Convenience-store veteran Robert Perkins has retired from Rutter’s after a 43-year career in the c-store industry. Along with Rutter’s, Perkins has spent time at Impact 21, Irving Oil and 7-Eleven in marketing roles.
At Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven, Perkins held positions including supervisor, category manager, market buyer and market manager from 1982-2000. He served as the director of marketing at Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada-based Irving Oil from 2000-2006 and principle consultant at Lexington, Kentucky-based Impact 21 from 2006-2007. Finally, he started as category manager and retired as vice president of marketing at York, Pennsylvania-based Rutter’s from 2007-2025.
- 7-Eleven is No. 1 on CSP’s 2025 Top 40 Update to the 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. Watch for the full 2025 Top 202 ranking in the June issue of CSP magazine and in CSP Daily News. Rutter’s is No. 78 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count.
“Day in and day out, I was driven to contribute to the growth and expansion of these businesses, learning an incredible amount along the way,” Perkins told CSP. “Beyond the daily work, this industry has gifted me some truly unforgettable memories and opportunities that many do not get to experience,” he added in a LinkedIn post.
Those memories include attending events like the Masters, Indy 500 and Super Bowl, and traveling to places like Scotland, Ireland and Cabo San Lucas.
Perkins started his journey in the industry as a midnight shift employee at 7-Eleven during college. He worked when he came home during breaks, and one day, he met a manager who offered Perkins the opportunity to join a career development program. Then, he rose through the ranks, he said, as an employee system manager, manager and, eventually, he was charged with running the market in Fairfax, Virginia.
“It's just a fabulous industry that you know, great people, very welcoming,” Perkins said.
Throughout his career, Perkins told CSP, that what’s changed the most in the industry is foodservice as well as other additions to the channel, such as gambling and bars.
“There were the old days of Cokes and smokes, as they would say, and now it's become more of a destination, not a must-have location,” he said.
Even though the business model has evolved over the years, Perkins said the camaraderie and the ability to bounce ideas off people hasn’t changed. Perkins also highlighted the “great partnerships and friendships” with the supplier community. “There’s no better group of people,” he said.
Perkins said that what he liked about his most recent role is that “[Rutter’s] is very innovative. You had a direct line to the CEO, Scott Hartman, and we could move a lot faster than a lot of companies did, but we also had a process to make sure we were doing that process correctly.”
Strategic planning is key to Rutter’s success, he said.
“Robert started 17 years ago as category manager with Rutter’s, as the company continued to expand,” said Hartman. “By the end of his time with us, he had moved up to vice president within our marketing department. We thank him for his service to Rutter’s and wish him the best in his retirement.”
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