The NACS Show is underway at McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. Day two began with a number of education sessions, covering topics ranging from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) compliance to swipe fees, generational trends and everything in between.
In a session titled “Decoding the FDA’s Traceability Rule,” panelists Margaret Mannion, director of government relations for NACS; Jennifer McEntire, founder of Food Safety Strategy; and Gitika Mehan, director of food safety and quality assurance for RaceTrac, took the stage to explain and expand upon the agency’s complex compliance regulations.
The benefit of these regulations, McEntire said, is that in the rare case of an outbreak, it will be much easier to identify and find the commonality that may be contributing to the outbreak.
Retailers are required to maintain a written food traceability plan, in addition to being able to provide the FDA with an electronic sortable spreadsheet within 24 hours of an FDA request.
The FDA, according to McEntire, expects to update its food traceability list every five years.
At RaceTrac, Mehan noted that there are three critical elements contributing to the chain’s journey:
- Ensuring that compliance technology is able to interface with existing systems
- Ensuring it is scalable
- Ensuring it is progressive and iterative
In a subsequent session titled “The Future of Payments (and Swipe Fees),” three experts took the stage alongside moderator Doug Kantor, general counsel for NACS — Reed Luhtanen, CEO of the U.S. Faster Payments Council; Michael Curry, principal of stablecoin solutions at Spendcodes; and Lou Morsberger, managing director at Payments Strategy Consulting.
All three panelists urged attendees to consider the future of payments not only in the c-store industry, but in retail as a whole.
Financial institutions and retailers, according to Luhtanen, are increasingly interested in working together to bring new payment technology to the market, whether that takes the form of instant payments, stablecoin strategies or AI-powered solutions.
This transformation provides retailers with “a real opportunity to get creative,” said Luhtanen, noting that there are ways for operators to plan ahead for the future by looking into this technology today.
Spendcodes’ Curry stressed the importance of looking into alternative forms of payment before the technology takes off. He encouraged all attendees to look into developing a stablecoin strategy, where “distribution becomes as fast as the speed of a download,” he said.
Attendees then gathered for a general session hosted by NACS Treasurer Annie Gauthier, who is the chief financial officer and co-CEO of St. Romain Oil Co., doing business as Y-Not Stop.
Gauthier shared her experience with Y-Not Stop, and how the amazing response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 fueled her passion for the c-store industry.
Additionally at the session, seven chains were honored for their retail innovation in NACS’ annual Ideas 2 Go videos.
The chains highlighted were:
- Farmer’s Grandson Eatery
- Rutter’s
- Parker’s Kitchen
- Tri Star Energy
- 36 Lyn Refuel Station
- Stinker Stores
- Filling Co. Gas & Grub
The NACS Show continues through this Friday, Oct. 17.
