy Employees Disaster Relief Foundation, aka the Need Fund. This event isn’t just about burgers—it’s about supporting our own in times of crisis. Whether it’s a natural disaster or unexpected hardship, the Need Fund is there when our team members need it most,” the company said.
Use the August Recess to Ramp Up Advocacy
With Members of Congress at home, retailers can put grassroots efforts into action.
BY ESMERALDA OROZCO
You’ve probably heard of “August recess.” It’s that stretch of time when Members of Congress head back to their home states and districts for a few weeks. But don’t be fooled by the name—this is not a summer vacation. During this time, Members of Congress are busy doing the important work of directly connecting with the constituents they represent back in Washington, D.C. Due to the fast-paced life on Capitol Hill, legislators spend very little time back in their home states. August recess offers a great opportunity for legislators to engage with the folks that they represent. They host open houses in their district office, participate in town hall meetings, speak at community events and attend local festivals and visit small businesses. You may see your Members of Congress out and about— maybe even shopping or fueling up at the local convenience store.
This time on the ground is essential for lawmakers to better understand issues impacting their communities. They take these learnings back to their D.C. staff to help shape policy and draft legislation. That’s where you come in. NACS encourages advocates across the convenience and fuel retailing industry to take advantage of August recess by building personal relationships with their Members of Congress. Whether it’s a meeting, attending a community event or hosting an In Store visit through NACS, there are meaningful ways to engage and make your voice heard. Here’s how you can start building those relationships today.
SCHEDULE A DISTRICT OFFICE MEETING
Meeting with Members of Congress may seem intimidating, but remember—you are their top priority and your insight matters. Legislators cannot represent their constituents ef-
In Store tours offer lawmakers a better understanding of the realworld impact their decisions made in D.C. have on your business.
fectively if they don’t hear directly from them. If there is an issue in the convenience and fuel retailing industry that you would like to get in front of your lawmakers, NACS can help you prepare by sharing data, providing talking points and equipping you with other relevant information. NACS can also schedule the meeting on your behalf.
Even if Members’ calendars are tight, take the opportunity to meet with their district staff. Congressional staff are deeply involved in shaping policy and advising their bosses. Please reach out to Esmeralda Orozco, eorozco@ convenience.org, to get started.
During an In Store visit, Rep. Julie Johnson (TX-32) (in the pink shirt) experienced a day in the life working at RaceTrac.
ATTEND AN OPEN HOUSE OR COMMUNITY EVENT
Throughout August, many lawmakers attend public events, from local fairs to movie nights in the park and farmers markets. While their time may be limited at these gatherings, even a brief interaction can have impact, and it’s a great opportunity to introduce yourself, share your contact information and deliver a quick message. Prepare a one-minute elevator pitch, where you introduce yourself and your business and highlight a key industry issue. Lawmakers often remember these brief but impactful conversations.
Look for information about lawmakers’ schedules on their social media accounts or websites, as they often post about their planned attendance at these events. You can also sign up for email alerts through Members’ websites for these notices.
ATTEND A TOWN HALL MEETING
Town hall meetings allow lawmakers to share what they’ve been working on in D.C., showcase their accomplishments, provide plans for the future and give constituents an opportunity to ask questions and raise concerns. Use this open forum to ask a question about an issue that matters most to you or to highlight legislation that you would like the Member to support.
INSIDE WASHINGTON
NACSPAC LIST
Even if you don’t have a chance to speak during the main event, stick around. Members and staff often mingle afterwards, giving you another opportunity to introduce yourself and share your elevator pitch.
HOST A NACS IN STORE EVENT
The NACS In Store program is a powerful way to give Members of Congress a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run a convenience store. From the gas pumps to the kitchen, they’ll see the daily operations that keep your business running and customers in your community served.
When lawmakers see your store in action—and meet the people whose lives your store is critical to—it personalizes their decisions. These tours offer lawmakers a better understanding of the real-world impact their decisions made in D.C. have. They will also have the chance to speak with employees and see firsthand how policies affect the business and customers alike.
NACS will handle the logistics of hosting an In Store visit so you can focus on telling your story. The NACS government relations team walks you through the process and helps ensure it’s a smooth and successful event.
YOUR VOICE MATTERS
It’s difficult to step away from your business. But your involvement during August recess is critical for yourself, your business and the future of the industry. No one can tell your story better than you—and lawmakers need to hear it. The NACS grassroots team is here to help every step of the way. Please do not hesitate to reach out anytime for resources, support or assistance planning your outreach. Remember that there is no better advocate for the industry than you!
Esmeralda Orozco is the NACS grassroots manager. She can be reached at eorozco@ convenience.org.
NACSPAC was created in 1979 by NACS as the entity through which the association can legally contribute funds to political candidates supportive of our industry’s issues. For more information about NACSPAC and how political action committees (PACs) work, go to www. convenience.org/ nacspac . NACSPAC donors who made contributions in June 2025 are:
Riaz Ahmad NSR Petro Services LLC
Ryan Calong Pabst Brewing Company
Sean Colman The Boston Beer Company
Linnea Geiss PDI Technologies
Ray Huff HJB Convenience Corp. dba Russell’s Convenience
Julie Whittington Hunt Brothers Pizza
Jason Zagaria Primo Brands
Derek Zahajko CAF Inc.
One of the best ways to engage with lawmakers is by meeting with them and telling your story. Here, retailers met with Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS) to provide perspective.
n Increased facings from 99 to 121, a 22% increase*.
n Automatically billboards and faces product.
n Reduces losses from bag hook
n Cuts over 1 hour/day labor for restocking.
n Allows rear restocking and proper date rotation.
n Dramatically increases sales in the same space.
n Adjusts to accommodate various package widths. *
Schatz Crossroads Truck Stop has a full-service restaurant with local menu favorites like breakfast platters and homemade pies.
Name of company: Schatz Crossroads Truck Stop
Date founded: 1977
# of stores: 1 Website: www.schatzcrossroads.com
Building on a Family Foundation
The second generation is taking Schatz Crossroads Truck Stop into the future.
BY SARAH HAMAKER
It took Krista Marshall leaving home to appreciate the family business her parents, Danny and Diane Schatz, had built.
“I grew up in the business my parents started in 1977,” Marshall said, speaking of her family’s Schatz Crossroads Truck Stop in Minot, North Dakota. After she graduated college, she spent several years working in high-end web technology and advertising firms before she and her husband decided to take advantage of “a great opportunity to move here and continue the family legacy,” she said. “My parents were happy to see the legacy continue to thrive.”
The co-owner and operator of Schatz Crossroads since 2010, Marshall loves serving the local community and travelers who stop by the store and its restaurant for good food, good service and a good time. “We’ve been welcoming travelers and locals for nearly 50 years, and we pride ourselves on keeping everything in tip-top shape,” she said.
A FAMILY LEGACY
Schatz Crossroads started as a small truck stop and gas station that Danny and Diane Schatz leased in 1977. They soon established a restaurant on site and turned it into a full-service truck stop. When the property across the street became available, the couple bought it and built Schatz Crossroads, operating both locations until 2002 when they closed the original leased store. In 1994, they also opened an additional Petrobranded truck stop in Fargo, North Dakota, about 230 miles away, which their daughter Deanne Savaleson now co-owns and operates.
Marshall draws from the store’s longstanding history to serve customers in the community. “I’m continuing what my parents created,” she said. “There
Schatz Crossroads Truck Stop founders Danny and Diane Schatz (seated); their daughter Deanne Savaleson (left), who owns and runs Petro Stopping Center Fargo; Donny Schatz (middle); daughter Krista Marshall (right), owner and operator of Schatz Crossroads Truck Stop.
are generational challenges in all family transitions, and a learning curve for me as the second generation, but it’s been worth it to continue meeting the needs of our customers.”
The truck stop’s signature feature is its full-service sit-down restaurant. It was already a local destination, and Marshall has left it untouched.
Open 24/7, the restaurant serves breakfast around the clock and homemade pies, soups and specials.
“A lot of truck stops have gone to fast food options but we prefer a different atmosphere,” Marshall said. The restaurant offers a counter for faster service as well as tables with servers. “It’s a very sociable place and has a lively atmosphere,” she said. “That has rippled to the rest of the business and created our signature feel.”
Popular menu items include specials like knoephla soup, a traditional German soup with dumplings, and signature dishes like the #99 breakfast: hashbrowns, three scrambled eggs, onions, diced ham and cheese cooked on the grill. Customers also snap up the store’s caramel rolls—the restaurant sells upwards of a thousand each day. Over in the convenience store, “We sell more Mountain Dew than any other beverage put together,” she said.
OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
As with any business, Marshall has to navigate roadblocks—some inherited and some new. “While things are very different from the 1990s, or even the ’70s or ’80s, some things are still the same when it comes to running a convenience store,” Marshall said. She cited four specific challenges she faces currently as a convenience store operator: equipment, technology, regulations and the ever-changing workforce.
While she strives to keep the store fresh and updated, she also works hard to not erase its unique vibe. “We get a lot of foot traffic and we have to keep
BRIGHT IDEAS
“Know who you are” is the best advice Krista Marshall, co-owner and operator of Schatz Crossroads Truck Stop in Minot, North Dakota, can give any retailer looking to provide customers with a unique experience. “Know what atmosphere you want to create and lean into that,” she said. “Customers really do like those personal touches and unique feels, and employees like that too.”
everything clean and in good working order, which is part of our promise to our customers,” she said.
Schatz Crossroads has always supported the community through donations to animal shelters and local public works, like public art and public attractions. “We sponsor youth sports too, and believe in giving back to our local area as much as we can,” Marshall said.
That commitment spills over to her employees. “We have a big crew of long-term employees,” Marshall said. Schatz’s fuel truck driver has worked for the family for 47 years, the restaurant manager for 36 years, and a number of employees have clocked more than 20 years in the business. “We try to run a family business and be as good to work for as possible,” she said. “We work alongside our employees as much as we possibly can.”
At the end of the day, Marshall “wants customers to remember their visit with us versus just another stop on the road.”
Sarah Hamaker is a freelance writer, NACS Magazine contributor and award-winning romantic suspense author based in Fairfax, Virginia. Visit her online at sarahhamakerfiction.com.
NACS Ideas 2 Go showcases how retailers today are operating the convenience store of tomorrow. To see videos of the c-stores we profiled in 2024 and earlier, go to www.convenience.org/Ideas2Go
AT THE 2025 NACS SHOW
Get ready for this year’s event in Chicago with a sneak peak of what’s to come.
BY LEAH ASH
Chicago is home to deep-dish pizza, Wrigley Field and this fall, the 2025 NACS Show. From October 14-17, over 24,000 convenience and fuel retail industry stakeholders will gather in the Windy City, where they will spend four days learning, buying and selling at an event designed to help grow their bottom line and stay ahead of the curve. It’s the perfect place to network with like-minded peers, talk about the future of the industry, and most importantly, find ways to grow your business.
Hundreds of innovative products are on display in the Cool New Products Preview Room. Retailers can scan QR codes for the products on display through the NACS Show mobile app. Once scanned, the app offers guests information about the product and which booth to visit on the Show floor for more information. At the end of the 2024 NACS Show, the most-scanned product was Little Joe Novelty Automotive Air Fresheners—Ride Happy! Little Joe from Drive Int. USA.
ON THE FLOOR
In 1893, Chicago hosted the World’s Colombian Exposition, known as the World’s Fair. That event showcased the city of the future—and the NACS Show Expo similarly shows the future of the convenience industry.
On the 430,000-square-foot Expo floor, attendees will discover thousands of the latest products and services for the industry from more than 1,200 exhibitors. Each area of the Expo offers a one-of-a-kind, hands-on experience for retailers to find the best products for their stores.
The Expo is split into five categories:
• Facility Operations
• Foodservice
• Fuel Equipment & Services
• In-Store Merchandise
• Technology
The Expo also houses the Cool New Products Preview Room, which is loaded with this year’s new innovations, products, services and other growth opportunities. The preview room is segmented into five areas mirroring the Expo, and each product has product details and exhibitor contact information that retailers can scan to make a to-do list for the rest of the Expo floor. Companies who have never exhibited at the Show before can be found in the New Exhibitor Area, which includes many products and companies entering the convenience store market, including
within emerging categories. Last year, 157 companies debuted in the section.
NACS SHOW GENERAL SESSIONS
Four days of NACS Show General Sessions will focus on how convenience stores can deliver an amazing customer experience. Each session will feature a lively mix of industry leaders, compelling insights from Ideas 2 Go videos and experts who will examine how our industry can enhance convenience retail through food, technology, design and people.
The NACS Show will open with an inspirational address from Sebastian “Seb” Terry, who experienced the shock of a lifetime in his mid-20s when a close friend of his passed away. He asked himself a simple question: “Am I happy?” The answer was “no,” so he created a list of 100 things that he hoped would transform his life.
Terry accomplished many goals from his list, including marrying a stranger in Vegas, delivering a baby, living on a deserted island for one week, raising $100,000 for charity and helping a quadriplegic man complete a half marathon by pushing him in his wheelchair. Terry is a regular guest on TV shows and the author of the book “100 Things: What’s on Your List?”
On October 16, NACS President and CEO Henry Armour will take the stage with the incoming NACS CEO. The two leaders will discuss the future of the association—and the industry.
Check NACSShow.com for updates and announcements of new speakers.
