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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.

HOUSTON – Related to Energy Transfer Partners’ (ETP) dropdown of 100% of Susser Holdings Corp. to Sunoco LP for approximately $1.934 billion, Sunoco LP said that it has priced its registered underwritten public offering of 5.5 million common units representing limited partner interests, pursuant to an effective statement filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), at $40.10 per common unit.

It expects the offering to close on or about July 21, 2015.

The partnership granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 825,000 additional common units.

It intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, and from the underwriters’ exercise of their option to purchase additional common units, if applicable, to repay borrowings outstanding under its revolving credit facility and for general partnership purposes.

And the partnership intends to use borrowings under its revolving credit facility, along with the net proceeds from the concurrent private placement of $600 million of aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2020, to help fund the cash consideration in its pending acquisition of 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Susser Holdings.

Sunoco LP also has announced that it has priced at 100% an upsized private offering of $600 million in aggregate principal amount of 5.5% senior notes due 2020.

This represents a $100-million increase in the original offering amount announced earlier in the day.

Sunoco Finance Corp., a wholly owned direct subsidiary of Sunoco, will serve as co-issuer of the notes. The company expects the sale of the notes to settle on July 20, 2015, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Net proceed are expected to total $592.5 million.

Sunoco intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, together with borrowings under its revolving credit facility, to help fund the cash consideration for its acquisition of 100% of Susser Holdings.

DALLAS & HOUSTON — “Driven by the desire to accelerate Sunoco LP‘s exposure to the fast-growing retail business with its exciting backlog of organic growth opportunities and strong EBITDA performance,” Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) announced that it is selling 100% of Susser Holdings Corp. to Sunoco LP for approximately $1.934 billion.

Sunoco LP is majority owned and managed by ETP, which also owns Sunoco Inc. and Stripes LLC. Previously, ETP has indicated that it planned to bring Sunoco Inc. and Stripes LLC together under Sunoco LP (formerly Susser Petroleum Partners LP) through asset dropdowns from ETP to Sunoco LP.

ETP owns the general partner, 100% of the incentive distribution rights (IDRs), or share of cash flow, and approximately 44% of the limited-partner interests in Sunoco LP, as well as 100% of Sunoco Inc. and 100% of Susser Holdings Corp. (acquired in August 2014), making the sale a “dropdown.”

The size of this transaction reflects the “structural simplicity” of a single drop of a corporate entity into Sunoco LP and ultimately its wholly owned corporate subsidiary, Susser Petroleum Property Co. LLC.

For Sunoco LP, the addition of significant size and scale will deliver new organic growth opportunities and enhance its ability to focus on a broad range of third-party acquisition opportunities, ETP said.

For the dropdown, as reported in a 21st Century Smoke/CSP Daily News Flash, Sunoco LP will pay ETP approximately $970 million in cash and issue approximately 22 million Sunoco LP units valued at approximately $970 million.

The companies expect the transaction to close on August 1, subject to customary conditions.

Sunoco Inc., Philadelphia, markets motor fuels through more than 4,900 Sunoco-branded gas stations and convenience stores in 26 states, mainly east of the Mississippi, from Maine to Florida and west to Wisconsin and Louisiana. This includes more than 430 company-operated locations, along with more than 4,000 independently owned and operated dealers and distributors. It also has more than 650 APlus branded c-stores that are company-operated and operated by third-party dealers.

Stripes LLC, Corpus Christi, Texas, currently operates more than 645 c-stores in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma under the Stripes and Sac-N-Pac brands.

Continued on next page.

Simultaneously with this transaction, ETP and Energy Transfer Equity (ETE)–which owns the general partner and 100% of the IDRs of ETP–have announced a transaction in which ETP will transfer the general partner (GP) interest and IDRs of Sunoco LP to ETE in exchange for 21 million ETP units held by ETE. The transaction represents a current value of approximately $1.2 billion.

Following this transaction, Sunoco LP will no longer be consolidated for accounting purposes by ETP, but instead will appear in the consolidated financial statements for ETE.

“These transactions are a strong endorsement by ETE and ETP of Sunoco LP’s current and future success and a validation of its business strategy and model,” ETP said.

Sunoco LP, Houston, is a master limited partnership (MLP) that distributes motor fuel to convenience stores, independent dealers, commercial customers and distributors. It also operates more than 150 c-stores and gas stations. It conducts its business through wholly owned subsidiaries, as well as through its 31.58% interest in Sunoco LLC, in partnership with an affiliate of ETP.

Energy Transfer Partners LP, Dallas, is an MLP that owns the general partner, 100% of the IDRs and approximately 67.1 million common units in Sunoco Logistics Partners LP, which operates a geographically diverse portfolio of crude oil and refined products pipelines, terminalling and crude oil acquisition and marketing assets. ETP owns 100% of Sunoco Inc. and 100% of Susser Holdings. Also, ETP owns the general partner, 100% of the IDRs and approximately 44% of the limited partner interests in Sunoco LP (formerly Susser Petroleum Partners LP), a wholesale fuel distributor and c-store operator.

