LAVAL, Quebec — Humble. Approachable. Personable.
For all the success of Brian Hannasch, president and CEO of Alimentation Couche-Tard, and its global network of Circle K stores, his employees speak of him with the familiarity of a next-door neighbor.
But Hannasch is not the typical neighbor. He has risen through the ranks from his Midwestern-chain roots to lead Couche-Tard to become a true global brand and continues to lead the company into the future through his humble yet driven leadership style. It is for these accomplishments that CSP has named him its 2021 Retail Leader of the Year.
Here’s a look at how Hannasch got here and how he continues to lead the Canadian powerhouse’s growth two decades later.
Mergers and Mentorship
Laval, Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard officially entered the United States with a surprisingly big splash in 2001 when it acquired 225 Bigfoot stores from the Johnson Oil Co., all located in the Midwest. At the time, Hannasch had just started as vice president of operations for Bigfoot in Indiana, leaving a job as a vice president at BP the year prior. From his early days in convenience, Hannasch’s co-workers recognized his leadership skills.
“I first met Brian when I was part of the Johnson Oil Company,” says Melissa Hayes, executive assistant, Couche-Tard. “It was obvious that he was a leader. He always had a good way with people, and you just knew he was going to go far.”
Hayes worked closely with Hannasch as an executive assistant, and the two of them developed a professional rapport and a close friendship. Some of those working for Johnson Oil in the early 2000s are still with Circle K today and have grown close to Hannasch as Couche-Tard formally began its U.S. expansion. In fact, in his acceptance speech for the Retail Leader of the Year Award, Hannasch attributed his success to his “two families,” his wife Patty and three children, as well as his Couche-Tard colleagues.
“Brian and I go a long way back,” says Mark Novak, vice president of human resources, North America, Couche-Tard. Novak also worked for the Bigfoot chain before it was acquired by Couche-Tard and worked with Hannasch when he joined the company. Novak’s first impression of Hannasch was that he was down-to-earth, approachable and smart.
Integrity, personal ownership and accountability are must-haves of Couche-Tard’s leadership team, says Novak, and Hannasch’s humble approach embodies those qualities. That humility became a defining feature not only of Hannasch’s leadership style, but of Couche-Tard’s acquisition strategy in the United States.
“He’s got an unbelievable sense of urgency to get stuff done. But on the flip side, he has unbelievable patience in training, teaching and coaching people,” says Darrell Davis, executive vice president of real estate and construction, Circle K. Davis says Hannasch’s ability to guide people has helped Couche-Tard properly integrate new acquisitions so their strengths become part of the brand.
Davis says he was skeptical when he first met Hannasch nearly 20 years ago when Couche-Tard acquired Dairy Mart, the chain Davis worked for at the time. Davis interviewed with Hannasch and other leaders of Couche-Tard and listened to them describe Couche-Tard’s culture of entrepreneurship, caring about fellow workers and being empowered to make their own decisions. Davis decided this company was the real deal within months of joining. “And it’s been outstanding for me over 19 years,” he says.
It was in 2003 that Alimentation Couche-Tard made one of its most ambitious acquisitions to date, purchasing Circle K from ConocoPhillips. At the time, the chain consisted of 1,663 corporate stores located in 16 states and another 627 stores with a franchising or licensing relationship in the United States and worldwide.
“Since Brian has been in leadership positions, our focus has always been on growth,” says Hayes. “I have seen that even since the days of Johnson Oil. When we were first acquired by Couche-Tard, Brian was always looking at how we could grow. That remains the same today, and I think that to know that we are not only large in the United States but also globally has a lot to do with Brian’s influence.”
Hannasch was promoted from senior vice president of U.S. operations to COO in 2009 in part to help meet that demand for global growth. During his time as chief operating officer, he was responsible for overall business results, not only in the United States, but globally.
Three years later, Couche-Tard acquired Statoil Fuel & Retail, a Scandinavian road transportation fuel and convenience retailer, which marked Couche-Tard’s entry into Europe.
“We are a global company, and we desire to continue to grow,” says Kathy Cunnington, senior vice president of global shared services, Circle K. “Our journey growing under Brian’s leadership is still very exciting and on the forefront. You put those both together and Couche-Tard will go off into the future in a strong way with a strong leader.”
Cunnington has been a part of Circle K for 18 years, and she also has a long friendship with Hannasch. “I met Brian in the line for kindergarten registration [for our children], and we actually both worked for competitor jobberships before Couche-Tard,” Cunnington says. “We have a lot in common. Our children went to the same school and they’re the same age, so we had a friendship that lasted for quite a while.”