NACS SHOW REGISTRATION
Register now for the NACS Show! Full conference registration includes access to all General Sessions, Education Sessions, the Expo and the official NACS Show Kick-Off Party.
One thing the NACS Show is known for: fun. Supplier companies go all out with their booths, from celebrity appearances to interactive booth activities.
Ideas 2 Go: Featured Retailers
During the NACS Show General Sessions, NACS debuts its Ideas 2 Go videos, which showcases retail excellence at forward-thinking convenience stores and offers inspirational ideas. The featured retailers this year are:
• FARMER’S GRANDSON EATERY in Lakeville, Minnesota. Farmer’s Grandson Eatery is more than a stop—it’s a food hall with gas pumps and a high-end speakeasy with a secret entrance that can be accessed from the convenience store.
• TWICE DAILY AND WHITE BISON BY TRI STAR ENERGY LLC in Nashville, Tennessee. The company created its own upscale coffee brand, White Bison, that goes far beyond a blend. White Bison is a store-within-a-store concept in many Twice Daily convenience stores and even has standalone locations.
• RUTTER’S in Milton, Pennsylvania. The 1747 Bar and Lounge, named after the company’s founding year, is a new premium entertainment experience in the convenience space. The 14,000-foot store concept blends the energy of a sports bar with the ease and accessibility of a convenience store.
• PARKER’S KITCHEN in Savannah, Georgia. Parker’s Kitchen is
renowned for its great food, earning accolades from regional and local publications. Its rebrand from its previous name, Parker’s, is a clear indication that it aims to continue to redefine foodservice in convenience.
• FILLING CO. in Ashburn, Virginia. “Gas & Grub” is the tagline for the small chain that is known for highquality prepared food that includes better-for-you options like acai bowls and its renowned cheesesteak.
• STINKER STORES in Boise, Idaho. The company leans into its Stinker brand and Polecat Pete mascot. The theme ties into everything from culture (“Our Stinkin’ Values”) to store branding (Pete’s Eats).
• 36 LYN REFUEL STATION in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 36 Lyn has the tagline “convenient x heathy,” but the single store’s major focus is on the community. What better way to celebrate the unique relationship that 36 Lyn has with its customers than to hold a party and invite the neighborhood?
• JAPANESE ‘KONBINI’ from Tokyo, Japan. Japanese retailers have redefined how convenience meets efficiency. Stores, known as “konbini,” usually have a very small footprint and serve a convenience culture that is food focused, from freshly prepared to packaged items that take food preparation to a level not seen in other countries.
Shooting the Ideas 2 Go video at Farmer's Grandson, a c-store with a speakeasy.
Plan Ahead: The Schedule
Tuesday, October 14
7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Registration
10:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
4:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.
5:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, October 15
Cool New Products Preview Room (buyers only)
1:00 p.m.-4:15 p.m. Education Sessions
General Session featuring Sebastian Terry
NACS Show Kick-Off Party (ticketed event)
7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Registration
8:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
8:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
10:15 a.m.-11:15 a.m.
10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Thursday, October 16
Education Sessions
Cool New Products Preview Room (buyers only)
General Session
New Exhibitor Area (early access 10:30 a.m.)
Expo (all exhibits)
Cool New Products Preview Room
7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Registration
8:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
8:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
10:15 a.m.-11:15 a.m.
10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Friday, October 17
Education Sessions
Cool New Products Preview Room
General Session
New Exhibitor Area (early access 10:30 a.m.)
Expo (all exhibits)
7:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Registration
8:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m.
8:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
9:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
General Session
Cool New Products Preview Room
Expo (all exhibits)
For the most up-to-date version of the schedule, go to NACSShow.com/schedule or download the mobile app.
Plenty of celebrities will make an appearance at the NACS Show. Last year, Kevin Hart was one of many to grace the Show floor. Other celeb sightings included Mike Tyson, T-Pain, Conor McGregor and Rob Gronkowski.
Babir Sultan, president of FavTrip, will speak at two Education Sessions in Chicago. One of his presentations will be all about AI. During the other, he will join a panel with other convenience retailers as they share the ideas sparked during the NACS Innovation Leadership Program at MIT—and how those ideas turned into initiatives in their organizations.
NACS Show: Education Sessions
About 50 Education Sessions, created by industry peers to cover a range of issues relevant to everyone in the industry, are a highlight of the NACS Show. Discussions will focus on everything from AI applications to store safety to drawing customers into the store from the forecourt.
Here is a preview of two presentations with insights from their speakers, but check out NACSShow.com for an up-to-date list of all 50-plus Education Sessions.
TAP INTO THE REAL POWER OF AI (EDUCATION SESSION)
AI is everywhere, and it’s only gaining momentum. Join Babir Sultan, president of FavTrip in Kansas City, Missouri, for a masterclass on the practical applications of AI for convenience retailers large and small.
WHY SHOULD PEOPLE ATTEND YOUR EDUCATION SESSION IN OCTOBER?
If someone has ever been curious about AI and how it applies to them, they should attend the session. No matter what field you’re in, from marketing and social media to accounting and data analysis, they have a way to apply AI, and I’ll offer practical examples for them.
WHAT DO YOU WANT ATTENDEES TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR SESSION?
As a retailer myself, it’s sometimes hard to tell in seminars if it applies to me as a small retailer, so I’m crafting my presentation around smaller and bigger retailers. A lot of other small retailers think that AI is for operators with more than 100 stores—I hope to disprove that notion and help them overcome that mindset.
It will also be as practical as possible. One thing I’ve learned is that if you come into AI with your problems first, then you can find a good AI for that problem that you can invest in or focus on.
WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU HOPE ATTENDEES TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR PRESENTATION?
The session is made to be as practical as possible. I hope that people will walk away from the session and apply it that same day, or even the next day, whether it’s adding ChatGPT to their routine or going as granular as using audio or camera AI.
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Enduring brands are endearing brands, so when people love a business, they come back.
Kevin Scott last spoke at the NACS Show in 2023, where he opened the Show with a General Session on fostering inspiration in addition to joining John Cena on stage on the final day, where they spoke on how c-stores are vital stops for athletes like Cena.
Education Sessions
INSIDE OUT BUSINESS: BUILDING A BETTER BRAND
Kevin Scott, co-founder of ADDO Worldwide, is returning to the NACS Show to offer a deep dive into how to build an emotional connection with customers and why that creates an enduring brand.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR UPCOMING EDUCATION SESSION?
I would say it’s a masterclass in authentic connections. We have found that the most effective brands create authentic connections, both with customers and with employees. We’re going to unpack how that works, as well as give people practical steps to put them into practice.
WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU HOPE ATTENDEES TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR SESSION?
Enduring brands are endearing brands, so when people love a business, they come back more often, and they tell others about it. People should walk away with a playbook on how to create an enduring brand.
Additionally, I’ve been talking a lot lately about creating authentic connections in the age of AI. While the session isn’t a technology talk, there are a lot of ways to leverage technology to better understand your customers and employees, which allows you to serve them, not in a less authentic way but in a more authentic way.
WHY SHOULD PEOPLE ATTEND YOUR EDUCATION SESSION IN OCTOBER?
While this conversation will be more customer focused, the application of what we’re talking about applies to both customer experience and employee experience. Culture and marketing are two sides of the same coin—they’re both stories we’re telling, and they have to be authentic.
Leah Ash is a writer and editor at NACS. She can be reached at lash@convenience.org.
Flavor Focus: International Trends
Offering international foods on the menu can help draw in more customers and prevent foodservice leakage.
Foodservice is an ever-growing category in c-stores—and is increasingly important. Do you have any advice for retailers who are looking to expand their sales during the dinner daypart?
First, figure out a way that works in your community and your organization. There’s no cookie-cutter plan that’s going to work in every location or every company.
Second, the company has to put together a plan and marketing strategy that helps drive the business. Retailers need to educate their customers to make sure they know that dinner is available. One idea would be to use a loyalty app to send out texts or emails with messages like, “Hey, what’s for dinner tonight? We’ve got a great idea: tangerine chicken and fried rice for the family.”
Dan Wallgren, director national/chain accounts, International Food Solutions
Mole shredded chicken
What are today’s consumers looking for from their meals?
People’s palates are changing, so what we ate 10, 15, 30 years ago is not what consumers are looking for today. What they are looking for is high-quality global foods that make them go “wow.” They want food that is going to spark their taste buds.
You mentioned global foods. Why should retailers offer international foods and flavors as part of their foodservice programs?
I think the number one reason is that customers are demanding it. According to the 2024 NACS Convenience Voices survey, 37.9% of consumers wanted food that the convenience store did not offer. And the national foodservice leakage rate in 2024 was 28.7%, which means nearly 30% of shoppers who left a convenience store planned to purchase quick-service food within 30 minutes. Of those shoppers, 18.0% said they planned to go to a Mexican fast food chain and 10.4% said they were going to an Asian fast food chain.
This
What [consumers] are looking for is high-quality global foods that make them go “wow.”
If the convenience store doesn’t have that international offering, the consumers are going to go places that do have them. Offering international options can be a great way to get customers inside the store from the forecourt—and buying items with a higher margin.
From your perspective, what are the current trends in international meals and global flavors?
Overall, the No. 1 and No. 2 categories for growth are Asian and Latin, and so any flavors from those two regions are immensely popular. Indian food is also gaining popularity across the United States, especially along the East and West Coasts—it’s in what I would call the infancy stage of a flavor trend.
For us, our top seller in the country is our tangerine chicken, especially when paired with fried rice. Other items that we have that are also growing in popularity are chicken tinga and mole chicken, which operators can incorporate into their own menu. For example, I know of one that is making a chicken tinga breakfast sandwich.
What should retailers consider when creating the best menu for their stores? Do you have any advice for operators looking to incorporate these dishes into their existing menus?
First, think about what dishes you order when you go out to an Asian, Latin or Indian restaurant. Don’t be afraid to ask your customers the same question. Then, decide how to roll out the offering. Is it an offer once a month, once a week or an everyday menu item? Many of our customers have started the offer as a once-a-week special and it has evolved into an everyday menu offering.
Retailers also have to understand their customers. Maybe they’re close to a factory that runs three shifts, and at 10 p.m., they get hit by people that are coming in to work that graveyard shift and the retailer needs to have grab-and-go meals for people that they can take and reheat. Our product works well for that.
What are some of International Food Solutions’ top priorities over the next couple of years? We want to help convenience retailers break into global food flavors and become leaders of flavor trends in their communities. We’re always projecting. Our owners recently came back from a trip overseas. They spent two weeks looking at flavor trends, what’s going on over in Bangkok and Vietnam and some other areas.
There are always things on the horizon for our company. We have one unique item, yucca steak fries, that can be baked or deep fried and are a really hearty fry. And with dipping sauces or a cheese sauce, it’s a great product to have for dashboard dining.
What are some of the most popular items from International Food Solutions?
I’ve mentioned our tangerine chicken and fried rice. That’s by far and away our No. 1 and No. 2 meals. My favorite is our Japanese cherry blossom chicken—it’s a play on sweet and sour and it’s a real bold flavor.
Our mole chicken is a great product that does well, especially since it’s so versatile for retailers. Another meal that does really well is our tikka chicken masala with our naan bread. It has such a great flavor, and it’s so bold, and it’s very much on trend and growing right now.
Retailers are going beyond the basics and evolving their hiring, training and retention strategies to engage store employees.
BY LAUREN SHANESY
For Tiger Fuel, operator of The Market by Tiger Fuel stores in Virginia, what makes an employee want to stay at their job comes down to one thing: “It’s how you were treated on your worst day,” said Maurice Lamarche, vice president of operations for The Market stores. In 2024, Tiger Fuel’s turnover rate for frontline retail employees was 63%. Industrywide, that number was 118.2% for full-time sales associates, according to the NACS State of the Industry 2024 Talent Insights Dashboard.
Finding and retaining top talent is a challenge no retailer is immune to. But building a company culture that gives frontline employees ownership and career growth opportunities and makes them feel connected to the brand is a critical component to increasing engagement, offering better customer service and making sure that the people who make the business work love what they do.
At St. Romain Oil’s Y-Not Stop stores, Annie Gauthier (pictured right), use a prehire assessment to evaluate personality traits, ensuring employees are placed in the right role and are a cultural fit for the organization.
The Wills Group focuses on hiring employees with a knack for hospitality and even staffs a concierge who is in the store solely for customer service, which can include offering foodservice samples.
SUCCESS FROM SQUARE ONE
Finding the right candidates starts with how they find you, and your job posting is your first impression.
Tiger Fuel said having “fun, concise” job ads that lead with what a prospective employee will get out of the job, versus first listing everything they’ll have to do, helps make applicants more interested in the role. “We love taking care of our employees, and we pride ourselves on providing the same benefits package to a cashier as to the president of the company. Putting that out there first and foremost for employees has really drawn them in,” said Shaleena Arreguin, HR director for the company.
Over the last 18 months, St. Romain Oil Company, which operates 15 Y-Not Stop stores in Louisiana, overhauled its job descriptions to make sure expectations for
the job were clear after it saw misalignment between job postings and actual position requirements at the company. “It was a reason we were losing people, so we really evaluated what the essential parts of the job were and what a roadmap for success for the employee looks like,” said Annie Gauthier, CFO and Co-CEO at St. Romain Oil Company and NACS Executive Committee member. For Gauthier, nailing the hiring process in the earliest stages has led to reduced turnover down the line. The company uses a hiring assessment that looks at core functions of the job as well as personality characteristics like integrity, conscientiousness and dependability, she said. “The filter helps our managers screen people so they can prioritize the best applicants to call back quickly,” Gauthier said. “It’s rigorous—there’s been debate about whether it’s too rigorous. Sure,
it would be so much easier to hire people if they didn’t have to jump through as many hoops, but then who would we be hiring?”
