The convenience store chain is helping to redefine convenience in the Northeast by embracing cutting-edge retail technology and staying true to its foodservice roots at 143 locations throughout New Jersey and New York.
Total Customer Dedication. It’s a phrase retailers like to use, but extremely difficult to execute. Not for QuickChek.
For Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based QuickChek, Total Customer Dedication is the company mission and, when combined with strong leadership, creates one of the best convenience store chains in the industry–and it shows.
Over the past year, QuickChek was named a Best Place to Work in New Jersey and New York for the sixth time, it raised its minimum starting salary to $10 an hour and is helping to redefine convenience with the rollout of the QuickChek mobile app, which allows customers to use their smartphones to order, customize and select a convenient pick-up time for menu items.
The company has been a model of consistency for nearly five decades and continues to be a shining example of the best the convenience store industry has to offer. For its ongoing commitment to retail excellence, its dedicated employees and the communities it serves, Convenience Store Decisions is proud to announce QuickChek as the 2016 Convenience Store Chain of the Year.
“Our mission is to be a ‘Great Place to Work, a Great Place to Shop, and a Great Place to Invest,’” said QuickChek CEO Dean Durling. “This is a tremendous honor that reflects the hard work and dedication of more than 3,700 team members who take great pride in delivering what we call TCD, or Total Customer Dedication, each and every day.”
“When you come into any of our stores, the store leader manages that store as if it is their own,” added Durling. “This helps them connect with our customers on a personal level, to create that neighborhood shopping experience, and provide the outstanding customer service for which we are known.”
QuickChek will be honored at an exclusive awards ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 19 during the NACS Show at The Fox Theater in Atlanta.
The Chain of the Year award, now in its 27th year, is the oldest and most prestigious award for convenience retailing in the industry. QuickChek follows Family Express Corp. as Chain of the Year, considered the gold standard in convenience store retailing.
“As a resident of New Jersey I get to see firsthand the outstanding work QuickChek does on a daily basis. The company serves high-volume markets and meets consumers’ demands flawlessly,” said John Lofstock, vice president and editor-in-chief of Convenience Store Decisions. “But it’s what the company does behind the scenes that I admire most. It has one of the most dedicated workforces in the industry because it believes in taking care of its people and is always among the first local companies to support the community. This is a well-deserved honor.”
Proud Retailing History
Just one year shy of its 50th anniversary, QuickChek was founded in 1967. It is regarded as an leader in the industry in key areas such as technology, foodservice, team engagement and innovation. Over the past year the company has wrapped up a major investment in a mobile app that will allow consumers to order custom-made sandwiches, subs, salads, breakfast, and handcrafted beverages and pick up the order at any of the chain’s 143 locations throughout New Jersey, New York’s Hudson Valley and Long Island.
But what makes QuickChek special is the connection it has with its customers. In markets throughout New Jersey and New York, QuickChek stores are a beacon of innovation, freshness and quality with its upscale foodservice programs. QuickChek offers a host of made to order fully-customizable subs, salads, soups, sandwiches and beverages that appeal to a wide-range of consumers. All this delivered by engaged team members focused on delighting their guests.
“Everything we do is to satisfy our customers, and our business has evolved as our customer’s needs have evolved…from being the go-to place for fill in groceries, milk, bread, and cold cuts in our market to our position today as the leading fresh convenience food market in the NY/NJ Metro area, providing our customers with award winning coffee and subs,” said John Schaninger, vice president, sales and marketing for QuickChek.
The QuickChek story began in 1888 when Durling Farms was founded to serve the central New Jersey region. In 1967, Carlton C. Durling founded QuickChek to ensure that loyal Durling Farms customers had a neighborhood shopping destination not only for their milk but for a full range of deli and other food products. Much more than a typical convenience store, QuickChek has grown to be the market leader in the New York metropolitan area for on the go consumers through innovation and its focus on fresh food, fresh coffee, fast fuel and friendly people, and continues to redefine the term fresh convenience.
For seating information to the QuickChek Chain of the Year award ceremony, contact Tom McIntyre, Group Publisher of The Convenience Store Decisions Group, at [email protected] or John Lofstock, Editor of Convenience Store Decisions, at [email protected].
ABOUT THE CHAIN OF THE YEAR AWARD
CSD’s Chain of the Year award annually honors a convenience store or petroleum chain that has established itself as a superior retailer and innovator in its markets of operation. CSD’s first Chain of the Year award was given to Wawa Inc. in 1990. QuickChek follows 2015 Chain of the Year winner Family Express. Other past winners include Sheetz Inc., 7-Eleven Inc., Krause Gentle Corp., Amerada Hess, Exxon Mobil Corp., RaceTrac, Rutter’s and Kwik Trip Inc.
Past Chain Of The Year Winners
* 1990 – Wawa Inc.
* 1991 – SuperAmerica
* 1992 – QuikTrip Corp.
* 1993 – Casey’s General Stores Inc.
* 1994 – Sheetz Inc.
* 1995 – Diamond Shamrock Corp.
* 1996 – Mapco Express
* 1997 – Speedway Inc.
* 1998 – Krause Gentle Corp.
* 1999 – Dairy Mart Inc.
* 2000 – Amerada Hess Corp.
* 2001 – Huck’s Food & Fuel
* 2002 – Petro-Canada
* 2003 – Exxon Mobil Corp.
* 2004 – Kwik Trip Inc.
* 2005 – 7-Eleven Inc.
* 2006 – Valero Inc.
* 2007 – Alimentation Couche-Tard
* 2008 – Chevron Inc.
* 2009 – Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes
* 2010 – Rutter’s Farm Stores
* 2011 – Thorntons Inc.
* 2012 – Tedeschi Food Shops
* 2013 – Maverik Inc.
* 2014 – RaceTrac Petroleum Inc.
* 2015 – Family Express Corp.
