MESA, Ariz. —The staff of CSPedia, CSP Business Media’s online encyclopedia of convenience-store chains, gathers news and insights and updates the listings for the nearly 500 retailers in its database on a daily basis. CSPedia delivers a monthly summary of these reports, often news not yet announced publicly, to its subscribers.

Here is a collection of some of the news and people updates from June 2015.

People on the Move

• Alimentation Couche-Tard. Kim James has been appointed to the newly established role of global brand management director at Alimentation Couche-Tard, Couche-Tard Brands & Finance for the Laval, Quebec-based company, effective July 1. Previously, she was director of brand marketing, U.S. and Canada for Couche-Tard, Mac’s and Circle K; and director of category training and development, U.S., retail director of operations and director of marketing for Circle K.
• *CEFCO. Richard Levin has joined CEFCO as vice president of marketing. Mike Skidmore, senior vice president of marketing, has announced he will retire in September.
• Circle K Midwest. Brent Byers is handling non-alcohol packaged beverages for the region, Garry Carter is managing the grocery category and Tim Wallace is director of facilities and maintenance. Circle K Midwest is based in Columbus, Ind., and will have approximately 350 stores by the end of 2015, after about 500 of its current stores move to the new Circle K Heartland region when it is fully operational. Heartland will encompass stores in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
• Circle K West Coast. Personnel changes include Jorge Parra as Southern California director of operations after Dan Williams moved to the chain’s Houston office. Parra joined Circle K in January from Propel Fuel Co.
• First Coast Energy. Jack Kemp, former director of marketing, has retired. Trey Byrd handles buying and marketing for the Jacksonville, Florida, chain with 96 stores.
• KeithCo Petroleum. Brian Lee joined the company last year as director of operations. Ronnie Chadwell is no longer with the Mississippi chain, which operates about 30 Keith’s Superstores.
• Miller Oil Co. (Miller’s Neighborhood Market). Jack Trebilcock is no longer with Miller Oil Co. and Millers Neighborhood Market stores. He has relocated to Florida.
• Rite Way Oil Co. (Speedee Mart). John Dilsaver is chief operations officer, now handling all buying for the Omaha, Neb.-based company’s 14 stores.
• Tri-State Petroleum Inc. Leslie Owens has been named director of retail operations. The West Virginia company distributes fuel and owns and operates 30 stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

In the News

• Alon Brands Retail opened its newest 7-Eleven store May 6 in Rio Rancho, N.M., outside Albuquerque. It is a prototype for future stores, with 4,500 square feet of space within the store and 16 fueling stations. The company also began wholesale-fuel sales into the Phoenix market. Delek US Holding Inc. of Brentwood, Tenn., has acquired more than 48% of the stock from parent company Alon Israel Oil Co. Ltd., with an option to purchase more.
• Beacon & Bridge plans to build a new store in Lapeer, Mich., next door to an existing site that will be razed when construction is complete. Work has not yet begun on the new store. The chain has 23 sites in Michigan.
• Car Wash Enterprises Inc. of Seattle has been rebranding its convenience stores to Hungry Bear Market this year, with a new image and upgraded interiors that include open-air coolers and more fresh food offerings.
• Kum & Go’s parent company, Krause Holdings, has purchased a winery in Piedmont, Italy. The Iowa chain has more than 400 stores across 11 states.
• A new Pak-A-Sak store is due to open in August in Childress, Texas. The Amarillo company has about 20 stores, all in Texas.
• Sunshine Gasoline Distributors purchased 15 gas stations and convenience stores in Miami-Dade and Broward counties from Floval Oil Corp. Based in Doral, Fla., Sunshine also plans to add six more sites this year.
• Team Schierl Cos., based in Wisconsin, says its loyalty program, Impact Rewards, has reached a membership of 80,000. The chain plans to open one new store in 2015, for a total of 24 sites.
• United Oil of Gardena, Calif., has changed its corporate name to United Pacific following the acquisition of stores from Pacific Convenience & Fuels. The chain has expanded into Northern California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Colorado. After the acquisition, United operates more than 300 stores and leases another 60 to other operators.

