Podcasts about c store

John takes a big “L” on his family holiday card, shares wisdom from a soccer legend, advises how best to order a nicotine pouch at the C-Store, and sounds the horn for the official start of “tuck-in” season. 

This is Retail Media Therapy, from Grace&Co, with the latest retail media & commerce headlines - including Criteo ROPO & C-store media!As Viv and Colin are your personal therapists in the world of retail media, there's also a new FEATURE for episode seven - we ask how to capture growth? Dr Colin and Viv reveal their expert diagnosis! For much more check out retailmediatherapy.com and remember to 'follow' for your latest Retail Media Therapy podcast, where you can lie on the couch and we can solve all your retail media problems! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chefs Andrew Zimmern and David Chang are big fans of convenience stores and their food offers. At the NACS Show, they shared their passion for food and how c-stores can continue to elevate their foodservice to stand out among the competition. And they loved visiting the Expo! Hosted by: Andrew Kintigh, Corporate Chef, Casey's About our Guests: Chef Andrew Zimmern Andrew is an Emmy-winning and four-time James Beard Award-winning chef, TV personality, writer and social justice advocate. A star of cooking shows on Travel Channel and The Food Network and currently the host of two shows on the Magnolia Network, Zimmern has devoted his life to exploring and promoting cultural acceptance, tolerance and understanding through food. Chef David Chang David is founder of the Momofuku restaurant group and Majordomo Media. Since opening his first restaurant, Momofuku Noodle Bar, in 2004, he has been recognized as GQ's Man of the Year and a Time 100 honoree. David also is the host of The Dave Chang Show podcast and three documentary series: “Ugly Delicious,” “Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner,” and “The Next Thing You Eat.” His cookbooks and memoir are New York Times bestsellers. In 2019, he opened a convenience store called Peach Mart in New York City.

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Scratch Event DJs, Ownit AI, and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute:Gelson's Launches ReCharge Convenience Store: Gelson's Market introduces ReCharge by Gelson's, a premium convenience store integrated with a 40-charger EV hub in Santa Ana, combining convenience and comfort for electric vehicle drivers.Popshelf's Store Updates and New Loyalty Program: Popshelf, by Dollar General, revamps its store layout, expands product offerings, and rolls out the “Popshelf perks” loyalty program, enhancing customer engagement with points and rewards.Guess Unveils ‘Guess Again' Recycling Program: Guess partners with SuperCircle to launch a comprehensive textile recycling program, offering credits for returned garments, promoting sustainable fashion choices.Stay informed with Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, your source for the latest and most important retail insights. Be careful out there!

47,000 convenience store owners have spoken, and they provided important insights on the growing energy drinks category. And even if you aren't familiar with every insight regarding this beverage category, I'm sure you intuitively recognize that convenience is the most important sales channels for energy drinks in the U.S. market. But here are my top 3 biggest “categorical” takeaways from the recent Goldman Sachs Beverage Bytes survey. The first surrounds the Spring 2024 shelf/cooler reset season…with the two biggest winners being CELSIUS (up on average 10%) and C4 Energy (up 7%). The second is that c-stores feel decelerating volume growth is stemming from lower income consumers continuing to face financial challenges. And finally, an increase in Memorial Day promotional activity (especially 2-for-1 deals) helped jumpstart summer sales growth. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

Urban convenience-store retailer Choice Market Holdings has closed its doors. A changing landscape of price volatility and consumer preferences is presenting challenges for c-store operators. And Publix Super Markets has named two new vice presidents to its executive teams.

Convenience retail continues to be reinvented by more than 1.5 million c-store operators around the world. Hear how trends around the customer journey, loyalty and EVs are evolving. Hosted by: Jeff Lenard About our Guests: Roy Strasburger, CEO, StrasGlobal Roy is a 4th generation retailer and is currently CEO of StrasGlobal, a retail support and consulting company. He co-founded the Vision Group Network, where top level executives discuss current and future issues and share their perspective with the industry. Roy also is a is a founding member of the NACS International Board. Barbara Stoyko, Senior Vice President of Shell Mobility Americas Barbara has more than 30 years of experience providing strategic, commercial and operational leadership across energy and retail value chains. In her current role, she oversees the financial, strategic and organizational delivery of the consumer mobility and retail business in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. This includes thousands of Shell-branded gas stations, a growing footprint of company owned and operated convenience stores, and an expanding network of public electric vehicle charging stations.

