In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP’s Vice President of Content Strategy Abbey Lewis talks to Terri Micklin, president of GetGo Café + Markets convenience stores, Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. They discuss the keys to her success and her strategic priorities, as a mother and businesswoman, that propelled her in her career. “I started building plans. And no, it was not my day job,” Micklin said. “It wasn't really fully thought out, either. ... This is fundamentally about being prepa...
Jan 14, 2025•17 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Rachel Gignac talks to Mike LaVitola, the original founder of Chicago-based Foxtrot, about his decision to return to the company to reopen certain locations of the convenience-store chain. LaVitola talked about how the reopenings are going, what the team is focused on and aspects of operations that have changed. Since Foxtrot’s parent company, Outfox Hospitality, closed all of its stores in April, the chain sold its assets to Further Point Ent...
Jan 07, 2025•16 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Rachel Gignac talks to Lisa N'Chonon , chief financial officer and treasurer of EG America, Westborough, Massachusetts. N'Chonon joined Cumberland Farms in 2017 and transitioned with the company when EG America acquired the chain. She has held roles such as chief accounting officer and vice president of accounting operations. After serving in the CFO role on an interim basis for 11 months, she will continue to lead all aspects of the finance o...
Dec 17, 2024•12 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Senior Editor Hannah Hammond talks to Jillian Fusco (pictured center), human resources business partner at Global Partners, and Ashley Gockstetter (pictured left), vice president, customer experience at Love’s Travel Stops, at the C-Store Women’s Event , held in November in Charleston. The three talk about their learnings from the CSW power teams, which were groups of CSW attendees who worked throughout 2024 to solve a problem that women in leadershi...
Dec 10, 2024•5 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Rachel Toner , founder and technical director of Taste Strategy, Chalfont, Pennsylvania. The theme of this episode is seasonal classics in foodservice , and Toner talks about what defines such offerings and how convenience stores can leverage seasonality to drive foodservice innovation. Toner also explains how a foodservice offering can capture the sensory components of what makes a seasonal classic—and discusses a few me...
Dec 03, 2024•16 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Diane Adam talks with Hayley Thrift, director of public relations at Spinx. The podcast was recorded inside the retailer’s new c-store concept Spinx Market & Eatery in downtown Greenville, South Carolina. Topics include the new store’s features, including made-to-order gourmet food items, bakery items and Spinx’s fried chicken. Spinx is No. 77 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count....
Nov 26, 2024•16 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Ken Rash, senior category manager of packaged beverages at Stinker Stores , and Scott Johnson, executive vice president at beverage partnership consulting firm Enliven and former senior vice president of Keurig Dr Pepper . Stinker Stores is No. 66 on CSP's 2024 Top 202 ranking of convenience-store chains by size. Topics include challenges and trends for convenience stores in the world of packaged beverages . The two also ...
Nov 19, 2024•16 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Senior Editor Hannah Hammond and CSP Editors Diane Adam and Rachel Gignac have a conversation about their highlights from the Convenience-Store Women’s Event . CSW took place from Nov. 4-6 in Charleston, South Carolina. Industry experts and c-store retailers spoke on topics including work-life balance, how they overcame challenges in their careers, why women get passed up for c-suite jobs and more. Listen here....
Nov 12, 2024•5 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Diane Adam talks with Brad Helmer , executive vice president of business and corporate brand development for specialty and fresh product distributor KeHE Distributors , Naperville, Illinois. Helmer talks about the increased interest in better-for-you products, especially from the younger generation. He also unpacks how consumers who care about what they put in their body and where the products come from are becoming big drivers in trends in co...
Nov 05, 2024•17 min
Darren Rebelez, CEO of Casey's and CSP 's 2024 Retail Leader of the Year , accepted the award in October at the RLOY dinner in Las Vegas. In his acceptance speech, he thanked and honored the entire Casey's team. “I’m just one person up here representing the achievements of the 45,000 team members we have across our 2,700 stores; many of whom are working as we speak to take care of our guests in our communities. We're here to celebrate them,” he said. Listen to his acceptance speech here....
