Having a tough time finding work to attract the college-age crowd? You couldalways just have them reimagine your company.

Recruiting college-age kids to work in a c-store environment remains a challengefor most of the industry. But Jr. Foods (Jonesboro, AR) has found a unique wayto get students from the University of Arkansas “working” for the chain.

“We participated in their graduate program by allowing business students to do a strategic evaluation of Jr. Foods,” says Vice President Wade Quinn. “They had teams of international and local graduate students and they had carte blanche when it came to talking to our people.”

Some of the things the students pointed out were things that Jr. Foods already had on its “to do” list, such as partnering with alternative profit centers like dry cleaners and post offices.

“However,” says Quinn, “they also checked on the Hispanic trade and determined that we needed to market better to the Hispanic community, and we