For other retailers, considering mindset, personality and other soft skills has helped them find frontline workers that align with company’s values and the customer service-oriented nature of the convenience business.
• Tiger Fuel looks for “people with a service mindset. When you go into our stores, you’re going to feel our passion for customer service. In a time of AI and self-checkout, we make sure our employees are providing that genuine human connection. That starts with us identifying people that are of the same service mentality,” said Lamarche. “We sell the same stuff that you can get down the road, but you’re going to feel like you’re buying it from people that care about you.”
• The Wills Group, which operates Dash In convenience stores in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, has evolved its hiring approach from looking for candidates who have “explicit c-store experience to having more hospitality, retail and foodservice experience, because we really want to demonstrate a high level of customer experience,” said Lorissa Martin, manager of talent acquisition and performance at the Wills Group. “We even created a concierge role, which is really unique.” The concierge at Dash In is there to greet guests, help them with their kiosk orders, provide samples, answer questions, and generally just be a friendly face for customers in the store.
• Gauthier uses the company’s hiring assessment to evaluate personality traits and characteristics to determine which roles might be the right fit for an individual. “For example, maybe more introverted people or ones who like repeat activities will be a good fit for the kitchen, while extroverts or those who like spontaneity will feel more comfortable out front. We are looking for general attitude fits—and that’s the same for any position you’re applying for, whether it’s a cashier role or corporate,” she said.
Powerful Perks
In addition to the standard suite of employee benefits, perks keep staff engaged—and even inexpensive ones can go a long way. Here are some that retailers are offering:
• Fuel discounts. “This is a benefit that has a perceived value that greatly exceeds its actual cost and is something that employees want and request. It has a big impact,” said Gauthier.
• Paid time off for community engagement and volunteer opportunities. “That’s really one of our hallmark benefits that employees love to take advantage of,” said Dash In’s Martin.
• Employee referral bonuses. Retailers said these are a great way to not only find quality applicants, but also keep your current staff satisfied. Dash In offers a tier system for referral rewards, ranging from $250 to $1,000 depending on the role. “It’s a significant incentive for people to want to refer people. It’s been a way we have continued to elevate our talent and increase our retention. You want to work where you have people that you enjoy working with,” said Martin.
• Education assistance or tuition reimbursements. Dash In’s GED Works program helps employees get their high school diploma. “We don’t want to pass up good talent just because they may not have their high school diploma, and it was very limiting for internal mobility. Meeting them where they are and offering them the GED Works program has been really beneficial for us,” said Martin. “And it shows employees we appreciate them and want to invest in their education, which makes them want to stay at the company.”
• Tiger Fuel offers a $10 meal voucher per shift. The company also takes the year’s top-performing store manager by sales to the NACS Show each year.
• Health center. In addition to its standard medical insurance, Tiger Fuel also has an employee health center for employees and household members. Starting at $6 per month, employees can book same-day appointments and see practitioners on site.
If you want to know what benefits and perks employees actually want, ask them! Tiger Fuel does a quarterly engagement survey plus an annual benefits survey. “We have found that the most effective benefits package is the one that employees ask for,” said Arreguin.
Managers Matter
They say people don’t leave a job, they leave a manager. That theory proved to be true at St. Romain Oil/Y-Not Stop.
To mitigate some of the high turnover the retailer was seeing during Covid and the period following the pandemic, Annie Gauthier, CFO and Co-CEO at St. Romain Oil Company, evaluated each store’s employment data, looking for correlations to pinpoint a potential root cause—age, demographics, experience, store size, store location, etc. “I sliced and diced the data every which way … and I found there was absolutely no correlation anywhere with anything. The only variable that mattered was the manager,” she said.
She surveyed employees using the Gallup Q12 questions—a 12 question set that asks about having growth opportunities, being recognized for good work and feeling supported—and found that stores ranking lower on questions relating to managers engaging team members or employees feeling like they were heard at work had higher turnover.
“We realized we needed to focus on what we would do within our walls. It was a wakeup call to managers at the bottom of the list that they couldn’t blame high turnover on being the norm or on hypothetical reasons. We can do something to make employees stay,” said Gauthier.
She started ranking stores by retention numbers weekly and reporting it out to the company. “Our managers are very competitive. The ranking wasn’t to blame or shame anyone, but to encourage them to get their numbers up,” she said. “By making it personal, it gave them accountability.”
She also started doing weekly calls with the five managers who were at the bottom of the list. Those that were willing to be coached, try new tactics and experiment started to see results with their frontline workers.
She also said they “stopped focusing on turnover and instead focused on retention. They’re pretty much the same thing but one is more positively framed. It’s a more simple goal: Keep the people you have. There are going to be employees you can’t stop from leaving especially due to outside factors, so focus on the ones you can retain.”
At Weigel’s, the company rolled out classes at its support center focused on reducing turnover and increasing retention rates. The company brings about 15 store managers to each class. “In addition to learning how to achieve retention goals, I think it really helps them see that if they can keep their people, their jobs are going to be easier,” said Brad Anderson, director of recruiting and development at Weigel’s.
CULTURE IS CRITICAL
Onboarding experiences and training programs will look different from company to company, but retailers agreed that immersing employees in company culture and helping them connect with your brand from the beginning has a major impact on employee engagement.
Tennessee retailer Weigel’s brings all of its new hires from its more than 100 stores to its support center at its corporate campus for a day-long training and company orientation, which it started doing at the beginning of the year. Weigel’s owners and other senior leadership walk employees through the company’s core values, mission, history and foundation, plus benefits and career growth opportunities. This is also where employees start their training, offered through Ready Training Online, and get signoffs for certifications such as selling age-restricted products. “It’s been so much better to do those first steps in person, and coming to the campus is exciting for new hires. By the time they get to the store, they’re ready to go and they’ve been given everything they need to be successful,” said Kelly Bowling, director of human resources at Weigel’s. “It’s also how we set standards across the company and make sure everyone in the organization hears the same messaging. We are seeing turnover go down since we started doing that.”
“We want our employees to feel valued, and a little bit of recognition goes a long way.”
Tiger Fuel similarly invites employees to the corporate headquarters within the first month for a culture orientation called “Tiger Way.” Tiger Fuels’ HR department and vice president of wholesale, who’s been with the company for around 30 years, walks through
the history of the company and the importance of good customer service. The event also lets new hires meet company executives. “It brings the employee into the culture of your business and helps them connect with the brand. It shows we do something that is more than just words on a mission statement. It connects our company values and attributes to what we put into practice and expect from our teams,” said Lamarche.
About a year ago, Dash In launched an eight-week training program called “Genuine Care.” The program focuses on putting customer service at the forefront. “We wanted employees to understand why we’re doing what we’re doing, how behaviors should be demonstrated and how they should be linked back to overall success of the team function. It gives employees that North Star of what we need to be working towards on a daily basis,” said Martin. “The Genuine Care philosophy has been ingrained through our daily huddles at the beginning of each shift and through performance management.”
Partnering new frontline employees with more tenured peers also helps both sides feel more engaged with their roles.
Tiger Fuel started a market coach program, which pairs new hires with peers who complement the formal training program. The market coaches help guide new hires through their shift, answer questions and show them the ropes. “Market coaches are in training mode at all times, and their commitment is really what drives the program. It’s not our HR department telling new hires what they should be doing—it’s the people in their stores they actually work with who are there to support them and are a supplement to the store leadership team,” said Lamarche.
Employees who have been with the company for six months can become market coaches after being nominated by their store or district manager. Market coaches go through an interview process, participate in semiannual meetings and receive an extra 50 cents per hour.
Dash In recently launched a brand ambassador program, which pulls store team members to work cross functionally with the company’s senior manager of loyalty. “In
Expanding the Talent Pool
By some estimates, as many as 20% of people are neurodivergent. This can include people on the autism spectrum as well as those with conditions such as ADD or ADHD, Tourette syndrome, dyslexia, obsessive compulsive disorder or other sensory processing conditions. As of 2024, the unemployment rate for neurodivergent adults was between 30%-40%.
“It can be hard for neurodivergent individuals to find the right job that aligns with their skills, but once they do they are extremely loyal,” said Myra Kressner, CEO of Kressner Strategy Group and cofounder of the Vision Group Network. “They often stay at a job longer than the average employee.”
Kressner established the Kressner Autism Spectrum Program (KASP) fund at SUNY New Palz to support students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and to provide them with tools to help them succeed both academically and professionally.
She shared that neurodivergent employees often excel at retail jobs because of their attention to detail, their keenness for repetitive tasks and, in some cases, outgoing personalities that are ideal for customer service. “If a customer asks for help finding something, they’ll be very dedicated to finding that item or wanting to help find solutions to problems,” Kressner said.
To keep these employees highly engaged, she recommended that store leadership reinforce the individual’s value, tell the person what they bring to the store through their unique personality and communicate how they fit in with the overall organization. “Acknowledging, recognizing and rewarding them for the great work they do the same way you would with any employee will make them feel valued,” she said.
She noted that store managers and other staff often need training for how to best communicate with neurodivergent employees and support their specific needs. “It’s not to say hiring neurodivergent employees might not have some challenges, but there is a huge reward in terms of the commitment these folks have to a job, their loyalty and their willingness to really provide excellent customer service.”
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Through its Culture Club, Weigel’s treats its employees at stores that have high-scoring mystery shops to a party—and gives them time to enjoy it. The store support center staff visits to “take over the store for a few hours,” said Kelly Bowling, HR director at Weigel’s.
The Market by Tiger Fuel Market Coach Wardella Roebuck (center) was one of the company’s 2024 Cycle of Success winners. Employees are nominated by their peers for “providing excellent customer satisfaction, exhibiting employee commitment and achieving overall company success.”
retail, there can sometimes be a disconnect between being in the store and headquarters. But we are one company and we want all employees to feel that. So we are engaging our frontline workers with what corporate is doing, hearing their voice and involving them in initiatives,” said Martin. “It works twofold—we get to hear about their experience in the stores and about customer feedback, and it gives them a sense of ownership to say ‘I’m part of something bigger than just my day-today responsibilities.’”
CELEBRATE A JOB WELL DONE
One of the top reasons employees leave is for higher pay, even if the store down the road is only paying 10 cents more per hour. Instead of doing performance reviews annually, Dash In does them twice per year and ties performance evaluation to its Genuine Care program. “As long as the staff member is satisfactory, they receive a 25 cent raise each review, so they get a 50 cent raise
each year, and that has really helped with our retention,” said Martin.
At St. Romain Oil, all employees can earn a bonus based on seven evaluation metrics: three related to sales, two regarding controlling expenses, a customer satisfaction rating and retention. If a store hits its retention target each quarter, all team members get a bonus: $100 for a full-time associate, $200 for an assistant manager and $400 for general managers.
Weigel’s also makes all positions bonus eligible. “No matter what position you’re in, you can make a bonus. And if a store makes a goal, everyone in that store gets a bonus. If a store does well in a mystery shop, they get a bonus,” said Brad Anderson, director of recruiting and development at Weigel’s.
Of course, there are more than monetary ways to reward employees.
As part of its Culture Club, the Weigel’s corporate staff rewards frontline workers by taking over their store for a few hours. “When
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“We are engaging our frontline workers with what corporate is doing … it gives them a sense of ownership to say ‘I’m part of something bigger than just my day-to-day responsibilities.’”
a store hits a certain percentage from passing its mystery shop, our team from the support center literally takes over the store. We bring cupcakes, food, whatever they want, and we run the store for a few hours while they get to sit down and celebrate,” said Bowling. “It’s really fun for them.”
Dash In makes an effort to recognize its team members with spot celebrations for having excellent Google reviews or beating sales numbers, for example. “We’ll say, ‘Hey, we’re going to give your store X amount of money to have a party’ or give our store managers latitude to celebrate how the store team wants,” said Martin. This includes “happy gifts,” which are celebrations for life milestones, birthdays, anniversaries and more. “We want our employees to feel valued, and a little bit of recognition goes a long way.”
Tiger Fuel uses its payroll platform, Paylocity, as an employee recognition forum that allows employees to post thank you’s, call out someone for a great deed while on a shift, and more through the platform’s
Every year, Tiger Fuel releases a company calendar featuring photos of employees from across its stores.
“When those calendars come out … it’s like Christmas for everyone. It has pictures of everyone at events, guys driving trucks, our employees at company picnics, stuff like that. People absolutely love the calendars and are so excited if their picture makes it in there,” said Maurice Lamarche, vice president of operations for The Market by Tiger Fuel. “And we spread them through the community to customers like confetti. It’s honestly another recruitment tool that we have and has just become part of the town.”
built-in “recognitions” feature. “They’ve told us that we are one of the leading companies using that feature for congratulations, thank you’s, high fives, acknowledging something celebratory or welcoming a new hire to the team,” said Arreguin. “We’ve created our own Tiger-specific features too and ones that focus on our values. It’s so positive for everyone to see all the great things our employees are doing.”
