Convenient Food Mart

Convenient Food Mart operations are divided into regions with independent franchise groups operating Convenient Food Mart stores. All stores are independently owned and operated. There are locations in every state except Hawaii and Alaska. The region that includes West Virginia and Ohio, for example, has 16 stores that are managed independently; CFM of Mid-Missouri operates three stores. Per the company’s website, there are 14 region offices.

William J. Bresler and Water R. Schaub founded the company in 1958 with their first location in Chicago. They wanted to provide customers a miniature supermarket, located in their neighborhood and owned locally. The store would be open seven days a week, either 24 hours or from early morning until late at night. The company grew from there and now is a chain of franchised Convenient Food Mart stores. The company solicits requests from potential new retailers and invites them to call the national office in Mentor, Ohio, for more information.

To support its franchisees, Convenient Food Mart offers services including accounting, advertising, training, consulting, gasoline, marketing, lease negotiations and loss prevention. Franchises are offered through any of the regional offices, or the national office in Mentor.

All franchise owners are expected to offer convenience products and quick service for customers who are in a hurry. The target customers are males in their 20s and neighborhood shoppers who need a quick convenience item. While each store shares the Convenient store system and support services, every store is uniquely a neighborhood market and blends into its surroundings accordingly.

One group of Illinois stores feature Marathon gasoline, while many of the East Coast stores are primarily Sunoco, but this also varies by franchise owner and their individual agreements with fuel suppliers. Individual stores may be found on Facebook, some with active fan and promotional pages. Some locations are active in neighborhood causes as well.