Convenience store design has come a long way from the standard 40x60 box. Today, design involves many new elements, including brand strategy. Hosted by: Jeff Lenard About our Guest: Amanda Baltazar, Retail & Hospitality Journalist Amanda is a journalist with 20+ years of experience and expertise in foodservice, beverages, restaurants/bars and overall retail. She covers everything from operations to how to staff a c-suite.

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Dawn Boulanger, vice president of marketing at Tri Star Energy, Nashville, which operates Twice Daily convenience stores and White Bison Coffee shops. Boulanger discusses her company being a finalist in the 2024 CSP/Intouch Insight Mystery Shop audit, covering what they do on a daily basis to have scored so well—from the sandwich cooler to exterior, from coffee to restrooms. The two spoke at CSP's 2024 Outlook Leadership conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, in August. Tri Star Energy/Twice Daily is No. 42 on CSP's 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. “At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts together with CSP editors to discuss the latest in c-store news and trends. From mergers and acquisitions to foodservice and technology, the podcast delivers the story straight to listeners in short-format episodes, perfect for the morning commute or a quick break at the office.

The 16:9 PODCAST IS SPONSORED BY SCREENFEED – DIGITAL SIGNAGE CONTENT Feeding the content beast is an endless challenge for most companies who have invested in digital signage technology for their venues, particularly when the messaging mission is not data and pricing, but material that informs, educates and generally occupies the time of viewers. There are a few companies out there with suites of free streaming content channels, curated and sorted by interest areas. But free means ad-supported. So the action channel a bar owner might have up on screens has digital OOH ads, just like linear TV. A start-up called Stream is coming at this from a different angle, producing custom content that looks like cable TV news channels and is sorted by interest areas, like channels for medical and dental offices. The big differences are no ads and low-cost monthly subscription fees. The service puts people on screens, but AI is also used to what Stream calls augment the videos. Started just a year ago and just coming out of side hustle/stealth mode, the founders are going after what they say is a gap in the market for this type and style of content. But in meeting with prospective customers, they've also uncovered hidden demand for private label TV channels for larger clients. I chatted recently with co-founder Anthony Nerantzis. Subscribe from wherever you pick up new podcasts. TRANSCRIPT Anthony, thank you for joining me. I knew nothing about your company, Stream, until the other day I got an email, I looked at it and I thought, this is interesting, who are these guys? And I asked a couple of questions and concluded that perhaps we should have a chat. Can you give me a rundown of what you do? Anthony Nerantzis: Yeah, absolutely. First of all, thank you so much for having me on your program. A big fan. My name is Anthony Nerantzis, and I'm the CEO and co-founder of Stream. Stream is in a unique space and we think of a new space in the digital signage industry.  What we're doing is producing really premium, but low-cost and customized content solutions for CMSs, network operators, and so on to put what is a premium content product and deliver premium content product to their end users. Our whole content model is based around on unique streaming channels. So we have both plug and play, but also these white-label custom channels that we produce for brands and organizations that want to get their messages out in a contextual way to drive engagement with their customers and their viewers and we're really excited about it.  So if I'm looking at one of your content channels, what does it look like?  Anthony Nerantzis: Yeah. So what we did is the founders of Stream come from media and comms backgrounds. So what we're the best at is telling stories, visual storytelling, narrative storytelling, audience engagement, and what we identified is that a broadcast news look and feel with a host, with that graphic representation of messages, people are drawn to that. People want to engage with that sort of content. It's a premium, high-level content, think ESPN or CNN. So all of our content is based around that broadcast news style, look and feel.  What we do is for different, contextual environments, different venues, we create content that's relevant to those venues. Think of a broadcast news channel for a doctor's office. Think of a broadcast news channel for the C-Store. It's really contextually relevant content for those different environments, and it's delivered in that nice look and feel of a news broadcast.  So it's audio-driven? Anthony Nerantzis: We do offer audio solutions, but what we've found for the digital out-of-home environment, typically, there is no audio, and that's for a few reasons. First, our file sizes, just as far as the handshake and the transfer, with our partners, a smaller file size, easier to transfer, easier to upload. But second of all, a lot of the end users that we've worked with, especially on the white-label channel side, don't want noise pollution in their environments. They're just looking for that visual component. So that's where our focus is.  We obviously do audio, but our bread and butter is, that visual aspect, brilliant visuals, that draw people in. So if it looks like broadcast news, is there a reporter or a host or whatever you want to call it, on-air talent, talking, but you subtitle it or is it more visuals with supporting, titles or captions?  