Hannasch earned the position of president and CEO of Alimentation Couche-Tard in 2014, and the company’s pace of growth continued to accelerate after his promotion.
Hannasch is the first American-born CEO of Couche-Tard and he was handpicked by Alain Bouchard, founder of Couche-Tard and CSP’sRetail Leader of the Year in 2005, along with the other company founders.
“He always had a good way with people, and you just knew he was going to go far.”
“It was clear to the founders and the board that we would choose the one that fit the culture,” Bouchard says. “I did my part [for the company]. My partners did their part. And now it was time for a new leader who could take this company to the next step. … [Brian] is the fifth founder of this company.”
The year 2015 saw the launch of the global Circle K brand and the acquisition of approximately 1,500 stores from The Pantry in the United States, which includes Pantry’s Kangaroo Express stores.
“Brian’s a learner and he’s a big reader,” Davis says, “and when we acquire stores, the first thing that’s on his mind is what are we learning from this group of stores? What are we learning from these people? What are we learning from the talent that they have? So what I think has set us apart is the ability to learn, and then to crystallize that, by putting that into place in our network of stores and help us continue to grow.”
Davis says Couche-Tard has an acquisition model that he describes as decentralized, and he attributes much of that model’s success to Hannasch. “Without Brian’s leadership, this growth that we’ve been on for many years could simply not have happened. The capacity just wouldn’t be there,” Davis says.
Hannasch oversaw the acquisition of more global brands in 2016 as Couche-Tard brought Ireland’s Topaz stores and Esso-branded sites of Ontario and Quebec into the fold.
In 2017, Couche-Tard purchased CST Brands and Holiday Stationstores in the United States, consolidating the company’s hold on the American Midwest. The Minnesota-based Holiday network included 522 company-operated and franchise locations in 10 states, two food commissaries, and a fuel terminal. Meanwhile, the acquisition of Texas-based CST Brands added nearly 1,300 stores in the United States and Canada, including 666 locations in Texas.
“Brian has a very incredible ability to help us do M&A. Over the last 5-plus years, we’ve grown significantly,” Cunnington says. “His ability to see stores, to see chains and see how they fit both culturally and for the consumer, it’s really been a tremendous asset.”
In late 2020, amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, Couche-Tard acquired 341 corporate stores in Hong Kong and 32 franchised sites in Macau from Convenience Retail Asia, establishing a foothold in the Asian market and setting Couche-Tard up for future growth in the region.
“The focus on the growth is Brian’s greatest accomplishment because he knows as long as we keep growing, then we’re going to continue to be strong globally,” Hayes says. “Bran has always been looking at the long-term and looking at the future of our company, not just in the United States but globally as well.”
Vision of the Future
Not content to sit on Couche-Tard’s laurels of continuous growth, Hannasch has also led the charge to improve the customer experience in Circle K stores in preparation for the future, including a focus on innovation.
“I think the biggest influence and driver is speed and endurance,” says Novak of Hannasch’s effect on Couche-Tard. “He presses hard for speed, evolution, trying things and continuing to press the envelope on how quickly we can get things done, how fast and how much we can get done.”
Cunnington, says the factors driving successful businesses seemed static until recently as technology has improved. Before, c-store success was all about the offer and the location of each store, but today’s consumer is savvier and demands more, she says.
“I’d say maybe three years ago we started our journey of innovation. COVID has sped it up, and the customer is really wanting new ways to experience things in the c-store industry. [Brian] has been really on the front end of that. We’ve been looking at different pieces of technology, piloting them, and that’s really done well for us, especially with COVID and the way the market has been changing so fast. He embraces innovation and technology.”
Some of the highlights of Couche-Tard’s investments in technology include experiments and pilot programs exploring frictionless or contactless checkout experiences.
“Since Brian has been in leadership positions, our focus has always been on growth.”
In January, for example, Couche-Tard created its first frictionless location in Montreal using technologies that allow autonomous and contactless checkout. Using an app, customers can unlock the door to walk in, pick up items and leave. The system recognizes the items selected in real time and processes payment automatically. Located on the campus of McGill University, the store is part of a live retail lab exploring how frictionless technology can impact shopper behavior and improve the customer experience.
