Three industry panelists will hold a workshop covering some of the more sensitive industry topics that are likely to affect the industry in the coming year.

The retail education lineup for the upcoming 2016 Trade Show has been altered, as the New York Association of Convenience Stores has added a “hot button issue” workshop to the lineup.

The new workshop will take place at 9 a.m. on Thursday, May 12 at the Oncenter in Syracuse, N.Y.

“State of High Wages: C-Store Survival in an Era of Mushrooming Labor Costs” will be a panel discussion exploring the options available to convenience store operators to cope with the next wave of minimum wage increases in New York State. Governor Cuomo and the Legislature recently approved increasing the state minimum wage to $15 an hour in New York City by the end of 2018 and on Long Island and in Westchester County by the end of 2021, and to $12.50 an hour in the rest of the state by the end of 2020, with indexing to inflation thereafter until it reaches $15.

“With dramatic, artificial wage hikes facing us every year, controlling costs is going to be an overarching challenge for convenience stores for the remainder of this decade,” said NYACS president Jim Calvin.

The three panelists are Fran Duskiewicz of FS Dusk Consulting, Peter Tamburro of Clifford Fuel Co. Inc. and single-store operator David Vincent of Countryside Marts – will examine hypothetical convenience store businesses and suggest where they might adjust staffing, operating hours, pricing or take other steps to contain costs or maximize revenues to offset rising payroll expenses. Duskiewicz and Tamburro previously worked together at Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes.

Member and non-member retail personnel are invited to attend this or any of the other five workshops at no charge. All begin at 9 a.m. at the Oncenter, prior to the opening of the Trade Show exhibits from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The other workshops are:

• “3 C’s of Continued Foodservice Growth: Commitment, Customer Focus, Cost Control” with Ieva Grimm, president, Synerge
• “Improving the Odds: How to Maximize Your Lottery Program” with Jeff Sinacori, vice president, retail development, Scientific Games International and Robin Sywulski, corporate accounts manager, New York Lottery
• “Employee Retention: Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business” with Margaret Luttinger, principal, Luttinger Associates
• “Managing Your Cold Vault Amid Constant Change” with Steve Jones, senior category manager, packaged beverages, Sunoco A-Plus and Denise Gorlick, general manager, retail operations, Trading Co. Stores
• “C-Store 101” with Rick Theilig, general manager, CPD Energy Corp.

To pre-register, call 877-384-8829 or visit www.nyacs.org.