Speakers at CSP’s 2025 Convenience Retailing University event gave tips on how to be a better manager, how to navigate the nicotine category and how to compete with QSRs.
Here are some highlights from the conference, which took place Feb. 24-26 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Management Matters
“Management” over time became a somewhat dirty word in business and was replaced with “leadership,” said Erin Jackson (pictured above), co-founder of Austin, Texas-based Manager Material. “It sounded good, and the intentions were good—we have to have more effective managers—but in the process what happened is we lost the fundamentals of managing people because we made the term dirty almost.”
Jackson said she has read many leadership books, particularly as a young manager, none of which helped her with fundamentals of managing people. “What’s true today is that management is not actually an outdated word in business,” she said. “It’s actually very relevant.”
Jackson showed a quote from former Intel CEO Andy Grove: “Management and leadership are like forehand and backhand. You have to be good at both to win.”
However, according to Gallup, only 32% of people in the workplace have effective managers, she said. When managers are asked how they think they are doing, more than 90% think they are a role model. “It fluctuates. It’s been as high as 98%,” she said. “So, there’s a huge disconnect.”
Manager responsibilities include working relationships, workplace communication, data-backed decisions, talent strategy, alignment, equipping the team, performance management, career coaching, administration and compliance, self-regulation, dependability and self-development.
Navigating Nicotine
Behind the counter 2025 Category Manager of the Year finalists Kraig Knudsen of Circle K, Eddie Long of Pilot Co. and Chris Stevenson of OnCue Marketing told a packed room of tobacco category managers what navigation tools they apply when it comes to managing the tobacco category.
The panel discussion discussed the changes taking place with the back bar, roadblocks with regulation and finding growth in other tobacco products (OTP) assortment.
When asked which OTP segment is performing well, all three panelists told the audience that the modern oral nicotine segment continues to show strong growth.
With wallet spend still a concern for consumers, the panelists unpacked how they incorporate tobacco into their loyalty program to increase sales and customer retention.
The panelists also answered questions on flavor bans and how they are monitoring them. The panelists, which have stores in various parts of the country all agreed that it will be interesting to see how these flavor bans continue to play out.
Close to 20 states are considering banning flavored tobacco products, including Hawaii, Michigan and New York.
Looking to the future, the three panelists all agreed that the category has just begun to scratch the surface when it comes to innovation.
Watch QSR’s Beverage Innovation
What can convenience stores learn from quick-service restaurants? Right now, it might be what they’re doing when it comes to beverage programs.
Donna Hood Crecca, principal at CSP’s sister research arm Technomic, said QSRs are investing in beverages. Some examples of this are Sonic Drive-In’s Flavorista Favorites line, McDonald’s CosMc’s concept and Taco Bell’s Agua Refrescas.
Forty-eight percent of consumers said that c-stores are just as capable of offering fresh, quality prepared food and beverages as fast-food restaurants—and that rose to 56% for millennials, according to Technomic’s First-quarter 2025 C-Store Consumer Market Brief.
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