“Retail jobs, and jobs in customer service in general, are hard. It’s a fast-paced environment and people can be tricky to deal with some days. So even a simple thank you to our team members is so, so important and makes such a difference to them,” added Sara Belkowitz, marketing director at Tiger Fuel.
Lauren Shanesy is a writer and editor at NACS and has worked in business journalism for a decade. She can be reached at lshanesy@ convenience.org.
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PUTTING
THE ENERGY BACK IN
Energy beverages see sales booming and new brands entering the market—as usual.
BY STEVE HOLTZ
ENERGY DRINKS
C-STORES ARE ENERGY STORES. That could be gasoline, ions, coffee, foodservice—or energy beverages.
Energy drinks and energy shots both rely on convenience stores as their primary route to consumers. Both promise functionality in the form of a boost of energy and focus. And both innovate through ingredients and flavors to please a variety of palates.
After a sluggish 2024, energy drink sales are picking up. Dollar sales grew 7.9% and unit sales
5.7% during the 52-week period ending May 18, according to Circana. More than 1.8 billion energy drink units passed through c-stores during the 52 weeks. In that same time period, 60 million shots did the same.
DRINK IT UP
John Herbert, senior category manager for truenorth convenience stores, can vouch for the sentiment that energy drinks are booming. And for the top brands in the segment, he describes sales as “phenomenal.”
“The state of energy is great,” he said. “[This year has] been up and down weather-wise, which has impacted the overall volume coming out of pack bev. Energy has remained strong and continues to grow as the year goes on and the weather improves.”
True North Energy, Brecksville, Ohio, owns and operates nearly 200 truenorth c-stores in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The strength of the category lies in innovation, promotions and partnership, Herbert said.
“Red Bull has laid out and acted on one of the best flavor and LTO lineups that they’ve had to date,” Herbert said. “The flavor profiles, the timing and the promotional structure has really accelerated the growth through the first half of this year.”
This year’s Summer Edition White Peach is performing well, he said, while previous LTO flavor Grapefruit & Blossom provided a boost in the spring.
“I think their growth is driven by their innovation,” he said. “All their innovation is adding up to what I would call a record year for Red Bull.”
Meanwhile, Herbert has been working with Monster on a fresh promotional structure that is driving volume.
“We’re figuring out new ways to communicate the savings to the consumer,” he said. “We’re not relying solely on two-fors. We’re trying to institute a buy-more, save-more approach.”
That’s manifested as a promotion the chain calls the “6-7-8” deal, that is two 16-ounce Monster drinks for $6, three for $7 and four for $8.
“It has accelerated the growth phenomenally over the past six weeks on all 16-ounce Monster,” Herbert said. “It increased our overall volume in those six weeks. In May, we saw [dollar] sales up just over 19% year to date and units up 15.9%.”
He also gives a nod to larger-scale innovation in the form of new brands. The addition of Bang Energy and Ghost
Energy drinks in recent years has been beneficial. He added that Keurig Dr Pepper’s acquisition of Ghost Energy in late 2024 has given that brand a welcome boost.
EMBRACING INNOVATION
Four energy drinks were included in the top 10 of Circana’s 2024 New Product Pacesetters list in the food and beverage category, suggesting innovation can overcome the challenges of inflation and economic uncertainty. The top 10 list, which recognizes best-performing newer products and brands based on sales and reach, includes C4 Energy, Red Bull Sea Blue Edition, Prime Energy and Celsius Essentials.
That’s the kind of innovation that Herbert looks for when adding new brands. He cited one recent new addition—Bum Energy—that opens the door to a new customer and new occasions. With caffeine content of 112 mg vs. the standard 200 mg, “It’s a much lower caffeine content than what’s out there currently,” he said. “You have a lot of folks chasing the highest caffeine count or another functional ingredient. Bum Energy, I think, reflects some burnout on that high end.”
According to NielsenIQ, energy drink dollar sales increased 12.9% in 2023
before cooling down to a 2.3% increase in 2024. Dollar sales are growing quickly again in 2025, up 8.4% year over year through May. Unit sales dipped slightly in 2024 but are showing 6.1% growth so far in 2025.
R
Creating more options within the energy portfolio is the path Celsius Holdings is taking as well. The manufacturer of Celsius has long marketed its energy drink as a product to help consumers reach their fitness goals. Its ready-to-drink beverages contain a variety of vitamins and other ingredients to benefit digestion and serve as “an ideal pre-workout drink.” In January, it debuted Celsius Hydration, a line of flavored, electrolyte-based powder sticks without caffeine, to add to water.
Such innovation is expected to continue, according to Kyle Watson, chief marketing officer at Celsius. “We’re continuing to see a shift in the energy-drink category toward functional products,” she said. “Today’s consumers—especially Gen Z and Millennials—are looking beyond just energy or hydration; they want products that support a more balanced lifestyle, with functional ingredients like vitamins, electrolytes and zero sugar.”
SHOOT YOUR SHOT
Functional benefits extend to the energy shot segment, as well. The best-selling energy shot brand in c-stores, 5-hour Energy, and other brands have long included B vitamins, amino acids and other functional
ingredients in its products, in addition to 200-230 mg of caffeine.
“For many, 5-hour Energy is part of a snack haul—hydration, snacks and 5-hour Energy [is] the perfect combo, if you ask us,” said Leah Key, president of Innovation Ventures, LLC, the parent company of 5-hour Energy.
The difference-maker is flavors and promotions, she said. “LTOs drive sales with both current customers and new customers. We currently are selling our Cotton Candy flavor as an exclusive with 7-Eleven and our Fruity Rainbow flavor as an exclusive with Casey’s General Stores,” Key said. “For us, it’s not about staying ahead of the pack; it’s about staying true to ourselves. We’re a functional product and marketing it as such remains successful because customers want straightforward solutions to their problems.”
Rapper, singer and actor T-Pain said he created Good Game energy shots to “help you stay focused, feel good and get things done, without the crash.”
We’re not relying solely on two-fors. We’re trying to institute a buy-more, save-more approach.
Taking Celsius’ Temperature
Celsius was deemed the top brand among companies worth between $2.5 billion and $8 billion on Circana’s list of 2024 U.S. CPG Growth Leaders. In February, it acquired the Alani Nu energy drink brand for $1.8 billion.
Kyle Watson, chief marketing officer at Celsius Holdings, explains the rationale for the acquisition and how the brands complement one another.
NACS: Your success has allowed Celsius Holdings to grow through acquisition. What are your brand goals for growth?
Watson: We remain focused on building a global brand and leading the functional lifestyle energy space. Following the acquisition of Alani Nu, we’re expanding our reach across categories, channels and consumer segments—driving incremental sales and attracting new shoppers to the energy category, all while staying true to our core: better-for-you, functional energy. We’re committed to innovation, global market expansion and deepening cultural relevance to enhance consumer value through strategic partnerships and marketing.
NACS: What made Alani Nu an attractive acquisition target?
Watson: Alani Nu was an attractive acquisition target due to its strong alignment with our strategic vision of creating a leading, better-for-you, functional lifestyle platform. Alani Nu’s rapid growth, particularly among Gen Z and Millennial women, and its innovative, zero-sugar product offerings complement Celsius’ existing portfolio. The acquisition enhances our ability to reach new consumer segments and expands our presence in the functional beverage market. This acquisition allows us to accelerate our growth, diversify our product offerings and strengthen our leadership in the functional beverage industry, helping grow category sales, drive incremental traffic and create greater value at the shelf.
NACS: complement each other?
Watson: energy drinks mean to wellness-focused consumers, speaking to distinct consumer mindsets and moments. Together, these brands expand our reach across demographics and usage occasions, allowing us to lead in multiple segments of the better-for-you beverage space. By main taining clear, differentiated identities, we give retailers the ability to build basket size and attract new shoppers without cannibalization.
C-store sales of energy shots were flat to down in 2024, according to Circana. “Removing seniors, all other generations are embracing energy drinks. The shots are a little more concentrated in Millennials, Gen X and a little bit of boomers,” Sally Lyons Wyatt, global EVP at Circana, said.
Compared to energy drinks, the shots category hasn’t seen a similar explosion of new products. Still, new entrants see opportunity.
Nappy Boy Drinks and its founder and CEO—rapper, singer and actor T-Pain— introduced Good Game energy shots to the convenience industry during the 2024 NACS Show. However, they just launched the drinks to the public this June during T-Pain’s Wiscansin Fest. The brand, marketed through Acosta, will roll out to c-stores nationally in two flavors—Strawberry Surge and Orange Vanilla Vortex—later in the year.
“We’re looking to introduce this to an audience that has never tried a shot or currently consumes shots and has been looking for something a little different or a little cleaner,” said Jason Tucker, president of Nappy Boy Dranks.
The company says the “proprietary blend of well-researched ingredients” includes 200 mg of caffeine, plus nootropics to “support focus and mental performance without the crash.”
The company will market the brand primarily through social media to reach audiences in gaming, music and the drift community, three of T-Pain’s passions.
“Our CEO’s social following brings a lot of clout,” Tucker said. “He brings the same vibe that he tries to bring to his shows, which is inclusivity. That’s the same thing that we’re looking to emote with these products.”
He added, “People are attempting to do things with different flavors or different ingredients, but we want to build communities. That’s our intention; we’ll see what our results are.”
Steve Holtz is a veteran c-store journalist with more than 20 years in the industry. He is currently president of Holtz Media Consulting and host of the Convenience Weekly podcast on Spotify. Reach him at Steve@HoltzMC.com.
The
ASEED OF Opportunity
Intoxicating hemp beverages could represent a huge market for convenience—if it’s not locked out.
BY MELISSA VONDER HAAR
Ever since the 2018 Farm Bill opened the door for hemp products to be sold at brick-and-mortar retail—as long as the plant contained less than 0.3% THC by weight—convenience retailers have considered the option to have cannabis products on their shelves.
First came CBD. But most shoppers were confused by the lack of an intoxicating effect from these cannabis offerings.
Then came Delta-8. Intoxicating, yes. But to date, 17 states have banned Delta-8 and seven others have severely restricted sales because Delta-8 is synthetically derived and is not naturally occurring in the hemp plant.
With every state that has passed adult-use marijuana laws, often opting for a dispensary-only sales model, it seemed as though convenience retailers would not have a true opportunity to sell legal, intoxicating cannabis options any time soon.
Enter Minnesota. In 2022, Minnesota passed a law legalizing the sale of low-dose edible hemp-derived THC products at mainstream retail, including convenience stores. Last year, Georgia passed a similar law around low-dose hemp products.
Since then, there has been an explosion of growth in intoxicating hemp beverages specifically. Beer and wine distributors have started embracing the category as an opportunity for growth. National retailers—including Total Wine and ABC Liquor—and delivery platforms like Door Dash have started selling THC beverages in states where it is allowed.
This growth has occurred despite the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reiterating that under its current guidelines, hemp-derived cannabinoids like CBD and THC “cannot be marketed as a dietary supplement or added to food products without the agency’s approval,” but the agency has taken little action on enforcement.
“The hemp beverage category is one that needs regulatory certainty. There should be clear rules on age verification, disclosure and labeling of potency and product safety,” said Jon Taets, NACS director of government relations. “Convenience retailers need to be allowed to sell these products. The convenience industry is far, far better than adult-only stores at verifying age. The state restrictions on who can sell these products are moving in exactly the wrong direction and will lead to more sales to minors, not less. That trend needs to be reversed.”
In the meantime, organizations like the Coalition for Adult Beverage Alternatives (CABA) have emerged to try to create a responsible and safe regulatory pathway for low-dose hemp beverages.
“Our focus has always been to have these products sold where other adult age-gated beverages are sold,” said CABA chair Diana Eberlein, noting that CABA advocates for low-dose
We put an assortment in our stores and it took off—hemp beverage is now approaching 15% of our sales.
products (defined as 10mg or less per serving/100mg per package) to be allowed at traditional brick-andmortar retail, reserving high-dose products for dispensaries.
It’s a strategy that has benefited those in the alcohol space, like Jon Halper, owner and CEO of Top Ten Liquors out of Minnesota.
“Alcohol is in a modest decline,” Halper said. “THC is a new growth opportunity.”
The question is, where does convenience fit?
“For the retailers that do have it, it’s a game-changer for their cold beverage business,” said Tony Battaglia, who has worked with brands like Tropicana, JUUL and Pepsi and currently sits on the NACS Supplier Board. “The ones that don’t distribute it or are not taking it seriously may not know what they are missing.”
THE OPPORTUNITY
Like many new categories, intoxicating hemp beverages have seen impressive growth. According to the Brightfield Group, a cannabis-focused market research firm, the total hemp beverage market (including direct to consumer and alternative channel sales) grew from $400,000 in 2020 to $382 million in 2024. Fortune Business projects total THC beverage sales will hit $81.44 billion by 2032.
NIQ tracks traditional brick-andmortar outlet sales (not direct to consumer or dispensary). Its growing data set shows triple digit growth year-over-year across all channels— including c-stores.
“For the latest 52 weeks, we have been tracking over 400% growth in c-store as the product is finding its way onto more shelves and into more chains,” said NIQ’s Vice President of North American Retail Jason Zelinski. Though promising, growth is to be expected in a category that had negligible sales five years ago. The true promise comes from the experiences of retailers who have brought in the products.
For the retailers that do have it, it’s a gamechanger for their cold beverage business.
Halper added THC beverages to his Top Ten stores as soon as Minnesota allowed it in 2023.
