Usman Bashir isn’t a my-way-or-the-highway kind of guy. Bashir, who co-owns the fast-growing, Houston-based Brake Time Corner Market (BTCM) chain with his brother, Omair, has deliberately taken a more flexible approach as the concept has grown—largely through acquisitions—from a handful of stores in 2015 to more than 250 as of March.
Keep what works; ditch what doesn’t; and maintain an unfailing focus on customer service—that’s the playbook for the Bashir brothers. It’s an approach that honors the hard-won loyalty that some of Brake Time’s newly acquired stores had earned under previous banners.
CSP spoke to Usman Bashir for this story, along with several other members of Brake Time’s leadership team.
“We don’t just go in and say, ‘This is how it’s going to be from now on,’” said Bashir. “I’m really against that. If customers are used to something and the previous company is doing something for years, then we go in and we grandfather it.”
Successful fountain-drink promotion? Keep it. Fan-favorite seasonal LTO? Don’t mess with a good thing. For the Bashirs, whose father started the company with a single store in 2004, it’s less about making the concept’s growing roster of stores look and feel exactly alike than paying attention to how customers feel in the stores.
“I’m very inspired by the Chick fil-A model, where their customer service is on a whole separate level,” said Bashir. “I feel like customer service is really the selling point.”
In the c-store space, where the product mix is largely the same from concept to concept, exceeding customers’ not-especially-high customer service expectations can be a meaningful differentiator, he said.
“Everybody nowadays is so frustrated in their lives and so caught up,” said Bashir, “and then, more often than not, they walk into a store where they get a dry attitude where nobody greets them.”
If, on the other hand, “they walk in and someone greets them and said, ‘How is your day going?’ then it becomes not just a one-time thing.”
Cashiers who grab a regular customer’s pack of cigarettes for them or know what their go-to lottery tickets are can make a pleasantly surprising human connection that bolsters store loyalty, Bashir said.
“I feel like that’s a really small and minor element,” but being intentional about providing high-quality customer service is a way BTCM can stand out in a crowded marketplace, he said.
The human connection that a brand creates with customers across differences in language and buying preferences is something Bashir has been keen on as an investor on “Shark Tank Pakistan,” where he has served as a “shark” since 2024. In fact, Bashir was behind the show’s biggest deal to date, investing around $5.3 million USD in Saraaf, a global commodities sourcing company based in Karachi.
Foodservice to fuel growth
The next big challenge for the Bashir brothers is getting people acquainted with the Brake Time Corner Market brand in the first place, as the company continues its growth-through-acquisitions path, which Usman Bashir hopes will eventually take BTCM into all 50 states. (The chain is currently in 21.)
Brake Time Corner Market LLC leapt onto CSP’s Top 202 ranking of convenience-store chains with two significant acquisitions in 2024. The chain purchased 23 Loaf N’ Jug stores in June from Westborough, Massachusetts-based EG America LLC. Then, later in the year, it acquired 39 convenience stores operating under the Minit Mart brand in central and northern Illinois, again from EG America LLC, which now operates as Cumberland Farms.
It is listed at No. 35 on the 2026 Top 202 list.
The company isn’t slowing down: In April of this year, Brake Time acquired 14 FastLane convenience stores in East Texas; those locations are in the process of being fully remodeled and converted to Brake Time stores, with an emphasis on reinvigorated foodservice offerings.
It also announced plans late last year for 35 new-build stores in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas and Texas.
“We’re building a leading food-forward convenience platform,” Bashir said at the time. “We’re excited to elevate these locations with a stronger focus on fresh food, innovation and an outstanding customer experience.”
BTCM is looking to both big-name QSR favorites (Burger King and Little Caesars among them) and to create an in-house Asian QSR concept in partnership with Core-Mark to bring consumers into its convenience stores—where, the idea is, they will get the kind of heightened customer experience for which the brand seeks to be known.
And for managing all things foodservice, BTCM turned to industry veteran Rene Dacosta (pictured above), who joined Brake Time last fall after having served for almost two years as foodservice director at Shell USA. Prior to Shell, Dacosta held operations leadership roles at Marco’s Pizza, a Southeastern U.S. Domino’s Pizza franchise and Dunkin Donuts Baskin-Robbins.
“I don’t know anything about petrol; I make pizzas,” jokes Dacosta, who also worked for Pizza Hut, Papa John’s and Domino’s in the U.K.