SEATTLE – Starbucks has announced strategic initiatives to support economic development and social change in urban communities by helping young get jobs.

Starbucks said that it will open coffeehouses in 15 low-to-medium income urban communities, with at least five stores expected to open in 2016. These stores will be a key strategy in achieving the company’s goal of hiring 10,000 Opportunity Youth—young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who face systemic barriers to jobs and education—and the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative’s collective goal of hiring 100,000 Opportunity Youth by 2018.

Seattle-based Starbucks will open the first of these stores in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago’s south side; the West Florissant neighborhood in Ferguson, Mo.; the Jamaica neighborhood in Queens, N.Y.; Milwaukee; and will remodel a store in Phoenix.

Each of these locations will have an onsite training space where young people can learn customer service and retail skills. Starbucks will also partner with local youth services organizations and government to leverage existing programs that help connect young people with internships, apprenticeships and jobs in the community.

“We have a long history of developing stores in diverse neighborhoods, and we hope to do even more—together with the community—to bring great jobs, engage young people and drive economic opportunity for all,” said Blair Taylor, chief community officer for Starbucks and chair of the Starbucks Foundation. “We want to be part of the solution in these communities and help create a sustainable future for those who may be looking for a second chance.”

Starbucks will hire on average 20 to 25 employees per store from the local community, providing a new pathway to opportunity through training and development, career options and benefits that include the chance to get an online, tuition-free bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University through the Starbucks College Achievement Plan.

Starbucks also plans to collaborate with local women- and minority-owned contractors and businesses in the design and development of these stores, and work with women- and minority-owned suppliers to bring locally made food products to the stores.

“There’s a quiet, much-needed movement underway to rebuild Ferguson” said Michael McMillan, CEO for the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, which recently broke ground on a new jobs and education center for youth in Ferguson on the site of a former QuikTrip convenience store destroyed during the riots that followed the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown.

“Starbucks is stepping up and investing in our community in a way that will open up exciting opportunities for all. We hope more businesses will appreciate this city’s resilience and join us in turning what was a tragedy into a triumph,” he said.

“In making this commitment to open in Englewood, Starbucks, like Whole Foods, sees the opportunity and revitalization occurring in one of Chicago’s oldest neighborhoods. This is further proof that when the public and private sectors come together to invest in communities, we can create new jobs and economic resources that will spur economic growth into the future,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

To determine which communities are a good fit for this store concept, Starbucks looks at all the available data on the socio-economic health of America’s cities to understand which communities have the biggest opportunity gaps, which have the biggest need for business investment and leadership and where there is local movement underway to build a better future for its residents. The company plans to accelerate the development of these stores over the next three years with the goal of opening in at least 10 additional cities by 2018. Starbucks will monitor the success of the stores for continued adoption to embed with our store development strategies.

RICHMOND, Va. — Altria Group Inc. said that it is expanding its strategic framework with Philip Morris International (PMI), first announced in December 2013, to include a joint research, development and technology-sharing agreement.

Altria and PMI will collaborate to develop e-vapor products for commercialization in the United States by Altria and in markets outside the United States by PMI.

The agreement also provides for exclusive technology cross licenses, technical information sharing and cooperation on scientific assessment, regulatory engagement and approval related to e-vapor products.

Meanwhile, PMI and Swedish Match have mutually agreed to dissolve their joint-venture agreement relating to the sale of smokeless tobacco products outside Scandinavia and the United States.

Swedish Match will continue to sell General snus in Canada, Russia and Malaysia. It said it sees “good opportunities” for its snus products internationally over the longer term.

The companies established SMPM International (owned on a 50/50 basis by Swedish Match and PMI) in 2009 to commercialize snus outside Scandinavia and the United States.

Within the scope of the joint venture, Swedish Match has developed and produced snus products that have then been sold through PMI. Both companies have licensed trademarks to the joint venture. The venture most recently has been selling snus in Canada, Russia, Israel and Malaysia. Costs for joint venture activities have been shared 50/50.

There is a small but growing demand for snus in current joint-venture markets, Swedish Match said. The development has, however, taken longer than the parties had initially anticipated. As a consequence, the parties agreed end the joint venture.