“We put an assortment in our stores and it immediately took off,” he said. “It’s now approaching 15% of our overall sales.” Halper added that there’s plenty of room for more growth as only 20% of his shoppers are currently purchasing THC products.
Convenience retailers like Jigar Patel, CEO of Alabama-based Fastime and vice president of the Strategic Alliance of Affiliated Store Owners of America (SAASOA), have also been impressed by the category. Patel said he initially launched intoxicating hemp beverages in small countertop coolers near the checkout several years ago.
“We saw pretty good volume out of that small footprint,” he said, explaining
What’s Going On Federally?
While the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp federally, it also stipulated that the FDA has oversight over ingestible cannabinoids. Though the agency has taken a position that CBD, THC and other hempderived cannabinoids cannot be added to food or beverage products without FDA approval, it has neglected to develop a framework for hemp companies to get approval. Instead, the FDA has repeatedly called on Congress to develop hemp rules.
Given the gridlock at the federal level, the main option to get some kind of federal clarity seems to be through the overdue-to-be-updated Farm Bill. Though the 2024 Farm Bill ultimately stalled out, an amendment was added to the proposed bill that would have effectively banned intoxicating hemp in all forms. The Miller Amendment, as proposed by Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) would redefine legal hemp products as containing only “naturally occurring, naturally derived and non-intoxicating cannabinoids.”
With the failure to pass any Farm Bill in 2024, the pressure is on to do so in 2025. But Diana Eberlein, chair of the Coalition for Adult Beverage Alternatives (CABA), points out that hemp is a very, very small piece of that legislation.
that within a year, he upgraded to a larger cooler and started putting THC beverages in the cold vault and in beer caves where he had them. “This was a pretty good category and a very nice gross profit dollar contributor.”
The growth of hemp beverages reminds Battaglia a lot of the birth of the vapor category.
“The tobacco category was declining and the margins were shrinking, and here comes a new innovation, an alternative that consumers were looking for,” he said. “This category, I feel, is the same thing for the alcohol space.”
Except THC beverages don’t just represent an alternative for alcohol— Total Wine CEO Troy Rice recently revealed that approximately one third of THC drink buyers are new shoppers to Total Wine.
“I’ve always said we’re not Marcia Brady in this—we are Jan,” she said, explaining that the Appropriations budget bill that the Farm Bill is usually attached to must be passed by September 30, 2025. “I don’t think that hemp is going to be a top priority compared to a shut down.”
Unfortunately, the initial language of the 2026 Appropriations budget bill was very similar to what was proposed in the Miller Amendment. Specifically, it would update the definition of hemp to prohibit products with “quantifiable” amounts of THC or “any other cannabinoids that have similar effects (or are marketed to have similar effects) on humans or animals” as THC. The “quantifiable” amount would be set by the federal government.
“The fight is far from over and we have to keep the urgency up,” Eberlein said. “There is still time to make a difference.”
Organizations like CABA will be working to support regulations like eliminating 100% synthetic “new & novel” cannabinoids (such as THCP) while leaving hemp-derived THC sales to be regulated by the states.
Time will tell how it plays out.
“While there is an overlap with other BevAlc categories, THC represents a new, younger shopper with good repeat trip habits,” agreed Zelinski.
In Halper’s experience, it’s not just young shoppers—in fact, he finds 35- to 65-year-olds are driving traditional THC beverage sales in his stores, while younger shoppers are going for newer formats like THC shots or other small single-serving options.
Jack Sherrie, founder of Delta, a THC beverage company that has sold THC beverages since 2020, agreed with Halper. “Our core consumer base is adults 45 to 65 who are seeking healthier alternatives to smoking or vaping,” he said. “At the same time, we’re seeing momentum across a broad range of 21+ consumers who are turning
The industry needs to put this on the agenda as one of the things that they are lobbying for before they lose it.
to THC beverages to be present and tap into the moment—not to escape it.”
“It’s men, women, older people … it’s some of everybody,” Halper said. “The reality that a lot of us are discovering is why this is such a good, important category.”
THE CASE FOR CONVENIENCE
Most of the $382 million hemp beverage sales Brightfield tracked did not come from convenience stores: liquor stores and direct-to-consumer channels have dominated sales thus far.
Begging the question: does convenience have a place in this new market?
Bump Williams, a beverage alcohol industry consultant with over 45 years of experience, believes convenience represents the best opportunity to bring any new beverage—including THC—to the masses thanks to the sheer volume of stores and the number of customers served daily.
“If you want to generate trial, drive brand awareness and get your product into the hands of tens of millions of potential customers, my advice has always been to launch in convenience first,” Williams said. “There are thousands of daily transactions of single-serve beverages in convenience stores across America every single minute of every single day.”
The THC beverage companies CABA’s Eberlein works with recognize this kind of access to consumers with trial-friendly sizes (i.e. singles) is key to launching a new category.
“There’s the opportunity to have a lot of access to consumers very quickly,” she said.
Convenience also offers access to a consumer base needed to truly grow the intoxicating hemp space: consumers who do not currently or have not ever used THC.
“Convenience brings additional exposure and normalization,” said Eberlein. “It’s an opportunity to win over consumers very quickly through a channel where inherent trust exists.”
Halper said 98% of his THC beverage four-pack sales are at the 10mg
dosage—new consumers, theoretically, would seek out lower dose options in the 5mg or even 2-3mg range. The prevalence of 10mg sales, Halper believes, “means we haven’t expanded the audience to the masses.”
By comparison, the NIQ data—which is admittedly still early—shows that the majority of convenience hemp beverage sales (35%) are in the 5mg dosage. Bev–erages with 10mg represent just 9% of convenience sales tracked by NIQ.
Delta sales tell a different story: its top-selling products in convenience are 10mg and 20mg cans, with the 10mg format launching in a major convenience retail chain at the end of summer. “Realistically, I think people are a little bit more educated about THC than we realize, and when they read the directions on the back of the can, it makes it easy for them to know their own tolerance,” Sherrie said.
The hemp beverage category also represents a new opportunity for retailers as the historically core categories of the industry shift.
“Let’s roll back a few years to when we were basically the gas, cokes and smokes model: times have changed a lot,” said Patel, noting the need for new profit-drivers. “Hemp could be one of those categories.”
Patel saw firsthand how THC beverages could drive profits not just with his existing customers, but with entirely new customers coming in to buy hemp products.
“That was the best thing about the category,” Patel said. “This was a customer that shopped somewhere else, who was now coming into our stores.”
NOT SO FAST…
Readers may have picked up on the fact that Patel speaks about the hemp beverage category in the past tense. That’s because in May, Alabama passed a law that limits THC sales to over 21 locations … except for large grocery and pharmacy. Meaning convenience was the sole off-premise channel locked out.
“I think this was one of the worst sessions we’ve had, because they
Hemp Bev Basics
CBN, RTD, 10mg—confused by all the lingo around hemp beverages? We’ve got you covered!
Dosage
The strength of intoxicating hemp beverages is typically measured by the level of THC present. While everyone’s tolerance will be different, here’s what common doses compared to alcohol equate to. And by the way, this is just for reference—your alcohol tolerance does not matter:
• 2-3mg: Comparable to a light beer
• 5mg: Comparable to a cocktail
• 10mg: Closer to a Long Island Iced Tea
Cannabinoids
Many hemp beverages don’t just include THC: they contain other cannabinoids (naturally occurring compounds found in cannabis). Many consumers interested in hemp beverages not just as intoxicating products, but as functional products, will be interested in these other cannabinoids too. Common cannabinoids include:
• THC: also known as D9 THC or D9, this is the euphoric or high cannabinoid
• CBD: the balance cannabinoid (it can also help with sleep, pain and anxiety)
• CBN: the sleepy cannabinoid (that also helps with pain)
• CBG: the healing cannabinoid (that also helps with anxiety)
• CBC: the anti-inflammatory cannabinoid
Formats
With so much innovation, there seem to be new options for THC beverages hitting shelves every day. The most common beverage forms include:
• Ready-To-Drink (RTD): Seltzers, sodas, mocktails, even coffee options in can or shot form, designed for single-servings
• Ready-To-Pour: Spirit-type 750ml bottles meant to be mixed like a cocktail with multiple servings-per-bottle
• Ready-To-Travel: Ready-to-mix beverage additives meant to add to an existing drink in travel-friendly formats like small liquid pouches or powdered drink sticks
We need new profit-drivers: hemp could be one of those categories.
singled out the convenience store industry on this legislation,” Patel said. “We showed the data. We do tobacco, we do beer, we do wine, we card more IDs than TSA does. We are very responsible as an industry.”
Unfortunately, Alabama was not the only state to block THC beverage sales at convenience: Tennessee and Kentucky passed similar 21+ laws (which, somewhat ironically, include vape shops).
Eberlein believes the adult-only channel laws being passed have more to do with a lack of education and understanding about THC from regulators, who view 21+ only channels as a solution to their concerns about access to minors, than with the industry’s ability to sell
decision, it could be too late and they could miss thousands if not millions of dollars in sales.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Though the 2025 session has come to a close, make no mistake: intoxicating hemp beverages will be on many state agendas in 2026. Eberlein noted that the liquor channel is already lobbying— if convenience wants to have a more active voice in those potential regulations, the state industry associations need to get involved.
“It’s very difficult to advocate for multiple retail channels when you have a very active liquor lobby saying, ‘we will take it’…and no one fighting it,” she said.
“I would take any regulation ping stone to getting wider, improved upon regulations,”
the top concern she hears from regulators is keeping products out of the hands
convenience stores are great at age-gating products, but there’s a fear factor for people who don’t necessarily know
The hope is that as consumers
more educated and comfortable with THC beverage sales at liquor stores, it will become easier for convenience stores and other chan-
But the industry does have to take a
“I would recommend retailers in on the horizon band together so that
It’s an important message for retailers important for those who might like to be others are waiting,” Battaglia added.
“The industry needs to put this on the agenda as one of the things that they are lobbying for before they lose it to specialty stores, liquor stores and cannabis shops,” agreed Battaglia.
Eberlein hopes that states like Minnesota and Georgia—as well as more restrictive but still regulated states like Alabama—will serve as case studies as more states seek to regulate the category. “Hopefully we can look at those states, cherry-pick what’s working, and really put that to use next session.”
As for what’s next in a regulated market that allows multiple channels to sell? The sky could be the limit.
“If we do the right things, it’ll probably be 35%-40% of my sales,” Halper estimated.
No one category is ever likely to get to that dominance, but Battaglia believes hemp beverages could become a star of the cold vault based on what he is hearing from retailers that sell it.
“This could be the top-selling item in their entire cold vault,” he said. “It’s here—it’s an ambiguous space but we should embrace it the best we can.”
Melissa Vonder Haar is the managing director of TradeWorks from iSEE Store Innovations. Follow her on X at @ iSeeMelissaV.
SIPPING SMARTER:
FUNCTIONAL BEVERAGES ARE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Consumers are gravitating towards ingredients that support health and brain function.
BY PAT PAPE
Late last year, Walmart launched a new beverage section dubbed “modern soda.” Available both in stores and online, it brings the chain’s growing selection of functional beverages together in one place.
“It includes brands such as Zevia, Poppi, Olipop and Culture Pop, which are classified as sodas and offer a wellness feature,” said a Walmart spokesperson. “The distinction makes it easier for customers to shop. For example, Poppi, Olipop and Culture Pop provide prebiotics/ probiotics and Zevia is naturally sweetened. We plan to add more [brands] in the future.”
The modern drink assortment gives health-conscious customers the beverages they seek. Three-quarters of participants in a 2023 Datassential survey said that they believe con suming functional products will result in a longer life without the need to make major dietary changes.
Most drinks on the market today provide hydration, but functional beverages attempt to do more. They’re enhanced with vitamins, minerals, herbs, antioxidants, probiotics and ingredients that may help consumers deal with stress, boost brain function, improve gut health, lift their spirits and bolster energy levels. Plus, they’re available in various formats, including energy drinks, sports drinks, sodas, waters, shots, shakes, drink powders and teas.
WHO DRINKS WHAT
While skeptics may question the health benefits attributed to some functional ingredients, many health-focused consumers are believers. The demand for functional beverages is being driven by Millennials and Gen Z, who together make up almost 40% of the U.S. population. The Brightfield Group, a research organization that studies wellness industries, reports that Millennials comprise 46.5% and Gen Z accounts for 10.1% of functional drink consumers, with 57.4% of interested buyers being female.
“Functional is a mixed bag, and it relates to how consumers look at health,” said Donna Hood Crecca, senior principal at Technomic. “Today, health is about nourishing your body and mind, and consumers are
personalizing what ‘better for you’ means to them.”
Technomic research found that 61% of c-store drink purchases are planned and 39% are impulse buys, according to Crecca. “That means c-store operators must be engaging with consumers when they’re starting to think about wanting a beverage. They must draw them to the brand and location. Retailers must be messaging about the categories customers are looking for and what’s new and different. Social media is top of mind because younger people use it.”
“Functional is one of the few categories within beverages that continues to show growth,” said Lex Shankle, vice president of accounts for Celsius, an energy drink containing ingredients such as ginger, guarana, green tea and essential vitamins while forgoing
sugar, aspartame, artificial colors and high-fructose corn syrup.
