There’s a reason why Nouria Energy Corp.’s 150-plus stores are so clean. The team at the Worcester, Massachusetts-based chain is guided by the “do not step over the banana peel” philosophy, says Chief Operating Officer Joe Hamza. This means if any team member—from the c-suite level down to store clerks—see that something is dirty, it’s their job to make sure it’s fixed, or to fix it themselves.
“It doesn’t matter who’s doing it; you’re staying at the site until it gets fixed,” he says.
And seeing other team members mop the floors, pick up trash or work on merchandising can send a positive message to the rest of the team and help everyone to take pride in their stores, Hamza says.
Nouria came in third place in the 2023 CSP Intouch Insight Mystery Shop, scoring a total weighted score of 95.3. It was second in scores for the revealed audit portion, trailing only this year’s winner, Rutter’s.
“It’s always good to see outside perspective on your operation. It’s an eye-opener. Even though sometimes things can be glaring at you, you just don’t see them cause you’re in stores all the time, and we tend to have blinders on sometimes quite honestly,” Hamza says of participating in the mystery shop and audit.
- Nouria Energy ranked No. 48 on CSP's 2023 Top 202 list of the largest c-store chains in the country.
He says part of the reason Nouria performed in the top three in 2023 is because of the pride it takes in its guest service and guest experience. Nouria scored 97.6% on the revealed audit when it came to employees, which means they were well-groomed and wearing uniforms.
Nouria employees work very hard at maintaining the standards that the company sets, he says. In addition to teaching employees to “not step over the banana peel,” he says Nouria instills in its employees “flawless execution.”
“It’s really delivering what we promise our customers flawlessly,” he says. That can include anything from having clean bathrooms, to saying “Welcome to Nouria” to customers when they walk in a store.
Getting customers in and out of the store quickly is also important. The chain scored 97.0% for acceptable wait time in the mystery shop portion of the review.
“We want to make sure that the shopping experience is convenient; that’s why we exist,” Hamza says. “We can’t forget that the reason people come to us is for: the convenience factor. So we make sure that we have enough people to serve our customers. We look at our scheduling, make sure that we are meeting the demand during peak hours, and we have enough help to support our customers and provide the best service they can get. We also do have self-checkouts that obviously help alleviate some of the queuing time.”
While self-checkout machines are still rolling out in stores, all locations have order ahead, Hamza says.
“As we revamp the merchandising, the buildings, the amenities, … I know that we’re going to pop to the top on these scores.”
As its legacy stores go through remodels and rebrands, Hamza hopes to move up from third place next year. Older stores do not have the same selection, equipment and foodservice options as newer ones do, he says. He says by the end of 2023, about 75% of its stores will be rebranded to Nouria sites. Currently, there’s a mix of brands.
“As we brand more stores, as we revamp the merchandising, the buildings, the amenities in those legacy stores, I know that we’re going to pop to the top on these scores,” Hamza says.