Do you work with brilliant up-and-coming young executives or next-generation leaders, who are under 40 years old? Each year CStore Decisions and the Young Executives Organization (YEO) introduce their list of 40 Under 40 C-Store Leaders to Watch. Please help CStore Decisions and YEO identify the industry’s top next-generation leaders. Nominees must be retailers from…
Big Red Stores/Family Market Rewards Associate With Scholarship
University of Arkansas-Little Rock Alumni Association has awarded the Big Red Stores/Family Market Scholarship to Ariel Lackey for the current fall 2019-spring 2020 academic year. Lackey graduated with her bachelor’s degree and is now a graduate student at the university. While earning her degree, Lackey worked with Big Red Stores in Beebe, Arkansas. Currently, she…
Food Marketing’s Secret Weapon: Sampling
I remember my first interview with a convenience store chain. I had just spent nine fast-paced years with Little Caesars Pizza as the national marketing director. We had grown from 1,300 stores to 5,000 stores in less than five years, and had revenues exceeding $3 billion. My role was to oversee all of the field…
FDA Will Enforce PMA Requirements on Flavored E-cigs
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Sept. 11, that it will finalize a compliance policy in the coming weeks to prioritize the enforcement of the premarket authorization (PMA) requirements for non-tobacco flavored e-cigarettes. Flavored vaping products have increasingly come under fire from critics who say that candy flavors like cherry, peach and lemon, as…
Details in the Data: Technology Dominates NAG Ideas Boot Camp
The 2019 National Advisory Group conference wrapped up with an hour-long Ideas Boot Camp, an open discussion format with industry leaders and conference attendees able to hash out the ins and outs of challenges facing the c-store industry, as well as topics presented in NAG’s “Burning Issues” sessions. NAG Executive Director John Lofstock guided the…
Your Brand is More Than Advertising
Day three of the National Advisory Group conference in Minneapolis kicked off with the first of a pair of general sessions, “Burning Issue #3 – Merchandising and Marketing Your Brand for Success: What are your customers looking for?” Panel moderator John Schaninger of c-store consultant firm the Schaninger Group welcomed Utah-based brand consultant Ernie Harker,…
Wawa, Kum & Go and VERC Enterprises Talk Core Values at NAG
The second day of the National Advisory Group (NAG) Conference, held Sept. 8-11 in Minneapolis, kicked off with a burning issue educational session on the importance of family values in the convenience store industry. John Lofstock, the executive director of NAG, welcomed attendees to the conference in an opening address. “I’d like to thank you…
Casey’s Seeks Entries for Pizza-Naming Contest
Casey’s General Stores is asking customers to help name its ‘Midwest Mystery Pizza.’ The pizza is topped with pulled pork, bacon, barbecue sauce and fire-roasted corn. “Help us name our Midwest Mystery Pizza,” Casey’s posted on the entry page. “We worked so hard on the pizza, we didn’t have time to come up with the…
Workforce Management: Be an Enabler
Retailers across all channels are continually looking for better ways to attract, onboard, train and engage new talent in a way that improves our retention. Yet one of the biggest issues for c-stores today remains retention of store employees. Year after year, we fail to move the needle. Wage increases and other incentives have not…
Pumpkin Spice Returns to Menus Ahead of Fall Season
This year, Starbucks will bring back its Pumpkin Spice Latte on Aug. 27, earlier than ever before. Last year, the drink returned to menus on Aug. 28. Although the drink first debuted on Aug. 26 in 2014, it wasn’t officially on the menu until Sept. 2, according to Business Insider. Meanwhile, Dunkin’ Donuts announced its…