Oct 29, 2024•6 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” in partnership with C-StoreTEC, Mike Templeton, vice president of digital strategy at NexChapter, talks to convenience leaders about opportunities for c-stores in the mobile gaming space. Templeton speaks with Abigail Cerra, loyalty marketing manager at Chestnut Market , New Paltz, New York, and Kim Carlson, chief revenue officer and chief operating officer at Mobivity, a Chandler, Arizona-based company that connects mobile game and marketers with restau...
Oct 22, 2024•17 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Kyle Drenon , co-owner of the Springfield, Missouri-based ad agency Supper Co. Drenon, whose business partner is Kesha Alexander, talks about why convenience stores shouldn’t try to do everything great—and why it’s a better strategy to focus on one or two items or areas to be excellent. Menu strategy, including limited-time offers, also is a subject, as is the “amazing results” he’s seen growing loyalty programs with paid...
Oct 15, 2024•14 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Senior Editor Hannah Hammond talks to Melissa Weaver, senior operations manager at Metroplex Energy, which is a division of the RaceTrac convenience-store chain . Metroplex Energy is a wholesale fuel supplier that secures bulk fuel to supply companies by rail, pipeline, truck, barge and vessel. Weaver talks about Atlanta-based RaceTrac’s employee-led business resource group called LEAD, which aims to create community, belonging and opportunity for wo...
Oct 08, 2024•9 min
In this episode of "At Your Convenience," Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy Patrick DeHaan talks to CSP Editor Rachel Gignac about the state of fuel prices, what determines increases and decreases and how the presidential election might affect prices. He also touches on what the outcome of the election could mean for the fuel industry, especially in regard to electric vehicle adoption.
Sep 24, 2024•11 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Diane Adam talks with the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) Director Brian King. King discusses CTP’s top priorities, including the creation of a federal multi-agency task force to combat the illegal distribution and sale of e-cigarettes. He also discusses how convenience-store operators can partner with CTP when it comes to regulation. The two spoke at CSP's 2024 Tobacco Plus Forum in Schaumburg, Illinois, in Se...
Sep 17, 2024•22 min
Nouria Energy Corp., based in Worcester, Massachusetts, took home first place in CSP 's annual Mystery Shop audit done in partnership with Intouch Insight , an Ottawa, Ontario-based data analysis firm. Nouria is No. 48 on CSP’s 2023 Top 202 list. CSP Editor Rachel Gignac spoke with Nouria's director of operations, John Pszeniczny at CSP 's Outlook Leadership conference in August, where the Mystery Shop winner was announced. Nouria stood out with a revealed audit score above 98% in seven categori...
Sep 10, 2024•11 min
At CSP 's Outlook Leadership conference in August, CSP Editor Rachel Gignac talked to Nate Brazier, CEO; Billy Colemire, vice president of marketing and brand; and Jeff Pidlypchak, vice president of operations at Stinker Stores, about its performance in the annual Mystery Shop audit. With a score of with a score of 96.18%, Boise, Idaho-based Stinker Stores took home second place in the Mystery Shop audit , after first-place winner Nouria. It was the chain's first year participating in the audit....
Sep 03, 2024•10 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Dawn Boulanger, vice president of marketing at Tri Star Energy , Nashville, which operates Twice Daily convenience stores and White Bison Coffee shops. Boulanger discusses her company being a finalist in the 2024 CSP /Intouch Insight Mystery Shop audit , covering what they do on a daily basis to have scored so well—from the sandwich cooler to exterior, from coffee to restrooms. The two spoke at CSP's 2024 Outlook Leadersh...
Aug 27, 2024•15 min
CSP 's Mystery Shop audit has tracked how convenience stores improve standards year-over-year in terms of pump island, exterior, interior, restrooms, dairy cooler, fountain drinks, coffee, sandwich cooler and employees. There has been an increase in convenience-store shoppers that view a c-store as a competitor to quick service restaurants, said Cameron Watt, president and CEO of Intouch Insight, an Ottawa, Ontario-based data analysis firm that conducts the audits in partnership with CSP . At CS...
