LAS VEGAS -- The educational session at the 2006 NACS Show in Las Vegas was called "Ensure Your Place in the Foodservice Winners Circle," but it could have been called "Try This."
Keith Boston of Sheetz Inc., Altoona, Pa.; Jack Cushman of Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes Inc., Canastota, N.Y.; Curtis Watson of Maverik Inc., North Salt Lake City, Utah; Russ Quick of GPM Investments Inc. (Fas Mart), Mechanicsville, Va.; and Brian Donoghue of Town & Country Food Stores, San Angelo, Texas"all heads of their chain's foodservice operations"shared their successes [image-nocss] and a couple of failures, and doled out what Cushman hoped was "something you can make money on."
Donoghue touted T&C's fountain program, The Cold Front, which has no less than a 12-ft. presence and as much as an 18-ft. width, with a pair of 16-head machines that each boast three flavor shots, sweet and regular teas, frozen beverages, chewable and cube ice and foam and plastic cups.
He suggested branding a fountain program, making it a chain's own and then putting that brand "on everything." He also endorsed putting a fountain presence on a back wall, for ease of maintenance, as well as moving the lids away from the cups and machines for ease of traffic flow.
Donoghue said since the expensive commitment, fountain sales that had been flat for three years, grew in cups sold per store, by 25%. "Anybody here want 25% more cups sold?" he asked.
Boston trumpeted Sheetz's upscale coffee program, "Sheetz Bros. Coffeez." Aiming for the 16-to-34-year-olds, it features baristas 24/7,
touchscreens, new equipment, merchandising, promotions and uniforms, while holding onto some of what the existing customer base likes"house blends, styrofoam cups with flat lids and yes, glass pots.
"Customers really like glass pots," Boston said. "You can actually see them waiting for that coffee to stop brewing."
When stores are retro-fitted with the new program"plus fryers, in another initiative"the staff is trained at the chain's training facility. Boston said smoothies and shakes are also a big hit"Sheetz's cold coffee offers outpace hot drinks 10 to 1, he said. The goal is to have all Sheetz stores with some upscale coffee presence by next summer.
"We think this is a license to print money," Boston said. "This isn't what we do best, but it's what we're doing, and we're getting better at it."
Fas Mart also had a coffee success story to share. After performing at less than half the industry average, it partnered with Procter & Gamble for a Custom Cafe program. The highlight is the Custom Cafe machine, which not only offers drinkers several strength options, it also rebrews automatically, self-cleans, monitors itself and sends maintenance alerts when necessary.
The chain now exceeds the NACS average in coffee sales, and Quick said, it has cut coffee labor by 90%, waste by 33% and has saved $40,000 in electricity costs.
Cushman, Donoghue and Watson each lavished praise on produce. Cushman and Donoghue's stores have a produce display at the entrance, just like grocery stores, while Watson use his twice-weekly produce deliveries from Core-Mark for a large condiment display, sandwiches and grab-and-go cups.
"Fresh is hard and you have to be proactive with it," said Donoghue. "It's here and it's not going away."
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