In October, the company retrofitted its first stores with frictionless checkout technology. Frictionless checkout is now available in seven Arizona Circle K locations in Tempe and Tucson, Ariz., allowing customers to check into the store with a swipe of their smartphone, then simply grab the items they want and leave with their purchases recorded on a mobile app. Customers can also use the store’s traditional checkout counter if they choose.
In Sweden, Couche-Tard recently rolled out Pay by Plate payment technology. The upgrade enables Circle K customers to pay for fuel using license-plate recognition and a mobile app, offering a completely frictionless customer experience at the pump.
These frictionless checkout pilots and experiments reflect Hannasch’s vision of the future of convenience retail, according to Cunnington.
“Even before Amazon launched their [frictionless] stores, we had been thinking about those things as well, and Brian was always taking a little part of our thoughts and saying, ‘What’s in the future?’ ” Cunnington
says. “Under Brian’s watch we’ve done a lot of investing, a lot of piloting, really some exciting stuff. It really comes from him putting that consumer experience and technology on the forefront of our vision.”
Couche-Tard has not limited itself to frictionless checkout when exploring technology upgrades. In the summer of 2019, Circle K partnered with Austin, Texas-based delivery service Favor to test the delivery of snacks, beer and other items in Houston.
In Sweden, Couche-Tard recently rolled out Pay by Plate payment technology. The upgrade enables Circle K customers to pay for fuel using sign recognition and a mobile app, offering a completely frictionless customer experience.
The global company is also exploring making cryptocurrency more accessible to c-store customers in the United States and Canada. Circle K and Atlanta-based Bitcoin Depot announced a partnership in July 2021 to produce a bitcoin ATM network across the two countries. Bitcoin Depot ATMs are kiosks that enable users to exchange cash for cryptocurrency, allowing for in-person transactions that give users immediate access to bitcoin and more than 30 other cryptocurrencies.
“I see the technology curve continuing to speed up. Brian embraces that,” Cunnington says. “Consumer preferences are very much going toward nice large stores and ease of experience [such as] using your phone to do different things. Brian thrives thinking about and envisioning those things.”
Personal Touch
Hannasch’s colleagues view him not only as a mentor and leader, but as someone they can approach as any other friend.
“Brian has always led by the example that there is no ‘I’ in team. He is one of us and he’s never separated himself simply because of his title. He has always remained that Midwestern guy that people can relate to,” says Hayes.
As Hannasch’s executive assistant, Hayes had to coax him out of his drive to complete tasks independently. “He handled everything for himself, and it took some nudging for him to allow me to help him,” she says. “I was honored that he allowed me to do that. He was able to provide very clear instructions on what he was looking for, so I always found him easy to work for.”
As Couche-Tard has grown to encompass many c-store brands, each new company has added something to the culture of the company thanks to Hannasch’s open and inviting management style, says Novak.
“In interacting with Brian, he’s always a person first. He’s a kind, warm individual. That’s the Brian that I met first, and that’s still the Brian I see leading the company,” Cunnington says.
Novak calls Circle K’s culture a “melting pot” of the various organizations that have been acquired over the years.
“I know Brian very well. He’s a trusted friend, and I’m very appreciative for the company and Brian and his mentorship over the many years. My toolbox has grown significantly because of Brian and this company, and I’m very thankful for that,” Davis says.
But Hannasch’s approachable management style does not mean he has any patience for tardiness among his colleagues.
“If you’re ever on any kind of tour with him at all and there’s any kind of deadline of leaving at all, he’ll leave. If you’re supposed to come down and be ready for the bus or ready to leave at 8 o’clock, and you [arrive] at 8:01, you’re left,” Novak says. “Several have fallen victim to not being punctual when they need to be punctual.”
“All of us have been left behind when it comes to Brian. He’s a very punctual individual. I’d even say that our founder Alain has been left behind, so I don’t feel too ashamed for that,” Davis says.
Nearly everyone interviewed at the Midwest Circle K office in Columbus, Ind., has a personal story about Hannasch’s kindness and approachability. Hayes once borrowed his fly-fishing rod to test before buying her own equipment, and the two of them periodically share pictures and news about their children as they grow. Hannasch’s children grew up alongside many of the children of the employees there, and they have anecdotes from kindergarten to senior prom.
“He’s a person,” Hayes says. “He would not want anyone to be intimidated by him and feel like they couldn’t talk to him. That is something I think he’s worked hard on, and he wants people to see him as one of them who just happened to move up through the company.”
“I don’t think Couche-Tard nor Brian could have made a better match for each other when they joined forces,” Davis says.