Odwalla kicks off its “Campaign Against Ordinary” this month with a redesigned Odwalla Facebook page and a Coachella Music Festival ticket giveaway. Coachella, which takes place April 16-18 in Indio, Calif., is the first of three major music festivals Odwalla will be sponsoring. At the festivals, the company will feature a first-of-its-kind outdoor lounge and…

As demand for grab-and-go soars, convenience store foodservice managers are looking more than ever for packaging to not only maintain product quality and consistency, but be environmentally friendly and serve as a marketing vehicle. That’s a lot of responsibility to heap on stuff customers casually toss away. “I don’t know that takeout packaging is changing…

Though gas prices have dropped significantly from a year ago, forecourt-driven sales are still a challenge for many convenience stores because people aren’t buying gas as freely as they did several years ago. The reason? Our troubled economy makes it tough for many to afford the long car trips. Fewer trips mean fewer opportunities to…

Chicken’s economical price and inherent flexibility gives convenience store retailers a myriad of opportunities for growing their foodservice business without sacrificing quality and value. However, deciding whether your stores’ best interests are better served by a branded or proprietary chicken program requires an understanding of the benefits and drawbacks each model offers, said consultant John…

The bar has been raised on sandwiches—indeed, on all freshly made to-go dishes—as consumers’ expectations continue to rise and new competitors from outside the c-store universe appear on the horizon. Convenience stores are finding themselves more and more in conflict with players from the fast-food and grocery stores seeking the same “fare” share. With that…

Getting products to stores more efficiently is now a major focus for all major retailers and distributors. Better distribution means lower costs and higher margins—both items high on c-store owners’ agendas these days—when customers are clutching their wallets more tightly than they have in years. “There are two ways to make money: increase prices or…

As the sales and marketing manager for Jaco Oil Co., which runs 53 Fastrip stores in California and Arizona, Fred Faulkner’s job is a busy one. Faulkner holds the responsibility of buying for all categories, selecting in-store equipment from deli cases to fountain machines, shaping the deals for purchases, creating the point-of-sale for promotions and…

» 13 Months in prison Ashraf “Mike” Ali, owner of 26 Fast and Easy convenience stores in California’s Bay Area, will serve for an elaborate scheme to defraud the Small Business Administration. » 25 Ranking for Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores on Forbes’ 2008 list of the largest private companies in the U.S., a…