SAN RAMON, Calif. -- One of the notable performances in this year’s CSP/Intouch Insight Mystery Shop came from Chevron’s joint-venture chain, ExtraMile Convenience Stores LLC, which finished a strong second place in the overall and “revealed audit” portions of the 14th annual study.
- ExtraMile is No. 11 on CSP's 2018 Top 202 ranking of c-store chains by number of retail outlets.
While the 69-store Rutter’s chain from York, Pa., came in No. 1 overall in the 2018 study with a 96.5% score, San Ramon, Calif.-based ExtraMile came in No. 2 with an overall score of 95.5%. In all, 10 c-store chains were involved in this year’s study. (Watch for more coverage of the annual Mystery Shop in the August issue of CSP magazine.)
In this year’s study, done in conjunction with Ottawa, Ontario-based Intouch Insight, the 777-store ExtraMile chain scored a 97.1% in the portion of the study where auditors made surprise visits to stores, but let staff know they were there (thus the “revealed” audit classification). ExtraMile again came in second to Rutter’s score of 99.2% for the revealed audits.
The revealed audit accounted for 75% of the overall rankings, where 25% went to a covert or more traditional “mystery shop” portion of the study.
To elaborate further on its strong performance, Paul Casadont, president of ExtraMile, provided CSP with several insights:
Q: What was your initial reaction to the results?
A: We have great franchisees who are passionate about their work. These results speak volumes to that, and I’m excited for our ExtraMile brand and franchisee execution being recognized by the industry.
Q: Why do you think Chevron’s ExtraMile did so well?
A: We have a great c-store offering and the best quality fuels on the market, but this is all about our franchisees. They really do take pride providing a quality, customer experience and executing on the ExtraMile offer.
Q: Any thoughts on the revealed-audit results?
A: What’s not to like? We ranked 95% or better overall across the board. Two areas in particular that stand out are the “employees” and “restroom” rankings. The tight labor market brings many challenges. Executing on these basics, at such a high level, is truly impressive and a testament to our franchisees commitment to the customer and the ExtraMile brand.
Q: Any thoughts on the mystery shop or “covert” part of the study? And do you think there’s a trade-off between cleanliness and customer service, which seemed to be a running theme with the results this year?
A: No trade-offs. Our results prove ExtraMile doesn’t have to sacrifice service for cleanliness. We maintain high expectations in both areas and our franchisees deliver every day.
Q: What’s the trick to getting an hourly employee to get excited about keeping a store clean and engaging the customer—at the same time?
A: Understanding why you’re being asked to do something is usually a starting point. We try to ensure our franchisees understand why something is important to ExtraMile. We then ask them to take that back to their employees.
Q: What does it take to keep restrooms, floors and the location itself so clean, so consistently?
A: You said it—consistency. We maintain a “you see it, you own it” mantra. That goes a long way in keeping facilities clean. Stay on top of it, don’t ignore it. The more often you clean, the less work it becomes.
Q: Any cleaning tips, cool technology or other tools that you use?
A: We are working on the station of the future and becoming more digital. For instance, we’ve noticed that the Los Angeles airport just piloted a smart restroom. It uses technology that keeps track of how many patrons use a restroom and alerts an employee to clean the restroom at a certain threshold. There are also technologies for mobile devices that let customers know when restrooms are cleaned and available too. Maybe those could have a place at ExtraMile in the future.
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