OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. -- Short ribs at a convenience store, burgers topped with pastrami, fried pickles and something called a Fish-a-dilla: Jerry Weiner is leaving the industry with a legacy of bold, innovative and fun menu items. More importantly, he has bestowed upon us all a career’s worth of knowledge on how to succeed in c-store foodservice.
Jerry, vice president of foodservice for York, Pa.-based Rutter’s Farm Stores, is retiring this month after a 43-year career in the convenience-store industry. He has worked for 7-Eleven, Mapco and Stop & Go Markets, run 400 delis in seven states, spent four years as director of food and beverage for Marriott, and turned the 60-store Rutter’s chain into a brand recognized right alongside the foodservice behemoths of our industry.
Under his direction, Rutter’s foodservice program has become a nimble pacesetter that rivals many of the better quick-service restaurants (QSRs) out there. Food is prepared in front of guests, who order via touch screen. Breads are baked in-house, induction woks cook up stir-fries and pasta dishes to order, and the menu is completely customizable. Want mozzarella sticks along with your burger? Of course. Want them on your burger? You bet—just tap the buttons on the screen.
When I first joined CSP and the c-store industry in 2008, Jerry was one of the first people I met. Smart, pragmatic and always willing to hop on the phone, he very quickly became my go-to guy for story interviews, lengthy off-the-record education and lots of laughs. Seven years later, I still get warnings from my editors to “lay off Jerry for a couple of issues, will you?” Which is hard—he’s so damn quotable.
But I’m just one of a vast number of people Jerry treated with friendship and knowledge. The greatest thing Jerry has brought to the industry is his warmth, manifest not just in niceness, but also in a willingness to share his own successes and errors. We won’t improve the perception—or reality—of convenience-store foodservice unless everyone learns and evolves together, and Jerry helped foster that environment without a fear of who else was in the room.
Why, in this cutthroat retail world, would someone share so willingly? Because Jerry knows that one of the fundamental elements of foodservice success is execution. The competition might hear Jerry’s ideas, but they don’t have Jerry. Or his team.
To honor Jerry as he moves into retirement (and Las Vegas) in September, we’ve collected some of our favorite Jerry quotes from the past few years. Some are tactical lessons, others a bit philosophical, and all are inflected with the Jerry voice and personality.
So sit back and soak up a crash course in Jerry Weiner knowledge. Jerry, we salute you.
- “I believe our success is defined by an offer that is freshly made, high in quality and price value. The challenge is to do it consistently in every location, every day. The better we get at execution, the more successful the program is.”
- “The guy that drives the Bentley still has to fill up the gas tank. They aren’t going to buy that two-for-99-cent hot dog, but that doesn’t mean you can’t entice them.”
- On food waste: “Put it on the expense line so it is easier to track. Developing a reasonable spoilage line that is built into expenses works for us. … Zero spoilage means lost sales.”
- On foodservice equipment innovations: “I never would have been able to do this kind of program in a convenience store even 15 years ago.”
- On adding fried pickles to the menu: “If we sold beer, it would have been a natural. But without beer, I was thinking, nobody’s going to buy these things, so I’ll have it for about three months. But at least people will be talking about our program, saying, ‘Look, you can get a fried pickle at Rutter’s!’ It became one of our biggest sellers—it still is.”
- “[Customers] want a lot of choice and they want to get it the way they want it. They don’t want anybody determining what their plate is going to look like.”
- On late-night menus: “That 2 a.m. bar crowd, I love those people.”
- On health and the consumer: “I think we have arrived at [a place] where they are trying to make healthier choices. ... I do believe this is generational. My children are doing a much better job teaching my grandchildren to eat healthier than I ever did with them.”
- On Rutter’s new coffee bars: “A surprising percentage of our total cups go out after the morning business. That’s because the espresso bar is a little different, since people tend to use it as an afternoon treat.”
- On food safety: “If this isn’t what keeps you up at night, it should be. It’s a responsibility that we take when we embark on this path. Forget the financial impact—there’s a moral impact. So take this seriously.”
- “I think sampling is the most effective way to build new business.”
- “It’s not just 'location, location, location,' but 'location, location, location and differentiation'.”
- “If you’re not doing it, the guy down the street will. Do you want to be on the train, or at the station watching the train go by?”
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