2010 Rutter’s Farm Stores Inc. Legacy and LeadershipSuperior Leadership Remarkable Service and a dazzling foodservice menu are the hallmarks of the convenience store industry’s extraordinary chains. Following these guiding principles, Convenience Store Decisions honored Rutter’s Farm Stores as the 2010 Convenience Store Chain of the Year. At a time when many industry marketers are struggling with…
Nice N Easy
2009 Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes Inc. Nice & Envied When John MacDougall Challenged his team at Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes to come up with a company mission statement, he left pretty simple instructions. “Keep it short, keep it focused and let’s be true to ourselves,” he said. The result was a concise proclamation of…
Exxon Mobil Corp.
2003 Exxon Mobil Corp. Changes Abound at ExxonMobil SINCE WINNING CSD’S CHAIN of the Year award in 2003, Exxon Mobil Corp. has been busy, beefing up it’s foodservice program at On the Run stores, then forming a new strategy that moves away from direct-store operations and beating out Wal-Mart for the top spot on the…
Krause Gentle Corp.
1998 Krause Gentle Corp. (Kum & Go L.C.) Growth, Innovation Propel Kum & Go IT’S BEEN AN EVENTFUL five decades for Kum & Go, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. Entrepreneurs W.A. Krause and T.S. Gentle founded Kum & Go in 1959 under the original name of the Hampton Oil Co., which later changed…
Amerada Hess Corp.
2000 Amerada Hess Corp. Riding the Hess ExpressTHE FIRST HESS GAS station was opened in 1960, and the first Hess Express opened in 1997 in Daytona Beach, Fla. Hess Express was named Chain of the Year nine years ago amidst its aggressive southern retail expansion. “When we were recognized with the Chain of the Year…
Huck’s Food & Fuel
2001 Huck’s Food & Fuel Employee-Owned and Profiting IN 1960, TWO FRIENDS, Bob Martin and Frank Bayley, formed a partnership to begin opening supermarkets in small towns throughout southern Illinois. Eventually, their growing supermarket business expanded into Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1974, they agreed to build a seafood restaurant in Grayville, Ill., and name it Huck’s.…
Petro-Canada
2002 Petro-Canada Neighbours to the North SINCE RECEIVING CSD’S CHAIN OF THE YEAR award in 2002, Petro-Canada has seen multiple changes. The most significant has been the merger between Suncor Energy Inc. and Petro-Canada, which was finalized in August of this year. While the company operates under the Suncor Energy name, it maintains the trusted…
Kwik Trip Inc.
2004 Kwik Trip Inc. Organic Growth Drives Kwik Trip IN 2004, CSD AWARDED La Crosse, Wis.-based Kwik Trip Inc. with the Chain of the Year award recognizing a company that values people and forays into new technology, combining business and energy intelligence to save dollars. CSD also was impressed with Kwik Trip’s use of vertical…
7-Eleven Inc.
2005 7-Eleven Inc. 7-Eleven Continues Reinventing Convenience 7-ELEVEN INC.,THE WORLD’S largest operator, franchisor and licensor of convenience stores, was named Chain of the Year in 2005. The stores got their iconic name in the 1940s because they were open from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., which was considered extended hours in those days. By the ‘60s, lifestyles…
Valero Energy Corp. & Diamond Shamrock Corp.
2006 Valero Energy Corp. 1995 Diamond Shamrock Corp. Valero Rises to the Top VALERO ENERGY CORP.’S RAPID ascent in the convenience store industry began in earnest in 2000 when the company was the winning bidder for Exxon’s Benicia refinery in California, along with a network of retail sites and supply contracts in the San…