“Celsius has contributed over 45% of the energy drink category’s volume growth in c-stores. It’s outpacing Red Bull, Monster, Alani Nu and C4 by a factor of 1.3,” Shankle said. “There are a lot of brands coming on the heels of what has been created, and you’re still going to see brands emerging, trying to get their 1% of the category.”
According to Shankle, functional beverage fans want drink innovation, new flavors and zero-sugar options.
“When you look at our growth, a big portion is driven by innovation and staying relevant,” he said.
Manufacturers of all sizes recognize the importance of functional drinks. Coca-Cola has enjoyed more than a century of success selling traditional sodas. However, the company has expanded its portfolio, and in 2023, 30% of the Coca-Cola volume sold was low- or no-calorie beverages. Coca-Cola is investing heavily in functional drink production with products such as Bodyarmor, Health-Ade kombucha and Honest Tea. In February, the company introduced its first prebiotic soda. Simply Pop was rolled out online and in select regions. It has six grams of fiber for gut health, plus vitamin C and zinc for immunity support, and comes in five fruity flavors.
FILL THE COOLER
Consumer research firm Brightfield Group reports that 48% of energy-drink consumers purchase their beverages from convenience stores.
“More than two-thirds of customer store trips include a beverage, making it essential for us to offer a wide variety of
Green and Tropical Escape. They’ve been a big hit with customers, and we’re adding Poppi and Olipop in stores this year,” Caudill added. “They may be selected for some bundling promotions, but we won’t force a pairing that doesn’t make sense.”
Functional is one of the few categories within beverages that continues to show growth.
QuikTrip, headquartered in Oklahoma, carried Poppi in its juice functional section last year, but “It’s being moved to the floor cooler this year for better visibility,” said Aisha Jefferson, corporate communications manager for QuikTrip. “We haven’t bundled it with any food yet, but we plan to do so in the future.”
At Casey’s, “We continually strive to listen to our guests, ensuring we offer the products they want most to make Casey’s their beverage destination,” said Chris Stewart, vice president of merchandising for the Iowa-based retailer.
“Coca-Cola is committed to meeting the evolving preferences of consumers, particularly Gen Zs and Millennials,” said Kevin LeMoyne, vice president of convenience retail for The CocaCola Company North America. He cited the company’s Bodyarmor Flash I.V. drink, which contains 2,290 mg of electrolytes, zinc and vitamins B & C, and Smartwater Antioxidant. “Both products are performing well in c-stores, reflecting the growing interest in functional drinks.”
high-quality, differentiated options to meet evolving consumer preferences,” said a 7-Eleven spokesperson. “Energy drinks were among our top-selling items over the last year. In response, we introduced more than 200 new and quality improved private-label brand items and categories last year, including highly competitive categories.”
At Love’s Travel Stops, the company “knows customers are becoming increasingly interested in modern soda and healthier options,” said Don Caudill, supervisor of beverages at the Oklahoma-based retailer. “A large portion of travelers, professional drivers and other road warriors who visit Love’s fuel their drive with energy drinks. But functional beverages are popular and growing at a rapid rate.”
“Last year, we introduced organic, cold-pressed juices to our coolers, including AllWellO Berry Delight, Go
Last year, Casey’s helped launch Throne Sport’s ready-todrink coffee nationwide. The drink combines natural caffeine, electrolytes, amino acids and B vitamins and comes in several flavors. Other new brands in the Casey’s cold case include Yerbaé plant-based energy drinks and seltzers, Health-Ade kombucha, Karma water products and HOP WTR, an alcohol-free, carbonated beverage that infuses water with hops and contains L-theanine, an ingredient that claims to boost brain function.
Casey’s merchandises functional beverages inside reach-in coolers near the front of stores in some locations and ensures they’re strategically placed in the cold vault. “This arrangement not only provides guests with a familiar shopping experience but allows those who might not be actively searching for these new drinks to easily discover them,” Stewart said.
At The Market by Tiger Fuel in Charlottesville, Virginia, “Our team is currently strategizing on what modern
Retailers need to do a store-specific assortment because not everyone walking into a convenience store is looking for healthier options.
soda should look like,” said Nick Rogers, retail merchandising manager for The Market. “We’re a small retailer, and we’re careful with decisions to add new products and categories to our shelves. Currently, we’ve invested shelf space to offer locally produced beverage products like Greenberry’s and Snowing in Space coffee drinks, Running Lights energy drinks and The Good Reverand and Mountain Culture kombucha. The success of these products gives us confidence that modern soda will be a hit in many of our markets.”
RIGHT DRINK FOR THE RIGHT CUSTOMER
To succeed with any product, convenience retailers must determine the right assortment for the customers of each store and consider rotating products by daypart, according to Sally Lyons Wyatt, global executive vice president
and chief advisor and consumer goods and foodservice insights at Circana.
“Knowing more about your shopper today is incredibly important,” she said. “You don’t necessarily need to carry everything, but you need a sampling of the different types of beverages. Currently, immune defense is one of the top-selling claims in beverages. Do you need three immune defense beverages? If you live in an area where health is first, and you see that in your shoppers, I’d have more variety. But if you’re in an area where they come in and want a carbonated drink and a salty snack, maybe not. But you may want to ensure that you have an assortment of carbonated beverages and perhaps one immune defense option in case they’d like to try it.”
When it comes to merchandising functional beverages, “Retailers need to do a store-specific assortment, because not everyone walking into a convenience store is looking for healthier options,” Wyatt said. “So, you don’t want functional beverages in all stores. Just the stores that have the right clientele.”
“If I were a convenience store operator, I’d have my top sellers—the ones you want day in and day out—in certain stores. I’d also want some of the new products, but I’d have a special place for them,” she added. “Beverages can be rotated throughout the day the same way retailers rotate food. The hottest functional drink right now may not be the hottest drink in two months. So, do you want a permanent shelf space for that, or do you want to be able to bring in the new drinks that are the latest ones on TikTok and Instagram to excite and delight? That gives you the ability to have the core products that are selling now and the opportunity to rotate in some innovation.”
Pat Pape worked in the convenience store industry for more than 20 years before becoming a full-time writer. See more of her articles at patpape. wordpress.com.
Providing store leaders with the right support—even before they take on a management role— sets everyone up for success.
BY STEVE HOLTZ
You’ve just promoted an associate to store manager, giving her a salary for the first time in her career along with an intimidating list of responsibilities. When should training begin?
Consultant and onetime store leader Tom Hart said it should have begun on the employee’s very first day with the company in the form of setting realistic expectations to build that employee’s knowledge and confidence.
“From my experience, we push too much on new employees in their first three shifts, sometimes on the first day,” said Hart, now the director of business development for Ready Training Online (RTO). “That first couple of days behind the register, you don’t really know what you’re doing; it’s hard. You start thinking, ‘I can’t do this job.’ ... That lack of confidence by a new employee can often lead to turnover. It doesn’t need to be that way.”
In that position, he said, many new employees choose to leave and never come back.
It costs an average of $2,197 to hire and train a new full-time store associate in a convenience store and about $6,775 for a store manager.
Source: NACS State of the Industry Talent Insights Dashboard (2024 Data).
“Management is under stress. They want to get [the new employee] productive behind the counter as quickly as possible,” he said. “Our direction is to be more patient. Give them the time to build the confidence they need to be successful. That first three to 30 days, you’ve got to slow down a little and build up the confidence of new employees.”
It’s these employees, the ones who have been nurtured, who become strong candidates for store management and other leadership roles.
BEGIN AT THE END
Common Cents. For Moyle Petroleum Co., that’s not just a store brand, it’s also a suggested way to manage a convenience store.
“We actually use that in training sometimes when we talk about people using commonsense [in your job],” said Michael Deal, director, human resources, Moyle Petroleum, which does business as Common Cents. “It’s different than when I began in the industry. You had to run the cash register and take credit cards. Today, operating a c-store is completely different. You have to be somewhat comfortable with technology.”
Deal has worked for the Rapid City, South Dakota-based chain for 27 years, having started in the industry on the
nightshift for another retailer and working his way up to his current role. Today, he uses his own experience to illustrate the opportunities that exist at Moyle Petroleum and in the c-store industry overall.
“The average person who comes in [looking for a job] isn’t aspiring to be a store manager,” he admitted. “Our industry is kind of a transient industry. [Employees] are not looking to build a career in convenience stores.” However, at Moyle Petroleum, Deal said, scores of leaders have risen through the ranks.
That growth, in Deal’s mind, is the most appealing incentive he can dangle for potential employees at any level. And in a business that routinely sees turnover rates of nearly 150%, employers need to view every new worker—regardless of starting position—as a potential store manager and more.
“We truly believe that the success of a manager starts off with people starting at that entry-level position. We 100% promote from within the company,” he said, noting the turnover rate at Common Cents was 92% in 2024. “Just recently, I hired the general manager of a very large supermarket chain, and we had him start off as a manager-in-training with us. ... It was an hourly position because we don’t bring people in as a manager. They have to come in, see what our culture is about, make sure it’s a good fit for
At Common Cents, “We talk about people using commonsense” in their jobs.
NACS STATS
Source: NACS State of the Industry Talent Insights Dashboard (2024 Data).
them, a good fit for us. We’ll give them that opportunity.”
Workforce consultant Bob Phibbs calls that poaching ... and he’s all for it. “That’s the best thing,” he said. “You can see how that somebody deals with customers, how they deal with other employees.”
Building up an employee from scratch requires additional work on the trainer’s part, he added, and it’s necessary to prove to an employee that new expectations are realistic.
“You’ve just got to work five minutes with your employees doing something that’s a grunt job—maybe you’re going to clean the bathroom with them or take out the trash. You’ve got to do it with them and not gripe about it,” he said. “They’ve got to see you pitching in when things go bad instead of ordering someone else to: ‘Get a bucket!’”
Phibbs believes much of the turnover in any retail channel is self-fulfilling. “If you’re not going to train [employees] or pay them more, then you’ve got to settle for whatever you’ve got because you don’t give a darn,” said Phibbs, CEO, The Retail Doctor, Coxsackie, New York. “Maybe your store isn’t the newest, but you can certainly provide a better experience for the customers, and that starts with the people who are working there.”
Changing that is a matter of deciding what your priorities are. As Phibbs put it, “Start with the end in mind.”
LEVELING UP
At all levels of the organization, Giant Eagle/GetGo offer employees access to a variety of tools to facilitate development of leadership roles.
• App-based. GetGo provides all employees with access to an app-based micro-learning program it calls Thrive. “This provides team members with the opportunity to self-register and take their own mini-leadership development course,” said Cory Schaffranek, senior manager for GetGo operations, services and transformation. Covering leadership topics such as delegation, communication, managing work relationships and more, the lessons are between two and five minutes in length.
• In-person. GetGo hosts in-person, multiday training sessions that focus on leadership skills. “How do you lead a team? How do you communicate? We do those in person to bring leaders at the same level together to learn those skills, to network and to be able to focus on their next step within the organization. There are multiple levels of that. There’s a level for store leaders, a level for district leaders and so on, to really help them continue to grow throughout their career.”
• Continuing education. Recognizing that store leader is not the last opportunity to grow at GetGo, the company hosts regular continuing education sessions to provide further development. “In this meeting in November every year, we focus solely on leadership skills. We do breakout sessions throughout the day that are self-registered to give them the opportunity to focus on the skills they would like to build. It might be addressing conflict or leading effective meetings. It gives them the opportunity to come together in person and focus on just their skills. It’s a really big investment from the organization on their next steps and leadership development.”
“There are four things that retailers are typically working on: They want to cut down on turnover. They want to improve cleanliness at their store. They want to have a manager they can trust. And they want to have customers who want to come back and choose them over the other guy,” he said.
Once you’ve defined those end goals, “Then you can figure out how to train them better and consider whether you need to pay them more.”
PROMOTING FOR SUCCESS
Giant Eagle’s GetGo convenience-store brand—now under Alimentation Couche-Tard after an acquisition closed earlier this year—leans on promotion from within to ensure the success of store managers and other roles.
“We really try to prioritize how we develop team members and how we can get them to their next step,” said Cory Schaffranek, senior manager for GetGo operations, services and transformation, and previously a store leader and talent coach, among other positions.
Schaffranek joined Pittsburghbased Giant-Eagle 17 years ago as a 20-year-old store cashier and worked his way through the ranks to reach his role today.
“Through the organization’s focus on development and their culture for putting team members first, I’ve had the opportunity through my career to grow into our different in-store leadership roles [and beyond],” he said. “That’s a really similar story that you can hear from a lot of the team members within the organization. There’s a lot of tenure. There are a lot of opportunities for people to grow. And you can’t grow into those roles without building those employee skill sets.”
It’s not always easy to know who is ready to move up to a new role or not. As Hart said, a hard worker is not necessarily guaranteed to be a good manager.
“A lot of times, we reward hard work with over-promoting. I made that mistake when I was a district manager,” he said. “In my experience, all store managers are hard workers,
As a retailer with 30 convenience stores, Moyle Petroleum/ Common Cents stands as a B-level chain, according to NACS’ scale of store-count groups, far from a mom-and-pop shop but not quite in the big leagues of convenience retailers. But with nearly 500 employees, the company has built a strategy and tactics to help employees develop skills that will allow them to move up the promotion ladder of the company. It starts with that first day on the job.
“We’ve had people come to us and have almost a meteoric rise.” said Director of Human Resources Mike Deal. “They go from a third-assistant position, to a second assistant, first assistant, and then to store manager all within six months. A manager-in-training can come in and assume a role as a manager within three months.”