Aug 20, 2024•14 min
In this episode of “ At Your Convenience ,” CSP Editors Rachel Gignac, Hannah Hammond and Chuck Ulie recorded from CSP’s Outlook Leadership conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Each shared highlights of the event, which featured general sessions and innovation forums with leading convenience-store retailers and suppliers on a variety of topics key to the industry . Listen to find out what they learned. “At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts together with CSP editors...
Aug 13, 2024•5 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Diane Adam talks with Alison Ritchie, the new president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS), based in Albany, New York. Ritchie discusses the challenges convenience-store operators must navigate when it comes to the tobacco category. She also gives an overview of how illegally smuggled tobacco products in New York means lost revenue for convenience stores. “At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts togethe...
Aug 06, 2024•20 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Steve Morris, president of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Retail Management Inc. Morris discusses leveraging technology to handle today’s labor woes, the importance of maintaining menu consistency while sprinkling in limited-time offers and how getting customers inside a c-store starts with the moment they’re looking at the building. Retail Management Inc. handles the operations, marketing and accounting functions for any smal...
Jul 30, 2024•14 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP VP of Content Strategy, Abbey Lewis, talks to Restaurant Business’ Editor in Chief, Jonathan Maze, about the future of online delivery in both restaurants and convenience—and how consumers really feel about those wait times and fees. Tune in to hear about what we’ve learned about the major delivery players, and some exciting news on a new delivery study that you can only find at Restaurant Business and CSP . “At Your Convenience” brings industry expe...
Jul 23, 2024•17 min
Vice president of retail operations support has been at the convenience-store chain for 25 years
Jul 15, 2024•14 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Senior Editor Hannah Hammond interviews Rebecca Mott , vice president of operational accounting at EG America. EG America is No. 5 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 U.S. c-store chains by store count. Mott (pictured), who attended the Convenience-Store Women’s (CSW) event in November, shared tips on how companies can help match a mentor with the right mentee, and how she’s a better mentor today because of her past experiences....
Jul 08, 2024•12 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Senior Editor Hannah Hammond interviews Rachell Bernhardt, human resources director at Quantum Services. The Columbus, Ohio-based company provides inventory audits for convenience-store brands across the country . Bernhardt shares what it’s like to work on succession planning in a family-run business. She also gives an update on what her C-Store Women’s (CSW) power team has learned about handling competition and the negative stereotypes that may come...
Jul 02, 2024•11 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks to Dan Razowsky, the marketing operations manager at Northbrook, Illinois-based Rmarts convenience stores. Razowsky (pictured) touches on looking to the future and building a foodservice program with love and attention, what effect electric vehicles might have on c-stores, and how handing out paper coupons at the pumps brings in business. Rmarts is a family-owned and -operated Chicago-area c-store chain that started in 1951 in...
Jun 25, 2024•17 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Diane Adam talks with Mike Bloom, executive vice president and chief merchandising and marketing officer at GPM Investments, about the retailer’s latest enhanced food program rollout. Bloom talks about the company’s pizza offering and the value it brings to its loyalty members. He also discusses the rollout of Nathan’s Famous hot dogs added to GPM Investments foodservice lineup. GPM Investments is No. 6 on CSP’s 2024 Top 40 Update to the 2023 ...
Jun 18, 2024•16 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” Senior Editor Hannah Hammond talks to Chris Smith , president of McLane’s retail business. Smith shares how he got to the role he’s in today by being placed in a stretch opportunity—one he was put in before he was ready to help him grow in new areas. They also talk about how their Convenience-Store Women’s (CSW) event power team is working on finding ways to reward and retain top performers in the industry. “At Your Convenience” brings industry experts a...
Jun 11, 2024•13 min
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Diane Adam talks with Damon Bail , vice president of Hop Shops and the retail division with Valor Oil, about the retailer’s marketing success in the least likely places—convenience-store bathrooms. Hop Shops stores in Kentucky have achieved unprecedented success thanks to the now viral disco bathrooms in six of its stores. Bail talks about how the disco bathrooms has exceeded everyone’s expectations and how the concept has positively changed t...
Jun 04, 2024•21 min