Anthony Nerantzis: It's a great combo of both. So we do have our lineup of Stream hosts that we utilize for our production and our development and then they do appear on the screens, and yes, with a subtitle delivery of those messages, but we have graphics of messages, headlines, subheads. You wouldn't turn our broadcast stations on your TV after a long day and sit down on the couch, but if you were to do that, it does appear as if it were a CNN, ESPN, or Fox News sort of broadcast look and feel.  That sounds expensive. I mean with on-air talent and everything else and the news resources that you need for that, having some experience in that in my old newspaper days and everything else, and there's a little bit of rxperience with broadcasting. On-air talent and everything else costs real money. How do you get around that? Anthony Nerantzis: Absolutely. So, as I said, we come from the media and the comms space. So we do have that production value, that know-how of the space. What we've done is we've integrated some neat, really revolutionary, AI augmentation, to our displays and the content. So not only does that accelerate. our production process but it also helps us keep our costs, you know in check And allows us to provide what is really low-cost content to our end customers.  Obviously right now we're priced to scale. it's not cheap but we're excited, you know comparatively to a lot of the other options content out there. We're able to come in comparably, if not in a lot of cases lower, but still delivering a premium product.  Are these AI avatars, are they generated hosts as opposed to real on-air talent?  Anthony Nerantzis: So not generated. So we call it augmented because they are our host, they're on payroll and we work with them for a number of different creative, creative situations and use cases. But yeah, so one of the ways that we're really able to within our tech stack drive our costs down is  through the rendering process. Again, augmenting our hosts rather than it's not what we're doing is not fake or avatar generated in that capacity, but we are using our, real life host talent and then using them as AI generated through and to deliver them across our streaming channels.  It sounds like there's two ways to go at this, the standard sorts of channels that you already have, and there are custom channels. If it's a standard channel that's going into a doctor's office, what am I subscribing to? What roughly am I going to pay? I'm sure there's and it depends on there, but, also just what's the refresh cycle? Is this something that's refreshed daily, weekly, monthly?  Anthony Nerantzis: Yeah, absolutely. That's a great question. So I think a doctor's office is a really great example of where we show up in a way that current content options aren't quite there. What we're doing, I would say on the plug and play side, we have several channels. We have Med One, which is a catch all healthcare sort of channel of healthcare infotainment, and then we also have a dentistry channel, and then we also have a dermatology channel and we're looking at other avenues for other use cases within the medical field. But what these are doing is they're showing really interesting infotainment content that's relevant to those spaces. We like to say contextually relevant. They're sharing news from around the industry, news from across the health landscape across the US. It's all G-rated. We use the four year old test. If you're a mom in a waiting room, what would you be comfortable with your four year old seeing? So it's not gory. It's just health tips and interesting stuff. That's going on studies hey a new study came out that lifting weights after 60 is good for bone density, things like that, and then our custom channels, if you are a bigger network and you own a network of, several hundred screens across, dentists office, we can really get really custom on that white label space with corporate branding, corporate messaging, and really for those brands, taking the exact messages that they want to deliver to their customers in that really unique five to ten minute waiting room experience, and getting them off their phones and having them focus on the screens, with relevant content. As far as pricing goes, that's where we're really excited and probably most proud. So for our venue channels, that's our kind of our second tier. Those really environment specific channels such as healthcare, those can MSRP run anywhere from $10 at the high-end and $5 at the low end. So compared to what it would cost for a CNN Health with through a cable subscription, it's really nice, it's obviously a fraction of that. But it's also a step above rotating PowerPoint slides, with messages that say, “Go get your flu shot”, which after the third or fourth flip, people are tuning out.  From a cost perspective, it's extremely competitive. And then the white label channels, that's also really exciting for us because we're able to deliver those brand specific channels at a really affordable cost.  I suspect that's definitely a “it depends” thing on how much they want and everything else. But if you had a typical, private label channel, would that be like a hundred bucks a month a thousand bucks a month? Anthony Nerantzis: That's a great question So it depends on the end point and you got me with “it depends.” It does depend but for now, i'll give you an example. We have a network with a hundred end points and that they ask for a white label channel and you know with regular updates, it's not daily updates, but with regular updates, we're able to deliver that at 50 bucks an end point so considering the value that you're getting, the brand itself is getting their very own broadcast news channel.  When our CMS partners put us in front of these folks, and they say, hey, this is something new, this is something exciting and you can have your own broadcast news channel. The end users are thrilled. Going from rotating powerpoint slides to something like this is such a value add as far as customer engagement. We've really found an enthusiasm for that sort of new age content.  