John Matthews

Labor management is perhaps one of the most fundamental aspects of running a profitable business. Servicing the customer with too few people on staff and sales will be negatively impacted as customers will shop elsewhere. Staff the business with too many people and the profits of the products are quickly lost due to labor expense.…

Few operators take the time to better understand both revenue projections as well as variable and fixed expenses so they can see what contributes or detracts from store profitability. A profit and loss (P&L) analysis provides a simple yet effective way of managing both revenue and expenses. When conducting a P&L analysis, small tweaks can…

Creating an exciting retail grand opening or anniversary event requires work upfront, but in the long run will make your store drive sales. Still, this can often be a challenge for small, independent convenience store chains who often lack the promotional power of huge chains. But with some careful planning and strategic attention to detail,…

It seems that with every passing year, time management becomes harder and harder to get your arms around. With new ways to communicate seemingly appearing daily, the onslaught of message and calendar management seems daunting. How did it get this way so fast, and will it ever slow down? Nope. So, you better try and…

Over my career I have worked with a number of organizations where making inroads into certain verticals (industries) was critical for our success. Whether you target the banking, healthcare, automotive, technology, etc. verticals for your business, a comprehensive approach should be taken in order to garner the best results. With my background, one of the…

The movie industry has been doing this for years. With a screenplay in hand, a movie production house pulls together a team of production specialists including grips, gaffers, boom operators, etc. to all assemble at a film shoot location over a few months to produce a film. Together, these experts piece together all of the components…

Business planning in any environment is important, but add in the myriad of challenges brought by the current COVID-19 pandemic, and strategic business planning becomes even more essential for convenience stores looking to succeed in this uncertain landscape.  So, why is business planning so crucial? In a word, it provides clarity. Investing time in developing…

The winds of change can happen suddenly. One of the worst days of my life was learning that my mother had a stroke at the age of 58. I was 23 at the time, and was hardly prepared for a shock to my family that early in life. Forty-eight hours later, she was pronounced dead.…

Raise your hand if you had the word “pandemic” in your 2020 strategic plan.  In a matter of a week, the world rapidly changed last spring. The pandemic is reaching further than any key worldwide event in the last several decades. How we interact with one another, how business is conducted, where we live and…

When I started Gray Cat Enterprises in 2004, I was living in Chicago and for the first couple of years, all of my clients were based in Illinois. This was fine at the time, since I had a boatload of opportunities. Then, a buddy of mine told me about LinkedIn, so I looked into it…