What Dacosta sees as his biggest role is building trust and an emotional connection with the BTCM brand through food.
On the one hand, “One of the big things for us is, ‘How can we partner with big brands?’” he said. “[For example,] Little Caesars fits really well with a c-store. With $20 you can feed the whole family.”
And, in fact, one of BTCM’s new locations, near Houston Hobby airport, will have the first 24-hour Little Caesars, and ordering will be available right at the fuel pump.
On the other hand, Dacosta is eager to seize the opportunity to create something entirely new.
“You don’t see anybody in convenience delivering great Asian,” he said.
And so the new concept, called Amazin’ Asian, a foodservice program from Core-Mark, a Performance Food Group company, will feature made-to-order and grab-and-go favorites such as teriyaki noodles.
“We want to create a consistent product … so that when a customer sees Brake Time, they know exactly what they’re going to get,” said Dacosta. “They know if they get Amazin’ Asian, it’s not going to be [something that was] sitting on the grill the last four hours.”
The in-house control of a proprietary foodservice concept holds a lot of appeal for Bashir, too.
“I’ve always wanted to build up something of our own … where it’s something very easy to cook and very simple for a gas station,” he said.
A homegrown concept offers the flexibility to design cook stations and select equipment that will be the right fit, literally and figuratively, within the context of a c-store environment.
Plus, “If we have a good spot and a small location where we can just go in and put in our own concept,” Bashir said, “we don’t need to really beg these big QSRs for their franchises.”
There’s not a single national brand name—yet—for BTCM foodservice offerings, and that’s by design, said Dacosta.
“Rather than positioning everything under one umbrella name today, we have prioritized product quality, speed of service, operational execution and regional flexibility to better match the demographics and customer preferences of each market,” he said.
The approach lets Brake Time “test, evolve and scale multiple food platforms while continuing to learn from customer behavior and store performance,” Dacosta added.
While operational consistency is priority No. 1 today, Dacosta said Brake Time will seek to hone its foodservice branding as it evaluates what works and what doesn’t across grab-and-go and made-to-order programs.
“Branding is becoming an increasingly important part of the long-term strategy,” as BTCM continues to grow, said Dacosta. “We see significant opportunity to further unify the customer experience through a more defined foodservice identity that can represent freshness, convenience, quality and innovation across all BTCM locations. ... Ultimately, our vision is to transform foodservice from a traditional convenience-store offering into a destination experience that drives both traffic and customer loyalty.”
A more disciplined approach
Control and consistency—without making every store exactly alike—are bigger priorities for BTCM than they used to be, Bashir and other Brake Time leaders acknowledge.
As BTCM has revved up its growth in the past several years, it has also had to navigate the operational challenges of remodeling and rebranding recently acquired stores while simultaneously building out new stores—and doing so without the kind of internal infrastructure of some of the company’s larger competitors.
That navigation has not come without struggle.
“It was out of control [the way we were operating],” said BTCM Regional Operations Director Bret Sullivan. Not even the brand’s name was consistent: Some stores went by “BreakTime” while others used “Braketime,” though the Bashir brothers now often use the BTCM acronym, with Brake Time Corner Market as the company’s official name.
Sullivan joined Brake Time in 2020 through the company’s purchase of around 60 Circle K stores in Kansas. Since then, he has overseen the transition to the Brake Time banner of 48 CEFCO stores in 2022, 23 Loaf ‘n Jug stores in North Dakota and Montana in 2023, 39 Minit Mart locations in Florida and Illinois in 2024 and now the 14 FastLane stores in East Texas, plus the 35 new stores being built this year.
Creating needed consistency has come in part from forging invaluable partnerships with vendors, said Sullivan and Category Management Director Edward Collier.
“There are a lot of different floor plans in stores,” Collier said, but deliberate dialogue with vendors has helped yield planograms “that make sense,” whatever a store’s footprint.
“We have to control our categories and plan our future, rather than just succeed every day.” - Bret Sullivan, BTCM
“We have to control our categories and plan our future, rather than just succeed every day,” said Sullivan.
Now, “the stores have a little bit of free rein,” Collier noted, but the priority is on creating a consistent overall product, from the retail mix to the cleanliness of stores to a friendly customer service experience.
That means getting out in the field, in stores, and talking to teams, Sullivan and Collier said.
