Parker’s Kitchen founder and CEO Greg Parker, center, recently cut the ribbon at a new store located at the Cane Bay Shopping Center in Summerville, S.C., surrounded by dignitaries from across the region.
Parker’s Kitchen, an award-winning convenience store company and food service leader, celebrated grand openings for two new state-of-the-art retail stores in Goose Creek, S.C., and Summerville, S.C., on Oct. 23. The grand opening events included ribbon cuttings attended by local dignitaries including Goose Creek Mayor Greg Habib, Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb, South Carolina Senator Paul Campbell and South Carolina Representative Krystle Simmons.
The company’s 61st and 62nd stores offer award-winning, Southern-style food as well as gourmet coffee, 28-degree beer, fountain drinks with Chewy Ice and a range of convenience items. Both stores feature the company’s innovative Charleston-inspired architectural design with Lowcountry-style brick, metal roofs, twin entrances and indoor and outdoor seating.
“We’re continuing to elevate the convenience store experience for customers in the metro Charleston area,” said Parker’s founder and CEO Greg Parker. “The response from customers at our newest Parker’s Kitchen locations has been incredible.”
Both stores feature a selection of the company’s Southern-style, made-from-scratch food, including hot and cold grab-and-go options as well as a hot bar with signature items like never-frozen, antibiotic-free, double-breaded chicken tenders, mac ‘n’ cheese and more. A wide range of breakfast, lunch and dinner items are available seven days a week at Parker’s Kitchen.
The menu is crafted on-site from the freshest ingredients by Parker’s Kitchen chefs who take pride in cooking for the communities where they live and work. The new stores also include self-checkout technology and electronic kiosks designed to expedite the food ordering process. Freshly brewed sweet tea, lemonade and Bean to Cup Guaranteed Fresh Coffee, where every cup is ground and brewed on demand, are also available daily.
The new Goose Creek and Summerville stores offer regular, mid-grade, premium, diesel and marine fuel as well as mansard-style fuel canopies and “green screens” of Confederate jasmine that will create verdant walls of greenery on both sides of the fueling area.
“The Parker’s Kitchen business model is excellent and is a welcome addition to our community,” said Rita Berry, president and CEO of the Greater Summerville/Dorchester County Chamber of Commerce. “It’s family-friendly, convenience and customer service-oriented.”
Greg Parker, the founder and CEO of Parker’s Kitchen, center, cut a ceremonial ribbon at the company’s new Goose Creek, S.C. store with South Carolina Senator Paul Campbell, left and Berkeley Chamber of Commerce Ex Officio Kevin Housand, right.
The Summerville location, located in the popular Market at Cane Bay shopping center in the Cane Bay Plantation community, also includes a golf cart path as well as golf cart parking, providing easy access to for area residents.
“The Cane Bay store in Summerville is our first store to include golf cart access and golf cart parking in the overall design,” said Parker. “Local residents suggested that we make our new store accessible to Cane Bay residents who would like to take their golf carts to Parker’s Kitchen. We listened to our customers and are thrilled to debut this new location.”
The newest Parker’s Kitchen locations are part of a strategic $50 million expansion into the metro Charleston market over the next year. The Savannah-based company plans to open 40 new-to-industry locations in the greater Charleston area over the next four years and to secure 30 percent market share.
Founded in 1976, Parker’s Kitchen has earned accolades for its Parker’s Rewards loyalty program, award-winning Fueling the Community charitable initiative, innovative mobile app and acclaimed Parker’s Rewards program, which has saved customers more than $10 million since its inception. Honored as the Convenience Foodservice Leader of the Year by Convenience Store News, Parker’s Kitchen is one of the nation’s most respected convenience store brands.
With 63 retail stores throughout coastal Georgia and South Carolina and a major expansion into the Charleston, S.C., market currently underway, Parker’s Kitchen is well on its way to becoming a billion-dollar company. The company has enjoyed 20 to 24 percent annual growth for the past 19 years and was recently named to the Inc. 5000 list of the Fastest Growing Companies in America for the fifth time. Parker’s Kitchen employs nearly 1,000 people throughout the region and completes more than 125,000 transactions daily.
