Leaders from Royal Farms shared that asking for what they wanted and going after opportunities that were outside of their comfort zones has greatly influenced their careers.
Royal Farms is No. 28 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 U.S. c-store chains by store count.
Over the past six years, Jessica Mente, director of training at Royal Farms, Baltimore, has gone from managing 13 to 15 direct reports that include individuals from eight unique positions.
Mente began working in operations and then made the jump to corporate human resources by taking it upon herself to learn all that she could.
“In my early career, I would hunt down people whose jobs I wanted and say, ‘Tell me more about what you do. Can I shadow you for a day? Can I take on more responsibility that's going to prime me to be in the right place for this position when something does become available?’ And that's exactly what happened,” she said at the second-annual Convenience-Store Women (CSW) Event in Charleston, South Carolina, in November.
She also takes risks on opportunities that she’s not 100% confident in, and rather than sit out, she gets involved.
She asks herself, “Will I ever be able to contribute to that conversation if I don't put myself in those types of positions and surround myself with experts and people that do know how to do that?”
Know your worth, Kelly King, benefits manager at Royal Farms, said at CSW.
King started at Royal Farms 12 years ago as a store leader. Since then, she has held the roles of field trainer, new store opening coordinator and benefits manager.
When she was a store leader, King heard that there was a role opening for field trainer. She told her district manager that she’d be a good fit, but she didn’t get an interview.
One year later, the field trainer position opened up again. Instead of staying discouraged, King doubled down and told the director of training that she deserved an interview. Not only did she get the interview, but she got the job.
King also prioritizes learning everything she can.
She took Mente’s advice of getting a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification, which led her to her current role.
Royal Farms opened its first c-store in Baltimore in 1959 under the name White Jug. Today, the Mid-Atlantic chain has more than 300 locations in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina.
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