“It’s a data-led decision of how we’re going to operate, but data can only go so far,” Collier said. “When you actually get out there, you can actually see why [something is] selling or not selling.”
Take the ubiquitous roller grill, which is infinitely more inviting when it’s full: “If you’ve got a full roller grill when lunch comes around, you’re going to sell,” he said.
The attention to detail extends to, for example, keeping cooler doors free of fingerprints, making sure that coolers themselves are well stocked throughout the day and ensuring that beverage stations are cleaned regularly.
“I’ve pushed on all of the operations team: We have to tie our customers to our store,” Sullivan said. “If we’re just a convenience store that they happen to pop into, they have a lot of options.”
Support at the highest level from Usman, who focuses on the chain’s global operations and accounting, and Omair, who leads the company’s growth and expansion initiatives, also has been vital, said Sullivan, Collier and Dacosta.
“We are very lucky to work very closely with the owners,” Dacosta said. “They are not scared to make mistakes. They are scared to not move.”
Attuned to the moment
A certain fearlessness may well be worthwhile in an economic environment that, to many consumers, feels scary.
“I’m a very hands-on operator because we were running a very small operation” at the outset, Bashir said. Ground-level experience interacting with customers and store managers lent an appreciation for the pressures they face day to day.
“The bottom line is you’ve got to be very price-competitive,” said Bashir. “I feel like the dynamic in the U.S. is everyone is living paycheck to paycheck, and if people can save $1 to $1.50 on [their preferred cigarettes] vs. the place across the street, they’re definitely coming to you.”
Seventy-five cents on a six-pack of beer matters. A nickel on gas matters.
“All of those small things matter,” Bashir said.
Brake Time does price surveys every two to three months for cigarettes, alcohol and candy, he said, and twice a day for fuel. Stores get online notifications when fuel prices at nearby competitors change.
“I really focus on being competitive in the fuel pricing and c-store pricing,” said Bashir (Usman Bashier pictured below, right, with his brother Omair).
A significant share of Brake Time customers—around 40%, he estimated—will pay for their purchases with exact change. “They will have their coins, they will have everything sorted in their hand, and they will drop it on the counter and be like, ‘Thank you,’” he said.
The needs of truly price-sensitive customers must remain top of mind to maintain trust with a crucial consumer base, he said.
Indeed, lower-income consumers and those without college degrees recorded the largest drop in consumer sentiment in a dismal May report from the University of Michigan. The university’s monthly consumer sentiment index dropped to 44.8 in May from 49.8 in April—past the historical low recorded in April 2022.
Fifty-seven percent of consumers said that high prices were eroding their personal finances, up from 50% in April. And consumers’ year-ahead inflation expectations ticked up, coming in at 4.8% in May vs. 3.6% in February before the start of the war in Iran.
But amid that souring economic mood, there could be a silver lining for c-stores, as consumers shift their food spend away from restaurants to lower-priced categories. Plus, interacting with fuel stations and c-stores remains a necessity for many Americans, given their need to gas up for work and school.
In an April report from San Diego-based Tillster, a restaurant tech platform, 33% of consumers surveyed said they’re visiting c-stores more than they did last year.
That’s opportunity for Brake Time as it works on its cross-country expansion.
“I think in any concept you build, you have those moments of truth,” said Dacosta. “How is the lighting? Is the pump clean? Is the floor clean? Is the bathroom clean? Do you feel safe? Does the cashier greet you? It’s like a ‘welcome to my home,’” he said. “The whole impression of the station drives you inside.”
And inside Brake Time stores, where customers will find on-trend products like customizable dirty sodas and THC beverages (where allowed), as well as made-to-order foodservice options, the company aims to make positively memorable first impressions that will keep people coming back.
Dacosta said that when he joined BTCM in 2025, Brake Time was an unfamiliar name for many of the vendor partners he chatted with about his move.
“They said you’re the biggest chain we’ve never heard of.” - Rene Dacosta, BTCM
“They said you’re the biggest chain we’ve never heard of,” he said.
Dacosta, Collier, Sullivan and the Bashirs want to change that, with expectations-busting foodservice and customer experiences.
“There are three fundamentals which I really push to our team,” Bashir said. “Keep the store clean, keep the store stocked with inventory and provide great customer service. If you walk into a store and it’s clean, it’s not dusty, everything is nice, and then it’s stocked up so that whatever you need is there, and then the customer service is there—99% of the problem is solved … our vision is to create customer loyalty.”
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