Swedish Match and PMI will now focus on independent strategies for the commercialization of snus, Swedish Match said

Trademark licenses will revert to the original owners, and separate transitional agreements have been signed whereby Swedish Match will supply snus products to PMI for certain markets, and PMI will perform distribution services on behalf of Swedish Match in Canada and in Russia.

“We have attained valuable insights, and are pleased to see that snus has been viewed by many outside of our core markets as a viable alternative. We look forward to continuing to build our knowledge and work toward further developing our snus business globally,” said Lars Dahlgren, president and CEO of Swedish Match.

Stockholm-based Swedish Match develops, manufactures and sells products with brands in snus and moist snuff; other tobacco products (OTP) such as cigars and chewing tobacco; and matches, lighters and complementary products. Some of its brands include General, Longhorn, White Owl, Red Man, Fiat Lux and Cricket.

New York City-based PMI is a leading international tobacco company with six of the world’s top 15 international brands, sold in more than 180 markets.

Richmond, Va.-based Altria’s wholly owned subsidiaries include Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM USA), U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. LLC (USSTC), John Middleton Co., Nu Mark LLC, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates Ltd. (Ste. Michelle) and Philip Morris Capital Corp. Altria holds a continuing economic and voting interest in SABMiller plc (SABMiller).

The brand portfolios of Altria’s tobacco operating companies include Marlboro, Black & Mild, Copenhagen, Skoal, MarkTen and Green Smoke. Ste. Michelle produces and markets premium wines sold under various labels, including Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Crest, 14 Hands and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, and it imports and markets Antinori, Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, Torres and Villa Maria Estate products in the United States.

LOUISVILLE, Colo. — Wawa and Costco are consumers’ favorite places to fill up their gas tanks, according to a study by Market Force Information. The customer intelligence firm polled nearly 7,000 consumers for the study, designed to uncover where consumers prefer to fuel up and why.

The study found that, while the majority of motorists still fuel up at traditional gas stations and convenience stores, grocers and wholesale clubs continue to gain ground.

For their most recent trip to the pump, 69% said they visited a gas station or convenience store, while 31% chose a grocery, wholesale club or big-box chain.

Because the critical drivers for customer satisfaction vary between gas stations and grocery or big-box stores, Market Force evaluated each category separately. 

For the rankings, Market Force asked participants to rate their satisfaction with their most recent gas station or convenience store experience, and their likelihood to refer that store brand to others. It averaged the results to attain a composite loyalty score.

Wawa ranked highest with 68%, edging out QuikTrip, which took the top spot in the 2014 study. QuikTrip was second with a score of 62% and Sheetz was third with 59%. All of the top three are corporate-owned, regional brands. Speedway and Phillips 66 tied for fourth, with Phillips 66 emerging as the highest-ranking national brand.

Market Force also evaluated how gas station and convenience store brands are delivering on a spectrum of attributes that impact customer satisfaction, such as service and appearance. Chevron ranked highest for fuel quality and ARCO was voted the fuel price-leader. Wawa, which offers made-to-order hoagies, breakfast sandwiches and other food options, took the top spot in the fresh food category. QuikTrip came in first for customer service and appearance for a second consecutive year. Sheetz’s loyalty program was a clear favorite, and it also tied with Wawa for quality coffee.

Continued on next page.

“We found that one in seven consumers was dissatisfied with their most recent experience at the pumps,” said Cheryl Flink, chief strategy officer for Market Force, Louisville, Colo. “With the plethora of options available to drivers, gas stations and convenience stores must both execute flawlessly on the basics like bright, appealing imaging and deliver in experience-related areas such as customer service and specialty foods.”

Consumers seem to largely prefer wholesale clubs over grocery stores and big-box retailers for gas, likely for their deeply discounted prices. When Market Force ranked the top wholesale clubs, grocers and big-box chains on the Customer Loyalty Index, three wholesale clubs led the pack—Costco ranked first, BJ’s Wholesale Club was second and Sam’s Club was third. Kroger and Walmart rounded out the top five.