“We train an entry-level employee for five days with a training director, and then they go to their home store, where they train with the store manager for a day. So it’s a six-day training program.“
“In that period of time, we do an employee-attitude survey with that person. Then within 30 days, we check in with that person and conduct another 30-day survey, then at 60 days we do a more formal performance appraisal.”
Employees are eligible for a raise and benefits after 60 days. “Because if we keep somebody past 60 days, our chance of retaining them has increased exponentially,” Deal said. “It’s phenomenal how fast it grows.”
Deal also surveys all store employees personally, touring all stores once or twice a year. I give them a tablet to complete the [anonymous] survey. All I see is tabulated results. They can offer us feedback on the supervision they’re receiving, on work conditions, on benefits. There’s an open comments section.”
Those comments have ignited marketing ideas, changes to policy and procedures, updates to uniforms and more. “I think people see that and they really appreciate that the newest person on staff can complete that survey and get a message to the owner of the company. It’s pretty cool.”
MIKE DEAL’S DEAL
but there are certain skills you need, those softer skills—time management, leadership and so on.”
Deal, who practices in-house and RTO training measures, agreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment.
“When you take that last leap from first assistant to store manager, your success is not predicated on how hard you work,” he said. “Now your success is predicated on how other people work for you. So, we really try to spend some time with that new store manager.”
For Deal, that process begins before the promotion, having a first assistant fill in for a store manager who is on vacation, for example.
Once a promotion is activated, Deal conducts a two-day training session for new store managers, outlining top-level elements of the position that may be new to the employee. These include, among other things:
• The hiring cycle
• Employment law
• Performance appraisals
• Disciplinary actions
• Terminations
• Harassment and discrimination
• Workplace violence
• Workers’ compensation
• Equal employment opportunity
From there, Deal turns to RTO’s training videos. The Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania-based company maintains a content library of more than 100 video training modules.
“We also created our own teammember development guides for entry level, second and first assistant roles. As you move up, it becomes a little more administrative,” Deal said. “That basically takes them through everything they’re going to need to be a store manager.”
This includes how to handle accidents, family medical leave, inventory management, team development and product turns. “You don’t want to overwhelm anybody, but all of these are vitally important when you’re moving on to a new role.”
MAKING IT A CAREER
At GetGo, team leaders work with employees to create development action plans that identify skills employees need to grow and outline opportunities to make it happen, whether that be formal or on-the-job training. Meanwhile, succession planning outlines job openings, present and future, that could be an opportunity for each employee.
“Leaders work with their team members to identify strengths and opportunities within their role and [help] that team member build their own plan about how they’re going to develop those skills,” Schaffranek said. “That’s team-member driven. The leader is there to guide them, but it’s really up to the team member to drive their own development throughout.”
“When you take that last leap from first assistant to store manager, your success is not predicated on how hard you work. Now your success is predicated on how other people work for you.”
GetGo prioritizes “developing team members and how we can get them to their next step.”
Those action and succession plans serve a dual purpose by providing both direction and inspiration for employees.
“When we have those development action plans, it really puts a passion behind the team member in making sure that they get the learning that they need for their role,” Schaffranek said.
GetGo’s training program follows a formal education-themed path of progress:
• Hourly employees attend GetGo Academy. It teaches in-store skills such as how to be a cashier or how to work in a store kitchen.
• Employees on a store-leadership track can enroll in GetGo’s Master University program.
“Any person put in line for an assistant store leader or a store leader role goes through this program,” Schaffranek said. “It is with a certified trainer. We have 50 to 60 certified trainers for each of our banners. Each trainee is put with one of those trainers, and they grow through a mixture of written learning, hands-on learning, knowledge checks and leadership skill development.”
The program teaches tactical and job-specific skills but also “has a pathway in it where leaders are required to take some leadership skills.” This includes skills such as building trust, providing feedback, building credibility in authority, retention strategies, servant leadership and others. “Those courses are required as part of this pathway so that at the end of training, they have developed not only how to do the day to day, but how to lead a team.”
For those at the assistant or store leader level, Master University helps them improve their skills and prepare for future advancement. (See the sidebar “Leveling Up” for more on GetGo’s training curriculum.)
Back over at Common Cents, through all its training protocol Deal tries to instill trust and authority in new store managers and emphasizes that idea of commonsense that employees see in the Common Cents store logo every shift. He said he often comes back to
the company’s mission statement as a master direction: “We guarantee exceptional friendliness, clean stores and fast service.”
“We can’t prepare you for everything,” he said. “We try to emphasize that the reason they’re getting this opportunity is we believe that they’re the right person for the job. We put you in this position because we think you have commonsense, and we think you’ll be a good ambassador for our brand. We trust you to make decisions. If you’re ever in doubt about a decision, fall back
on those three pillars: friendliness, clean stores, fast service. If you make decisions based on those, even if it’s the wrong decision, we’re going to understand that.”
Steve Holtz is a veteran c-store journalist with more than 20 years in the industry. He is currently president of Holtz Media Consulting and host of the Convenience Weekly podcast on Spotify. Reach him at Steve@HoltzMC.com.
HOW IMPORTANT IS SALARY?
“Twenty years ago, we could say, ‘You’re on salary and that means you work any and all hours. If somebody doesn’t show up, you have to do it,’” said workforce consultant Bob Phibbs. “Today, good luck with that!”
While salary shouldn’t be the most important thing in maintaining a strong staff, retailers do need to recognize where else their employment pool is looking for a job.
“Don’t think you’re smart that you have people working for less. You’re going to pay for it one way or the other.”
“You’re competing with McDonald’s now for an associate at $15 an hour. That’s the reality. Walmart will pay $22,” he said. “Don’t think you’re smart that you have people working for less. You’re going to pay for it one way or the other.”
Tom Hart of Ready Training Online said employers need to recognize the challenges of being a store manager. It’s more than waiting on customers and keeping things in stock.
“A manager is managing labor, inventory, a store that brings in over $2 million, a staff of 10 to 30 people, regulatory issues, community relationships, marketing plans, keeping people safe. All of that is part of your daily life, and that’s big,” he said. “You also get calls at 2 a.m. That is never someone calling you to say, ‘Hi, I just want to let you know things are going well and everything’s great.’”
Raise a Can to SPIRITS
Convenient RTDs and flavor-forward brands are driving shopper demand for spirits— and c-stores are meeting the moment.
BY KATE BERNOT
Beer has long reigned on the convenience store alcohol throne. And while beer is still king by volume and dollar sales, spirits’ recent momentum shows that shoppers are interested in more types, formats and flavors of drinks than ever before.
Last year, spirit dollar sales grew 6% year over year and unit sales were up 6.5%, according to NIQ data. Nearly every subcategory within liquor— from distilled spirits to premixed cocktails to liqueurs and cordials—grew in unit sales. Cocktail mixes like tonic water and bloody mary mix were the exception, likely due to more availability of premixed options. According to data from SipSource at the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, c-stores were the only off-premise channel to post both unit and revenue growth in the spirits category for the 12 months ending in November 2024.
“The data highlights a significant consumer trend toward convenience and on-the-go options,” said Michael Bilello, director of SipSource.
“Premixed cocktails and agave spirits are leading the growth.”
Companies including Casey’s and Kwik Trip have recently expanded the number of liquor stores within their portfolios, with Kwik Spirits opening more than 30 locations across the Midwest in just three years.
CHEERS CHEERS CHEERS CHEERS CHEERS
“It’s a challenge to old rules,” said Joe Sepka, cofounder of 3 Tier Beverages, a data consulting company for the bev-alc industry. “The assumption that liquor doesn’t sell in c-stores doesn’t match reality today.”
A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
Three factors help explain spirits’ c-store boom. First, new ready-to-drink cocktails, like High Noon seltzers and Surfside iced tea for example, are meeting the needs of shoppers who are looking for premium, flavorful options. According to NIQ data analyzed by Dave Williams of Bump Williams Consulting, though traditional 750 ml bottles of liquor are still the primary packaging form, RTD cocktails overindex at convenience stores: Traditional 750 ml bottles own roughly 26% share of dollar sales in c-stores versus the roughly 48% share they have in total multioutlet channels.
The second factor is flavor. RTD cocktails have this in spades, but traditional distilled spirits are also leaning into flavor in new ways. Two of the fastest-growing spirits brands in c-stores for the first quarter of 2025 were Crown Royal Peach and Crown Royal Blackberry.
And most importantly, the swell in consumer demand has prompted retailers to put spirits products in more visible areas, such as in coolers and in floor displays, to drive sales.
MIXING UP THE MERCHANDISE
Among the 20 fastest-growing wine and spirits brands in convenience stores for the first quarter of 2025, 13 were spirits-based, according to Sepka’s analysis of NIQ data. Most of those were ready-to-drink brands like variety packs of High Noon, Sun Cruiser vodka iced tea, Surfside vodka iced tea and BuzzBallz Tequila ’Rita.
Almost all of the spirits brands that are expanding their geographic sales area and distribution presence are RTD cocktails, led by brands including BuzzBallz, Carbliss, Cutwater, Good Boy and others.
“Prepared cocktails have grown immensely over the past five years, and those are spirits that fit really well in a c-store environment because a lot of them are sold in four-packs and they’re also really high margin,” Sepka said. “They’re expensive, and you can put one or two of them in placements and get a lot out of each placement.”
For the 52-week period ending March 22, beer dollar sales in convenience stores were down nearly 1% while spirits sales were up nearly 8%. Sepka said an old-school mindset would assume that a beer customer wouldn’t be likely to purchase spirits, but that’s no longer true.
“To win, you can’t just put all of your eggs in a beer basket,” Sepka said. “You have to look outside to these other categories. It’s going to draw in more consumers and just increase the overall productivity of your alcohol set.”
The data highlights a significant consumer trend toward convenience and on-thego options.
For Kwik Trip, the Kwik Spirits line of liquor stores is also helping offset declines in the tobacco category, according to Mike Vold, Wisconsin-based zone leader at Kwik Trip. He told the company’s KwikCast podcast that bev-alc, including spirits, has proven to attract a broad segment of customers.
“We were looking at the tobacco industry and seeing that the tobacco industry is a declining category, so what do we do to replace some of that income that we’re losing on the tobacco side?” Vold told the KwikCast podcast. “We thought: Who doesn’t like beer or liquor …? It has a much wider appeal to a wider range of guests, so we decided to experiment and try the Kwik Spirits brand in a number of stores.”
ORDERING FOR THE OCCASION
Since the pandemic, Americans have begun making more frequent, but shorter, shopping trips. In 2024, Americans averaged about four trips per week to an off-premise food and beverage retailer—an increase of almost two
more visits per month when compared to five years prior. But NIQ data shows shoppers are still purchasing the same number of items monthly, meaning shopping excursions are faster and result in fewer items per cart.
The trend toward shorter trips may be influenced by rising costs; for middle- and lower-income consumers. Shopping more frequently but spending less money helps them get by from paycheck to paycheck.
In terms of bev-alc, this means shoppers are visiting stores with a laser focus on the items they need right now. Rather than loading up on a case of wine for the month, they’re more likely to be looking for what they need or want in that particular moment, like a four- or 12-pack to drink that day or to serve at a day-of party.
As a result, Sepka said stores need to offer focused variety in their bev-alc sets. Displaying the greatest hits across multiple categories— hard seltzers, craft beer, FMBs, RTD cocktails, flavored wines, etc.—signals to shoppers that a store will meet their needs without slowing down their trip.
“Consumers are almost treating c-stores as an alternative to going to the liquor store because they know that they’re going to find good variety,” Sepka said. “As we’ve seen the general RTD category grow and become more popular—between seltzers, FMBs and prepared cocktails—it’s a way to kind of freshen up your set a little bit. It signals to a consumer that, ‘Hey, this isn’t an old c-store model where it’s traditional beer and that’s it.’”
Young shoppers in particular want the convenience and flexibility to find their favorite brands anywhere. Emma Spagnuolo, associate partner at McKinsey & Co., told the McKinsey on Consumer and Retail podcast that younger consumers typically shop across a spectrum of retail types, from visiting traditional stores to buying directly from social media.
“They don’t think about shopping in this binary way: If I want to buy item X, I must go to the department store, and if I want to buy item Y, I must go to the grocery store. They shop across all types of formats,” Spagnuolo said. “So, they’re looking at pop-up boutiques, they’re shopping on Instagram. Then they’re going into the department store; then they’re going into the specialty store.”
TEQUILA ON TOP
Despite their popularity, canned cocktails aren’t the only growth story in convenience; some more
Agave spirits like tequila and mezcal have been some of the fastest growing over the past decade.
traditional subcategories of spirits are experiencing a rise in consumer interest as well.
Year-to-date through mid-April, tequila, vodka, whiskey and cordials were also posting growth in the convenience channel, per Williams’ analysis of NIQ data. Agave spirits like tequila and mezcal have been some of the fastest-growing brands in beverage-alcohol broadly over the past decade, and their rise continues in c-stores—tequila volumes grew nearly 11% in the channel through mid-April.
“This aligns with the recent growth trends we have seen across beverage-alcohol when it comes to brands with a Mexican origin, such as Mexican imported beer and margarita RTDs,” Williams said.
