Quick brings more than 34 years of industry experience to his new position.
Russell (Russ) Quick has joined Haskel Thompson & Associates’ team of executive recruiters, bringing more than 34 years of industry experience.
Quick began his career sweeping parking lots and cleaning restrooms for his hometown c-store, which was branded CENEX.
Quick attended Iowa State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering. Upon graduation, he worked for Iowa Electric and Grand Gulf nuclear power stations. After his short stint in the electric field, he pursued his passion for business ownership and opened three Subways in northwest Iowa and southern Minnesota.
It was in southern Minnesota where Quick entered the convenience business. He opened and developed a combo Subway, Amoco and McDonald’s on a property located in Laverne, Minn. He also opened and developed a truck stop facility in Worthington, Minn. This gave Quick the opportunity to acquire the tools and knowledge in understanding site development and what it takes to run and operate a successful petroleum business from the ground up.
Quick then developed a concept called Freshway Subs and Salads. This company grew to over 300 locations and still operates today out of Sioux Falls, S.D. He worked closely with an expert from Howe’s Oil who taught him about transportation, rack pricing, merchandising and what independent operators needed to do to operate their stores successfully. During the implementation of Freshway Subs and Salad’s concepts, Quick documented best practices and applied them to his business as well as others. He dug into the convenience business model and began consulting for independent operators in the tri-state region. He began consulting with independent convenience store operators showing them how to become more profitable. He taught them how to apply effective store merchandising tactics, purchasing fuel from the best supplier and terminal to implementing correct shift change procedures for cash audits.
After his ownership was bought out of the various companies, Quick decided to apply his knowledge of the convenience store / petroleum business and accepted a job as an operations director at Dunkin Oil Co. Here is where he learned the distribution business from the largest Marathon jobber in Ohio. Quick oversaw operations where he dispatched transportation for stations and home heating oil. Additionally, he was responsible for site maintenance dispatch, transportation dispatch, fuel pricing and overall site development from the ground up.
His diligence for knowledge and career development led him to Garb-Ko who was the largest 7-ELEVEN licensee at the time. Garb-Ko operated over 240 7-ELEVEN locations located throughout Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. He was hired as the food service category manager. While working for Garb-Ko, he developed a modular food concept called Heavenly Foods. This concept included: a Made to Order Sandwich program, Ultimate Cinnamon Roll concept, Personal Pan pizza program, and an expanded Big Bite and Nacho bar that included all the toppings. These concepts were developed specifically to be implemented in markets where there were no daily commissary food deliveries.
After Quick’s tenure with 7-ELEVEN, he went to work for GPM Investments located in Richmond, Va. While working for GPM, he held several positions, which included food service category manager, marketing manager and senior vice president of marketing. Quick dove into consumer insights and wanted to understand what motivates a consumer’s purchase patterns. He utilized loyalty data and best in class category management practices and implemented them into the GPM’s marketing strategies. Quick worked for GPM approximately 10 years before joining Advance Pierre Foods. During his seven years at Advance Pierre Foods, he held various positions that included regional sales manager, national accounts manager and key accounts development director.
Quick brings his wealth of industry knowledge to Haskel Thompson and Associates in the convenience store / petroleum and manufacturing businesses. He has a passion for the business and truly understands what it takes to be a great fit for an organization.
“We are excited to have Russ on our team,” said Haskel Thompson. “With over 100 years of combined industry experience across our staff of recruiting professionals, we are ready to serve convenience and fuels companies, as well as the vendors and suppliers who provide them with goods and services.”
Haskel Thompson himself has over 40 years in the recruiting business, which is the most in the convenience / petroleum industry. Haskel Thompson and Associates is known as the best at finding your next top producer utilizing our proprietary 15- step search process. To contact Quick, please reach out to [email protected]