When Market Force examined how grocery stores, wholesale clubs and big-box retailers were performing on a spectrum of attributes that impact customer satisfaction, Costco took the top spot in five of the nine categories, including fuel quality, fuel price, customer service, appearance and brand reputation. BJ’s also performed well, leading on ease of entry and exit and good coffee, and tying with Costco for fresh food. Kroger ranked first for its loyalty program by a large margin, besting Costco by nearly 40%.

ARLINGTON, Va. – Petroleum Marketers Association of America President Emeritus Dan Gilligan has been selected to receive PMAA’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award (DSA). The group will present the award at a luncheon held in his honor on October 11, 2015, in Las Vegas.

Tennessee marketer David Adcox, who served as chairman of the 2015 DSA Committee, said the committee was unanimous in wanting Gilligan to be the recipient this year.

“Dan has devoted so much of himself to PMAA over the past 17 years, we wanted to make sure he got the award while the decision was in our hands,” said Adcox. Serving on the committee with David were Jimm Cross, Cross Petroleum Inc.; Bill Herdrich, Herdrich Petroleum Inc.; Chris Newton, Texas Food & Fuel Association; Larry Ray, R.P.C. Inc.; and Tommy Thompson, Thompson Energy LLC.

Gilligan was named president of PMAA in July 1998 and immediately focused on invigorating the role of state trade associations in the advancement of PMAA goals and objectives.

Prior to joining PMAA, he had a diverse career in association management and government relations. From 1976 through 1986, Gilligan worked as a statehouse lobbyist, where he developed an understanding of the policy differences between state and national interests. In 1986, he moved to Washington, D.C., to serve as CEO of a national federation of state associations, which gave him the foundation to strengthen PMAA as a federation.

“I am very humbled and honored to have been selected to receive the Distinguished Service Award. Over the past 17 years, I have witnessed some really great industry leaders get the award and I am proud to be associated with all of them.” Gilligan said.

YORK, Pa. — Rutter’s Farm Stores will use two new corporate giving programs, Vote with Your Dollars and Rutter’s Rewards Schools, to continue its financial support of local children’s charities, the York, Pa-based convenience-store retailer has announced.

Since 2005, Rutter’s has given more than $4.45 million to local children’s charities. The chain will fund Vote with Your Dollars and Rutter’s Rewards Schools with $100,000 raised at Rutter’s Children’s Charities’ annual golf outing.

Both programs rely on technology and will empower customers to help decide to which charities the funds are allocated.

The Rutter’s Children’s Charities donation committee selected seven Central Pennsylvania charities as finalists to participate in the Vote with Your Dollars program this year:

• Make a Wish Foundation
• Hoffman Homes for Youth
• Junior Achievement
• York County Food Bank
• Red Cross of South Central PA
• Chambersburg Hospital
• York Country Day School

Customers can read about each charity, their plans for the donation and learn how to pledge their support at rutters.com/charities or by using Rutter’s mobile app. Each of the participating organizations will also encourage their network of followers, members and volunteers to support the cause. Every dollar spent at Rutter’s by a charity’s supporter will count as a vote.

Rutter’s Rewards Schools gives clubs, teams and other organizations from local schools an opportunity to meet their fundraising goals. Once approved to participate, the organization will have 90 days to encourage its members, their families and friends to shop at Rutter’s. The club will earn a percentage of the total dollar amount spent in the stores by their supporters.

“We believe these programs lend transparency and consistency to the process of choosing which organizations receive support from us each year, while giving the supporters of each charity a hand in helping their favorite cause,” said Derek Gaskins, Rutter’s chief customer officer. “Moreover, we are excited to leverage our innovative mobile and loyalty technology platforms to drive engagement, and provide financial support to our local schools, non-profits, and community organizations.”

Rutter’s has been active in the community since its beginning in 1921.

Under the third generation of family leadership, Rutter’s operates 60 convenience stores throughout central Pennsylvania.

Brought to you by GOJO Industries.

In today’s competitive landscape, it is important to make sure your store stands out against your competition. A proven way to stand out, and to capture a larger share of wallet, is to pay close attention to the overall store cleanliness.

The 2013 Convenience Store Survey, conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, reports that the highest-rated differentiator is overall cleanliness of the store. This survey also points out that while overall store cleanliness is highly valued, it is perceived as rare. So how can you make sure your store stands out?