Long-standing subcategories like vodka and whiskey grew in c-stores at the beginning of 2025 as well, with many top brands experiencing increased sales. Williams said 19 of the top 25 spirits brands in convenience stores had grown both dollar and volume sales during that time frame. Stalwarts such as Don Julio, Buffalo Trace, Bulleit and Espolon have also increased their distribution presence through spring 2025. Overall, it’s indicative of a category that’s connecting with consumers across multiple formats, styles and price points.
“It paints a deep picture of growth that crosses both established ‘traditional’ spirits leaders alongside the emerging RTD leaders,” Williams said.
Kate Bernot is a beverage alcohol reporter who regularly writes for Sightlines and Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine; she is the immediate past director of the North American Guild of Beer Writers.
Cool New Products Guide
This advertorial-style guide of services and packaging appears monthly and is an information-packed tour of ideas and approaches that can change how consumers view your store or choose your brand. It spotlights the newest thinking in convenience and fuel retailing and gives you an advance look at ways of staying in front of industry trends. Products are categorized the same way we organize the Cool New Products Preview Room at the NACS Show each year in October— New Design, New to the Industry, New Flavors, Health & Wellness, Green (EcoFriendly), New Services and New Technology Products are considered “new” this year if they’ve been introduced since October 2024. The products featured here also can be seen in the Cool New Products Discovery Center at www.convenience.org/coolnewproducts .
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GAS STATION GOURMET
Barbecue That Speaks for Itself
At Jordan Springs Market, barbecue is an art that keeps customers coming back.
BY AL HEBERT
“Female-owned barbecue spots are not common,” Olivia Landry, owner of Jordan Springs Market in Stephenson, Virginia, pointed out. She stepped into this smoky world and now customers can’t get enough of her barbecue.
Landry and her former business partner bought the market in 2008. “His family was from Texas and had a love of barbecue. I was in the hospitality business and have always had a love of great food and exemplary service. I took over the business myself in 2018.”
The store has been around since the 1920s, and people in the area feel a real connection to it. For decades it was known as Ellis’s Shopping Center. “At one time teen dances were held in the basement. People will come in now and tell me they met their partner here,” Landry said.
Jordan Springs Market has maintained this legacy as a community spot. “I knew a lot of people wanted a hub. People come in, grab a $1 coffee, sit at the table and just chat,” she said. The store has three fuel dispensers and offers traditional c-store staples, including a propane exchange.
Landry is all about the people. “My
team, their families, our customers and the community support us. Every memorable recipe is made with the best of ingredients … and my ‘little market that could’ is going strong 17 years later because each ingredient matters. I’m proud of all that we have accomplished in my little gas station … and excited for all that is to come.”
LOW AND SLOW
If you ask a serious pit master about the secret to great results, they will most likely say low and slow—and Landry emphasized the point. “You can’t cheat on smoking meats! I always say it is an art, not a science,” she said. “Get your smoker to temp, load the meats and shut it down for the night. We smoke at 225 degrees with locally sourced hickory and cherry wood on custom Bubba Grills. In the morning, we wrap the meats and finish the smoke for another six to eight hours.”
She was also firm in saying that “good barbecue doesn’t need sauce.” Landry serves all sauces on the side and optional.
The most popular sandwich is the Brisket Grilled Cheese, which is made
with toasted white bread, brisket, provolone cheese and the store’s Memphis BBQ sauce. Landry said, “I joke with people it’s either a grilled cheese sandwich with brisket or a brisket sandwich with cheese—either way, it’s delicious.”
Great sides make a barbecue plate great. Landry is all about attention
Olivia Landry took on her first catering job in 2010—now Jordan Springs Market is catering events with 1,000 attendees. Her advice to caterers? “Go the extra mile and deliver and set it up yourself. If you make it easy for the person who orders, they will have you back.”
LEADING LADIES
“I happen to have a majority-female staff,” said Olivia Landry, owner of Jordan Springs Market. “People often come in asking, ‘Who’s the guy that smokes the meat?’ It’s me and my awesome team,” she explained, adding, “You’re the sum of all the pieces, and I have an amazing team. My general manager is a master on the smoker and in the kitchen, as is my assistant manager, who has been with me for eight years. I haven’t leaned into the female-owned thing too much. Let our work speak for itself!”
to detail in this area, noting that her staff shreds the “cabbage for slaw and cooks our collard greens in our Carolina Vinegar Sauce with a secret smoky ingredient to give them awesome flavor.”
Each Wednesday, Jordan Springs Market offers a $30 dinner that serves four. Customers can pick it up and take it home.
“I’m constantly running as a single mom with two boys playing baseball. A lot of my customers are running too.
This deal helps families mid-week. I may not make huge profit on that meal, but they will return,” Landry said. The program is also an opportunity for the staff to think outside the box. “It’s a chance for our kitchen team to be creative. They can create a new menu item and get feedback from our customers. It gives the team ownership within the business,” she explained.
ASSUME THE BEST
Landry observed that customers tend to take their wallet out once per trip in the store. So, she and her staff work on a strategy of assumptive sales— assuming what the customer wants and needs. For example, Landry said when a customer orders a sandwich, she assumes they want the meal, not just the sandwich. “So, we list the side choices when they order a sandwich. Pick a side and they upgrade to a meal, turning an $8 sale into $14.”
She also doesn’t have the customer pay for the order until the food is ready. As customers wait, they stroll around the store and by the time she rings the customer up, “They have added two items to the ticket. If you
ring them up immediately, the sale is done with no add-ons,” she said. Breakfast is served all day—and Landry uses her bacon as a marketing strategy. “We cook our bacon on the grill throughout the day. Customers smell it and want it!”
Landry also recommends using samples. “When a guest visits, unable to decide their lunch for the day, we offer them samples. If you buy a $14 meal and don’t enjoy it then you’ve spent your lunch money for the day and leave disappointed. If we let you sample, you order a meal that you’re sure to enjoy,” Landry said. “When you treat your guests that way, they are grateful, and a connection is made. It’s no longer just a transactional meal, but a relational one.”
Al Hebert is the Gas Station Gourmet, showcasing America’s hidden culinary treasures. Find him at www. GasStationGourmet.com.
Jordan Springs Market’s staff is encouraged to think outside the box with new menu items—like this pulled pork sandwich that is topped with macaroni and cheese and bacon.
The Power of Sweets
Packaged sweet snacks continue to grab impulse buys and boost basket size at c-stores.
BY SARAH HAMAKER
Packaged sweet snacks are often a go-to snack no matter what time of day—and the category’s ability to blur dayparts has contributed to its continued success and popularity among consumers. Overall confectionary sales—which include packaged sweet snacks—crested $54 billion in 2024, with a forecast that U.S. confectionery sales will exceed $70 billion by 2029, according to the 2025 State of Treating report by the National Confectioners Association (NCA).
SWEET SALES
While those numbers illustrate a healthy general category, data specific to convenience stores demonstrates the channel continues to be the place where consumers indulge their sweet tooth. NACS CSX data shows the category has grown steadily at c-stores yearover-year, with per store, per month gross profits growing by 7.8% in 2024. In addition, packaged sweet snacks hit the top 10 merchandise categories of 2024, coming in at No. 9, according to the NACS State of the Industry Report® (SOI) of 2024 Data.
Retailers say the category is one that provides reliable sales. “Fresh packaged and prepackaged bakery items have always done well at our stores, and have been good so far this year,” said Babir Sultan, president of FavTrip, based in Kansas City, Missouri. The company operates four of their dozen locations.
“Packaged sweet snacks continue to be a category that contributes positively to the retailer’s bottom line,” said Emma Tainter, NACS research analyst/writer. She pointed to the category’s year-overyear increase of 6.1% in sales as proof of its importance to convenience stores. The category also averaged $3,801 per store, per month in sales, according to NACS 2024 SOI data.
$1,725
The average gross profit dollars packaged sweet snacks make per store, per month.
Source: NACS State of the Industry Report® of 2024 Data
Gross margin for the category saw a slight bump to 45.37%, from 44.65% in 2023, while gross profits rose to $1,725 from $1,600 in 2023. “This shows packaged sweet snacks had a solid gross profit year-over-year bump,” Tainter said.
Within the category, snack cakes, pastries and desserts grabbed the largest share with 55.3% of sales last year, according to 2024 SOI Data.
Muffins and donuts contributed about a third of the sales with 27.2% share, while cookies came in last with 17.4% of category sales.
“While inflation contributed to the higher sales in this category, the entire packaged sweet snacks section still grew a respectable percentage in 2024 over 2023 numbers,” Tainter said.
SWEET FLAVORS
Packaged sweet snacks rely heavily on impulse buys, which means taste innovations in the category can drive
repeat customers as well as garner fresh interest in the category. “Traditional Hispanic-style desserts are in steady demand,” said Elizabeth Sommer, customer marketing manager for Rich Products. For example, last year, Rich Products introduced Our Specialty Treat Shop Tres Leches Style Cake Cups in strawberry, chocolate and traditional flavors to meet customer requests for ethnic treats. “These treats also come in convenient grab-and-go packaging, making them an ideal solution for c-stores,” she said.
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Rich Products also offers different packaging sizes to give consumers more options in sweet snacks. For instance, the company offers individual wrapped Funfetti Cheesecake Slices and individually wrapped cookies for countertop displays near the coffee counter or beverage area. “Consumers enjoy trying their favorite baked good brands in different formats, so we offer both single portions and larger sizes for
The demand will continue to grow because consumers are snacking throughout the day rather than eating large meals and want graband-go items.
sharing,” Sommer said. The individual portions also allow for customers to sample different products, which can boost basket size.
Part of packaged sweet snacks’ appeal is the nostalgia factor, which plays into childhood memories of traditional and seasonal flavors. For instance, Wonder Bread recently launched its first line of snack cakes, which play on classic indulgences like glazed honey buns, powdered mini donuts, and crème-filled chocolate cupcakes. “With the launch of our new treats, we’re excited to bring that same sense of nostalgia and joy to a new category,” said Ashley Hornsby, director of brand management, in a press release on the launch.
Another way that retailers keep the category fresh and exciting is through
limited-time offers, such as seasonal favorites. Sultan brings in seasonal flavors, like pumpkin, in the fall to spur more impulse sales. “We stock seasonal flavors based on historical data and plan ahead by making sure our vendors will bring the seasonal items at the very start of the season,” he said. For instance, as soon as he sees the first pumpkin spice ad appear in late summer, he’s confirming with his suppliers what pumpkin-flavored packaged sweet snacks and other items he wants. “We have a great online following and as soon as we post we have a seasonal flavor, we usually sell out quickly,” he said.
“Consumers look forward to trying different flavors as the seasons change,” Sommer said. For example, Rich
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CATEGORY CLOSE-UP PACKAGED SWEET SNACKS
Packaged Sweet Snacks Subcategory Data
Products offers its Our Specialty Sweet Shop Lemon Flavored Mousse Parfait for a fresh spring flavor.
A SWEET DISPLAY
Eye-catching merchandise displays can help draw attention and sales to categories such as packaged sweet snacks. FavTrip boosted sales in packaged sweet snacks by paying close attention to its displays. “We team up with vendors to stock good displays for the category, which has a positive impact on sales,” Sultan said. “We avoid having ‘sorry displays’—those displays that only showcase a few bars or snacks and look rather sad.”
Instead, Sultan tests different displays for categories, including packaged sweet snacks, to see how well customers respond. “We recently ran a test with a separate packaged sweet snacks display near the coffee and found it got a good response,” he said. “Overall, we want to have our packaged sweet snacks merchandised in a way that draws attention to the category and gets our customers to grab a Hostess or Little Debbie treat.”
He also regularly reviews data on which packaged sweets snacks people are buying, then puts those items on sale. “I don’t use promos to push items that aren’t selling but rather want to reward my customers with discounts on what they’re already buying,” he said.
A SWEET CHALLENGE
One of the biggest challenges in this category for Sultan at FavTrip has been keeping the prepackaged and packaged bakery items fresh. “Each shift, I have someone in charge of that department to make sure we are rotating the product and restocking popular items in a timely fashion,” he said.
That prevents the category from being overlooked and gives ownership to a staff member, which often generates good ideas to move products within the category. “It makes it easier to divide the categories among the staff during each shift rather than relying on a single manager for all the categories, and we’ve had positive results for packaged sweet snacks, among our other sections,” he said.
To Sommer, competition from prepared foods is a major test for the category and has impacted sales of packaged sweet snacks. “Freshly made or freshly baked foodservice items are stealing some share from the packaged space,” she said. “However, packaged sweet snacks still have a place in c-stores as customers look for snacks that are convenient, high protein and energy-boosting, like many packaged sweet snacks are.”
A SWEET FUTURE
Despite these challenges, interest in packaged sweet snacks does not
appear to be lessening among today’s consumers. “We believe the demand will continue to grow because consumers are snacking throughout the day rather than eating large meals and want grab-and-go items they can easily eat in their cars or on the go,” Sommer said. “Plus convenience stores are faced with limited labor, so they’re looking for indulgent, unique dessert options that are individually wrapped and ready to serve to meet the demand.”
Sultan sees packaged sweet snacks as a way to make a store unique. “We very much focus on each individual
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location and try to stock the items people care about the most in those stores,” he said. “Knowing your avatar—your ideal customer—is key to keeping packaged sweet snacks a viable category in your store.”
Sarah Hamaker is a freelance writer, NACS Magazine contributor and award-winning romantic suspense author based in Fairfax, Virginia. Visit her online at sarahhamakerfiction.com.
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