While primarily engaged in natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil and refined products transportation, ETP also operates a retail business through its interest in Sunoco LLC, as well as wholly owned subsidiaries, Sunoco Inc. and Stripes LLC, which operate approximately 1,100 c-stores and gas stations.

CHICAGO — With half of 2015 gone, Technomic research experts have taken stock of the market forces and menu trends emerging in the foodservice industry. Overall, consumers are filling restaurant tables at pre-recession levels; however, some dining habits that emerged during that belt-tightening period continue to influence how consumers dine out in 2015 and beyond.

“Midscale dining is doing better, but must keep reinventing and innovating to continue this path,” said Joe Pawlak, senior vice president at Technomic. “Fine dining has bounced back. Meanwhile, limited-service restaurants, especially fast-casual concepts, continue to bite into the casual-dining market, although there is market improvement in this sector.”

Technomic’s experts traveled to some of the nation’s noted restaurant cities and conducted first-hand research, interviews and surveys among operators, chefs and consumers. They combined their findings with qualitative data from Technomic’s Digital Resource Library and quantitative data from MenuMonitor database and Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report. They pinpointed six key trends:

1. Fast casual not slowing down. This segment continues to outpace all others, growing at 11%, compared to 4% among quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and 5.6% growth in casual dining.

2. ‘Build your own’ keeps building. Within the fast-casual segment, concepts built around customization are growing twice as fast as those that are not.

3. Cult status. Quick-service restaurants that are doing well—Chick-fil-A and Culver’s, to name a few—have developed clearly defined niches, achieved cult-like followings and garner higher check averages.

4. Subtracting the additives. Consumers are demanding to know the backstories on ingredient sourcing and processing; operators are responding with increased menu transparency.

5. Tech becomes necessary. Online ordering, mobile apps and table tablets fulfill two needs: appealing to millennials’ high-tech and high-speed preferences and supplementing service in a tight labor markets.

6. The new foodie norm. Food blogs, foodie media and foodservice everywhere mean everyone’s a culinary expert; dining needs to be an Instagram-worthy experience.

Chicago-based Technomic provides consumer-grounded research and consulting for food manufacturers and distributors, restaurants and retailers, other foodservice organizations and various institutions aligned with the food industry.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — VideoMining Corp., a leading provider of in-store behavior analytics, has announced the development of a new sensing platform called OmniSensr for retail environments. The integrated hardware package combines video, Wi-Fi and beacon technologies.

The new sensing platform is optimized specifically for anonymous shopper tracking and generation of deep behavior analytics–from store-wide tracking to detailed shelf-level interactions with demographic segmentation. All processing is carried out on-board in real time, eliminating the need for large, elaborate hardware in stores. Retailers can deploy the resulting solution in a scalable way in stores of any format.

Employing an Internet-of-Things (IoT) architecture, the sensor’s outputs can be seamlessly integrated in a cloud environment with transaction data and other data sources (store map, product layout, promotions and more). Key advantages include the ability to provide repeat visitor analytics, more robust store-wide tracking compared to any single-technology-based approach, trip-type analysis and brand-level behavior analysis.

In addition to delivering a variety of shopper behavior analytics, the technology enables mobile location-based marketing solutions. This provides retailers and manufacturers with the ability to serve targeted content to shoppers at the point of decision in the form of promotions and relevant product information.

“VideoMining is committed to bringing the very best technology to the market. This development is another demonstration of our leadership in shopper analytics,” said Dr. Rajeev Sharma, founder and CEO of VideoMining. “We are very excited by the new applications enabled by our OmniSensr and look forward to working with our retail partners to roll out this powerful new sensing platform.”

Large-scale deployments start this fall, the State College, Pa.-based company said.

VideoMining employs patented software to convert in-store video into an understanding of shopper behavior and demographics, integrating those learnings with other key data sources to deliver comprehensive, actionable shopper behavior insights. Its Platform for Retail Optimization provides consumer product manufacturers and retailers the ability to measure shopper response at each retail touch point with automated in-store behavior analytics.

PLANO, Texas — Four of America’s favorite local dishes are about to take center stage in the potato chip aisle. Out of millions of submissions from fans across America, Lay’s has announced the four finalist flavors competing for a $1 million grand prize in the Lay’s “Do Us A Flavor” contest: Lay’s Wavy West Coast Truffle Fries, Lay’s Southern Biscuits & Gravy, Lay’s New York Reuben and Lay’s Kettle Cooked Greektown Gyro flavored potato chips.

Representing four of the most flavorful cities and towns across the country, these four finalist flavors are set to make their debut on store shelves nationwide later this month with consumer votes determining the grand prize winner.

In alphabetical order by last name, the finalists are:

*Lay’s Wavy West Coast Truffle Fries: Angie Fu, from Irvine, Calif., has had a passion for food and discovering local flavors from an early age. She very nearly went into culinary school, but instead opted to keep her love of flavor a hobby. When Angie is home, she is constantly in her kitchen, trying her hand at new dishes and sauces. But when Angie goes out to eat, she can’t say no to truffle fries, even seeking out restaurants in the area that put their own local twist on her favorite side.