Let’s first identify the germ hotspots at a c-store. In 2012, Handwashing for Life conducted a study that included collecting swab samples from some of the most-frequently touched areas in convenience stores. Samples were collected from 24 c-stores and truck & travel centers under eight different retail brands.

As a result of this testing, the “germiest” hot spots at a c-store store were determined. The top six are:

• Restroom door latch/handle
• Store entrance door handle
• Gas-pump handle
• Gas-pump keypad
• Squeegee handle
• Refrigerator door handle

It is important to remember that a clean store is more than just an uncluttered store. One way to ensure you are standing out among the competition is by offering the right hand-hygiene products at the right locations throughout your store.

Having an alcohol-based hand sanitizer at the gas pump–one of the germiest areas on the property–is one way to visibly demonstrate to your customers you care, but also a way to differentiate your store from the competition. In addition, customized signage allows you to get credit for providing your customers with Purell Advanced Sanitizer.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizer, such as Purell Advanced Hand Sanitizer and systems such as the Purell ES Everywhere System, are designed to fit in small spots with ideal placement at foodservice areas and beverage stations for customers. This helps give customers confidence to buy food at your store and cuts down on restroom traffic, offering hand sanitizer is an alternative to hand-washing.

A clean store helps drive sales. Be sure to have the right hand-hygiene products on hand to give a visible demonstration that you go the extra mile to keep your store clean and your customers happy and returning.

HERSHEY, Pa. — The Hershey Co. has announced that marketing veteran Peter Horst will join the company as senior vice president and chief marketing officer, effective July 27.

Horst joins Hershey from Capital One Financial Corp., where he served as senior vice president of brand marketing, and prior to that, CMO for Capital One Bank.

At Capital One, Horst was behind the well-known “What’s in your wallet?” marketing campaign.

“Peter is a seasoned marketing leader who has the skills, experience and proven track record to continue to evolve our marketing organization, build our iconic brands and drive global growth for the company,” said J.P. Bilbrey, chairman and president and CEO of Hershey.

Mike Wege, former CMO, has been appointed senior vice president and chief administrative officer, and continues as a member of the company’s global leadership team. In this role, Wege will continue to lead the company’s global organizational agility and growth initiative and other strategic projects for the company.

“Mike is a highly experienced leader, and I appreciate his commitment to help position the company for future growth as we accelerate our business in new markets around the world,” Bilbrey said.

Horst is a marketing veteran with more than 25 years of experience at companies including General Mills, Verizon Business Online, Ameritrade and Capital One.

As senior vice president of brand marketing at Capital One, he supported Capital One’s diversified businesses in credit cards, branch and Internet banking, home loans, small business and personal lending, auto finance and international markets. His team was responsible for driving integrated marketing, new product development and market research.

Hershey, based in Hershey, Pa., is a global confectionery leader with more than 80 brands that drive more than $7.4 billion in annual revenues, including Hershey’s, Reese’s, Hershey’s Kisses, Jolly Rancher, Ice Breakers and Brookside.

MILWAUKEE — Just months after partnering to distribute its first craft beer, Pabst Brewing Co. is returning to its Milwaukee roots to further embrace the burgeoning craft-beer segment.

The Los Angeles-based company will open a new brewery in Milwaukee on the site of the original Pabst Brewery, which was founded in 1844. Partnering with Milwaukee-based developers Zilber Ltd. and BRM, Pabst plans to sign a multi-year lease on a building within the Pabst brewery complex and expects to open the brewery to the public in the summer of 2016.

The brewery will serve as Pabst’s hub for innovation and new product ideas, and will be a central feature of Zilber’s redevelopment of the Pabst brewery complex.

“The launch of this brewery in Pabst’s original home represents a long-awaited return to our roots,” said Eugene Kashper, chairman and CEO of Pabst Brewing Co. “Milwaukee is our home. The Pabst Mansion, the Pabst Theater, Pabst Farms and this beautiful brewery complex–these are all part of Frederick Pabst’s amazing legacy, which we are honored to continue by returning to our hometown and birthplace.”

