Industry veteran Greg Ehrlich and foodservice specialist Ed Burcher join company ranks.
FriendShip Food Stores, the retail division of Beck Suppliers Inc., has announced recent additions to its team.
Industry veteran Greg Ehrlich has joined the company as chief operating officer of Beck Suppliers. Foodservice specialist Ed Burcher has also joined company ranks as it vice president of food service.
These two industry leaders joined an already talented retail management team led by Brian Beck, senior vice president, Gregg Edwards, vice president of operations and Kevin Campbell, director of marketing.
Greg Ehrlich
Prior to joining Beck Suppliers, Ehrlich had been honing his skills leading mid-size convenience retailers in the Northeast and Midwest. Ehrlich is a former management consultant with A.T. Kearney and has consulted to convenience retailers and suppliers as president of Convevo Partners. It was at Convevo, which is short for convenience evolution, where the relationship with Beck Suppliers began to blossom in 2012.
“We invited Greg to join our corporate board and to help us create a strategic plan for our retail division. He helped us to understand our business in a new light and to create the path forward, which we have been actively pursuing for the past five years” said Doug Beck, president of Beck Suppliers. “While Greg’s industry knowledge and experience benefits each of our business divisions, it is his depth and passion for fuel, convenience and food that will provide the greatest impact to our business. Ehrlich, who currently sits on the Board of Directors of the National Advisory Group (NAG) Convenience Store Association, joins FriendShip Food Stores as it begins to transform its 24 store chain into food focused, FriendShip Kitchen locations.
“I am excited to be working with the Beck family, serving their fourth-generation company and all of our talented, passionate team members,” said Ehrlich, chief operating officer of the 67-year old company. “The culture, teamwork, and professionalism at Beck Suppliers are unparalleled. Doug, Brian and Dean Beck have created an environment where everyone feels valued and appreciated. Experts say low turnover and happy employees are the key to building great companies. If that’s the case, we have one heck of a foundation to build upon.”
As the company transitions to a foodservice focus, it was looking for a highly-skilled foodservice leader who understands the challenges ahead, and few people in the convenience store industry understand the foodservice category like Ed Burcher.
Ed Burcher
Former Foodservice Director for Wawa and the architect of Petro Canada’s Neighbor’s convenience and food service programs, Burcher first met Ehrlich at the 2013 NACS Show in Atlanta. Burcher had just left Petro Canada and had not even launched Burcher Consulting when Ehrlich approached him after making a food service presentation.
“He asked me if I would be interested in doing some consulting and I said I was planning to but was not quite ready. Long story short is that we traded business cards and eventually worked together for a year to create a state-of-the-art, next generation, store with made-to-order food ordered via touchscreen and drive-through, explained Bucher. “Greg contacted me in early summer to invite me to visit with him and the FriendShip team. He could not say enough about the incredible culture at the company and the great potential that lay ahead. Needless to say, I was drawn to the company for the same reasons and am excited to be part of the team.”
The story of FriendShip stores and Beck Supplier’s is a common one. It was started by grandfather Virgil Beck in 1950, expanded by son’s Bill and Larry, and now led by Bill’s three son’s Doug, Dean and Brian. With Olivia Beck, the fourth generation is already in place, with more family members joining soon, starting with Chelsea Beck in 2018. The next chapter for this down to earth, community-oriented family is just beginning, and it is sure to be an exciting one.
“We are thrilled to have Greg working with us and challenging us to improve every day. In his first six months, the changes he and our CFO, Bob Carnicom, have teamed up on have been impactful and exciting” stated Dean Beck, senior vice president of the wholesale division.
Brother Brian, senior vice president of FriendShip added, “I am very proud of our current retail team. They are the reason FriendShip is so well known in our markets for providing Wicked Awesome Customer Service. Now with the addition of Ed Burcher, one of the industry’s leading food experts, we have the pieces in place to make FriendShip a food destination.”
