Jared Scheeler embraces his origin story as a convenience-store newbie turned independent retail leader and even current chairman of NACS.

He joined the industry like hundreds of other college students, as a part-time employee eager to make ends meet, and found a true passion that led him to co-found The Hub Convenience Stores with one store in Dickinson, N.D., in 2015. It has since grown to six locations.

While the chain has a goal “to break every negative stereotype of the c-store industry by delivering quality food products, clean facilities and restrooms, great security and lighting, and world-class customer service,” according to its mission statement, Scheeler has found the store brand allows the company to reach even deeper in its mission.

“ ‘The Hub’ always stood out to me,” he told NACS in a podcast earlier this year. “I wanted our businesses to be the hub of our communities in many different ways: from being the convenience destination within the communities we served to being the hub of the community as far as our involvement in it, such as donations to the community and being a great place to work. Also being something that consumers in our area didn’t expect out of convenience.

“The Hub just stuck with us, and we built our logo around it using a gear as an iconic part of it. It’s part of our imaging inside our stores. It’s not just a word anymore but it’s really our lifeblood.”