The strategy in 2025 for Minuteman Food Mart is to focus on its digital presence, senior category leader Kathy Williams said Wednesday at CSP’s Cold Vault Forum in Lombard, Illinois.
Williams, a 2025 CSP Category Manager of the Year award winner, said that focus includes incentivizing signups with a free item, a redesigned website home page, a revamp of its clubs, eye-catching digital graphics, gamification to boost app engagement, online video clips and more.
Digital outreach on social media includes Facebook, Instagram and TikTok—and the Elizabethtown, North Carolina-based chain is planning on adding a YouTube page soon that will feature the same messages.
There are also podcasts from market and operations leaders that are shared on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.
Geofencing is also part of Minuteman’s strategy.
“We geofence some of our stores that have kitchens—some don’t—so we want to make sure that we geofence the stores where when they’re in the vicinity, they know which stores offer food,” Williams said.
With its item of the week, the c-store chain has push notifications daily and weekly, she said.
“There’s also in-store radio, but we don’t just have it in-store—when you’re pumping your gas, you can listen to the radio outside, and we actually hear a lot of our customers say, ‘That’s pretty cool.’”
In packaged beverages, Minuteman’s 2025 initiatives include new planograms:
- A new dual strike zone, per a Red Bull line extension, based on how a consumer shops
- Best-in-class product variety
- 85% core
- 15% new innovation and trends
They’re also pairing packaged beverages with Minuteman Kitchen to grow both categories.
Other key points from Williams:
In discussing vendor relations/contracts and placement/slotting fees, “The retailer sets the expectations first and foremost. Afterward, it’s imperative to build a great relationship with your vendor partners so they are there for you when needed.”
In sales, movement and space planning, she said. “Don’t sell the real estate; lease it by movement. As long as the SKU is turning and making a profit, it will stay. Do not base your planograms off of contracts. Have you put it to a calculator?
“Stay nimble and pivot quickly when needed,” she said. “Always have a backup plan for when sales go soft or there are supply-and-demand issues.”
- Campbell Oil Co./Minuteman Food Mart is No. 114 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count. Murphy USA is No. 4.
QuickChek/Murphy USA
At QuickChek, Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, which is owned by Murphy USA, category manager Daniel Leto shared his philosophy: Make it strategic and consumer-centric.
The mission is to “find out what our consumers want to drink and provide it to them in a clear, clean and easily shopped manner,” he said.
He added, “Focus on qualitative (providing what consumers want) and quantitative (measuring performance and ensuring each item delivers its value) aspects of category management.”
In addition, every item must pull its weight, Leto said. “Budgeted gross profit divided by 800 facings equals the targeted cold vault facing velocity per outlet,” he said. “My goal is to have 95% optimization, meaning every item is delivering its necessary velocity per outlet.”
Regarding new items, Leto said to appeal to at least one of the following groups:
- Early adopters
- Multicultural
- Value
- Health
- Performance via isotonic
- Functionality
- Energy boosting
- Generations (Gen Z, etc.)
- Time-constrained shoppers
“Our flexibility enables QuickChek to cater to the diverse needs of today’s shoppers, ensuring we are always on the pulse of consumer trends and demands,” he said.
He added, “We’re not just selecting products, we’re making decisions on people’s lives. If we don’t have the product they’re looking for, they’re going to go somewhere else. We’re wasting their time. If we have the right products at the right place, we become part of their daily life, and we’re engaged in their life.”
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