In addition to brewing many of Pabst’s iconic pre-prohibition brands, such as Old Tankard Ale, Kloster Beer, Bock, Andecker and others, Pabst intends to brew new craft beers inspired by recipes from the Pabst archives.

This follows Pabst deal earlier this year in which it entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Small Town Brewery, Wauconda, Ill., to distribute its Not Your Father’s Root Beer nationwide.

“Our brews will symbolize the historic progression of beer styles throughout our 171-year relationship with Milwaukee’s beer lovers,” said Greg Deuhs, Pabst Master Brewer and longtime Milwaukee resident. “We are looking forward to partnering with local residents and businesses and engaging with this community that has been so supportive and loyal to us over the years.”

Pabst’s Milwaukee venue will offer visitors brewery tours, historical memorabilia, a tasting room, beer garden and a restaurant/bar, which will serve food and feature exclusive small-batch brews only available on-site.

“We could not have found a more fitting partner for the old Pabst brewery complex,” said Ying Chan, president of BRM, a financial-services company involved in the redevelopment. “Pabst is finally coming home and will be in the same complex it occupied so many years ago.”

ATLANTA — First Data Corp., the global leader in payment technology and services solutions, took another step to bolster its best-in-class prepaid gift-card solution with the acquisition of digital gift-card company Transaction Wireless Inc. (TWI), an enterprise digital gift-card distribution platform.

The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

First Data now provides its gift-card clients, distributors, partners and resellers a fully integrated, comprehensive physical and digital gift-card program.

The move complements First Data’s 2014 acquisition of Gyft, a leading consumer-facing digital platform that enables consumers to buy, send, reload, manage and redeem digital gift cards using mobile devices.

“First Data now offers one of the industry’s most integrated, complete and comprehensive prepaid gift-card solution at scale,” said Barry McCarthy, executive vice president of network and security solutions at First Data. “Along with our strong gift-card processing and Gyft solutions, Transaction Wireless’s outstanding proprietary and comprehensive digital gifting platform will help our clients expand and accelerate their gift-card programs.”

“We have worked hard to build a world-class gifting platform and are delighted to join the First Data family,” said Transaction Wireless’s Basil Abifaker. “Our capabilities, when combined with First Data’s global payments leadership, will drive even more innovation and growth in the gift-card market.”

TWI’s cloud-based, digital gift-card distribution platform supports comprehensive open- and closed-loop prepaid, store-branded gift-card program management, offering end-to-end card management and B2B and B2C distribution solutions for retailers, distributors and resellers. The proprietary technology allows business owners to migrate from traditional plastic or paper gift cards to digital gift cards via multi-format distribution options, including mobile, social, email and digital wallets. This flexibility for business owners, in turn, increases customer transaction frequency and loyalty opportunities.

Combined with Gyft and First Data’s other prepaid solutions including the Money Network payroll card solution, TWI further extends First Data’s reach in the prepaid ecosystem.

San Diego-based TWI is a leading cloud-based enterprise solution for B2C and B2B gift cards, helping retailers and partners evolve their traditional gift-card business into electronic, mobile and social commerce platforms. Since 2006, Transaction Wireless has worked with more than 150 brands to offer a PCI Level 1 DSS 3.0 ecommerce gift-card platform with integrated marketing capabilities, allowing clients to deploy, acquire customers, build loyalty and grow their bottom line. Clients include ABR Holdings, AMC Entertainment Inc., Benihana Inc., Boston Market, Buckle, Buffalo Wild Wings, California Pizza Kitchen, The Cheesecake Factory Inc., Domino’s Pizza, Earl Enterprises, Finish Line Inc., Lands’ End, Lowes Cos. Inc., MCX, Overstock.com, Panda Express, Red Robin, Shell, SpaFinder Wellness, Sport Chalet, StubHub and more. Transaction Wireless also provides its scalable technology to a number of partners including Hallmark Business Connections, RPG Card Services, Store Financial and more.

Atlanta-based First Data is a global leader in payment technology and services solutions. With 23,000 owner-associates and operations in 34 countries, the company provides secure and innovative payment technology and services to more than six million merchants and financial institutions around the world, from small businesses to large corporations.