*Lay’s Southern Biscuits & Gravy: As a travel agent from Noblesville, Ind., Hailey Green has many opportunities to sample local flavors when exploring a new city. She has a great appreciation for each locale’s “homemade style,” because it reminds her of her own childhood, filled with memories of eating southern food in her grandmother’s kitchen. One of Hailey’s favorite dishes is biscuits and gravy—a recipe that was handed down in her family generation after generation.

*Lay’s New York Reuben: Jeff Solensky helps manage a local restaurant in DuBois, Penn., where he pursues his true passion in life—food. Growing up in Long Island, N.Y., Jeff has fond memories of traveling into Manhattan to enjoy Broadway shows with his mother. A big part of that tradition was stopping by popular New York delis beforehand to enjoy a Reuben. *Lay’s Kettle Cooked Greektown Gyro: James Wagner has been in the Air Force for more than 18 years, traveling the country and abroad and discovering local tastes at each stop on his journey. While abroad, James discovered his fondness for Greek cuisine, so when he moved to Wichita Falls, Texas, he immediately sought out the closest gyro restaurant. 

The four finalists learned they were contest finalists when TV personality and recording artist Nick Lachey surprised them at their doorsteps with the news.

From July 27 through October 18, consumers can vote once per day per person, device and platform for their favorite finalist flavor on www.DoUsAFlavor.com; via Twitter and Instagram using the hashtags #VoteTruffleFries, #VoteBiscuits, #VoteReuben, or #VoteGyro; and/or via text message by texting “VoteTruffleFries,” “VoteBiscuits,” “VoteReuben,” or “VoteGyro” to 24477 (CHIPS).

Lay’s will reveal the winning flavor this October, and it will remain on store shelves following the completion of the contest.

In July 2012, the Lay’s brand launched its first “Do Us A Flavor” contest in the United States, which resulted in Lay’s Cheesy Garlic Bread submitted by Karen Weber-Mendham, a children’s librarian from Land O’Lakes, Wis., being selected as the first million-dollar winner. The contest returned for a second time in January 2014 with Lay’s Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger, submitted by Meneko Spigner McBeth of Deptford, N.J., crowned the winner.

As part of this year’s contest, a judging panel made up of chefs, foodies and flavor experts narrowed down the contest submissions to four finalist flavors. The three runner-up finalists will each win $50,000 in prize money, with the grand prize winner taking home $1 million or 1% of their flavor’s net sales through July 15, 2016 (whichever is higher).

Lay’s is one of the billion-dollar brands that makes up Plano, Texas-based Frito-Lay North America, the $14 billion convenient foods business unit of PepsiCo Inc., Purchase, N.Y. PepsiCo generated more than $66 billion in net revenue in 2014, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana.

More details and official contest rules are available at www.DoUsAFlavor.com.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — More than half of fuel consumers are feeling pessimistic about the economy, at a time when gas prices are 80 cents per gallon (CPG) lower than a year ago.

That’s the surprise finding in the latest fuel consumer survey from the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) that gauges the effect of gas prices on consumer sentiment.

Economic optimism fell five points between the June and July surveys, with 47% of fuel consumers feeling “somewhat” or “very” optimistic. The slim majority—40%—were “somewhat” pessimistic, while another 13% were “very” pessimistic.

As NACS points out, this decline is especially unexpected because optimism typically grows during the summer. Consider that in July 2014, consumer optimism rose seven points to hit 46%, even though gas prices were 80 CPG higher than today.

Of concern for retailers: 26% of consumers planned to cut their spending on items other than fuel in the upcoming month, a record high for the question since it was first added to the monthly survey in September 2014. Another 14% said they would spend more, while 60% would keep their spending the same.

Younger consumers—those between the ages of 18 and 34—were more optimistic than the average, with 57% feeling good about the economy; however, one in four also said they would spend less on items other than fuel in July.

“While gas prices remain relatively low, we may be seeing consumer frustration because prices aren’t falling over the summer months,” said Jeff Lenard, vice president of strategic industry initiatives at NACS. “Add to the mix consumers saying they will change behavior—and feel pain—at lower price points, and we may see pessimism linger, which could affect third-quarter sales.”

Consumers surveyed by NACS reported a median price of $2.79 per gallon in July, or a 4-CPG increase from the month prior; however, gas prices have stayed below the $3.00-per-gallon benchmark since November 2014. 

When asked what price gasoline would need to hit before reducing driving, consumers chose a mean of $3.65 per gallon. NACS said this was actually the average price per gallon in July 2014, when consumers said they would drive less if prices hit $4.19 per gallon.

Only 28% of consumers said gas prices have a “great” effect on their economic sentiment. This compares to the 41% who felt so the same time a year ago.  

Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates LLC conducted the survey for NACS with 1,101 gas consumers from July 1-6, 2015.

For a summary of results, click here.