Are there personalization options out of those private label ones? In other words, can the dental office in Cincinnati versus the one in Cleveland inject their own kind of messaging like, “Please welcome our new hygienist, Sarah” or whatever? Anthony Nerantzis: Absolutely, and it's actually funny you say that because the network that I just mentioned previously, they have a network of doctor's offices across the state of North Carolina, and each one of those offices has their own little, news, notes, updates, awards that they want to highlight that maybe might not be appropriate to share across. Someone in Winston, Salem might not care about what's going on in Carova, so we can make it really specific based on the location, obviously at scale, but yeah, we can get really granular as far as how tailored we can make it to each specific location. This is different from the streaming channels that companies that I see out there like Atmosphere and Loop and that. Those exist for the purposes of having content supported by advertising. You're not doing advertising at all, are you?  Anthony Nerantzis: That's a really great point, and no, you're right. We are not doing advertising. We are all about content forward, grabbing that audience's attention and giving them the content rather than diluting it with ads. I think that we're different, from that fast TV space in a few ways, very low cost subscription model, not ads. We're not necessarily a walled garden. We work with CMSs and we work with operators and distributors as a puzzle piece to what they're doing and really being allies to them so they can go in to their partners and their end users and say, we have this really cool puzzle pieces that we can fit within our system. So we're trying to be allies in that way. We don't have a player we're not a walled garden and then I would just say third of all we are at the end of the day, we're producing that premium content. We're not licensing it from other folks so we can control that messaging.  We can control what's showing up on the screens, make sure it's G-rated, make sure what these brands want in their locations and environments and venues is really tailored to them, not a lowest common denominator loop-based sort of system.  So you've got a content team that's paying attention to the news wires and just the general run of news out there as well as press releases and everything else, industry reports and so on to pull together your stuff? Anthony Nerantzis: Absolutely, and that's really our strength. Our team, the founders specifically, we come from some of the biggest media and comms companies in the world. So we understand that space. That's where we think our biggest value is, yes, tracking the news, but also identifying these brands and organizations. What are the best messages to connect with your core audiences? How do we drive this forward? Especially infotainment, but also in a retail media space where it's about conversions, driving action. That's our specialty and that's where we've been really able to flex our value with our current client book. You mentioned, you work with CMS companies as opposed to them. How does your stuff plug in? Anthony Nerantzis: CMSs are our best friends. If there's a North star for us, it's really being partners with the CMS is because they're so powerful in the sense that they have the distribution, they have these relationships and they know what their customers want. So when we talk about integration, we are coming to them in two ways. First, a simple integration of our plug and play apps within their app store. So when a customer has their interface template up, they can plop us in, and then our content is really seamless. The handshake is very seamless between us, and then our content can show up on their screens. Is it streamed straight from your servers or the host that you use for streaming or are the CMS getting a file and it's stored locally on the player?  Anthony Nerantzis: That's a great question. How it typically works is that HTML5 is our best friend. We provide the content feeds through that, they plug into the CMSs, and then the CMS from there distributes that URL through their app store. So when someone selects us out of their app store, it plugs in basically they're given access to the license through the URL. We can get as simple as we've had clients come to us. End users specifically if we're working right with the end user and they're like, we just want an mp4 file, so we'll just drop an mp4 file in there in their Dropbox and they plug it into their CMS template and they're off and running. We pride ourselves on universal connectivity. We'll meet you where the customer is  So if you have an end user who says I don't want a CMS. I don't want that additional monthly cost or whatever. Can I work just directly with you? Can they do that?  Anthony Nerantzis: As I said, our most important ally in the space are these CMSs. So we respect that relationship. So if we're working with a CMS and there would never be a situation where the client would be like, see you later, CMS, we're just going to plug in the stream. We value our long term relationships more than any sort of, short term gain of an individual network. And then beyond that, and this came up the other day, we're working with the CMS and their client has a few dozen screens and there might be a few hundred other screens on the horizon in the next few months. We make very clear, we were brought onto the project by the CMS. We're not going to expand past the boundaries of where their players are plugged in. We respect those relationships and I think that's really the key to our success.  Yeah, and I think the end user community, if you want to call it that, is also more knowledgeable than they were for a good long time, where they understand that having a proper content management system with device management, monitoring, all those other things, the ability to scale and all that are really important versus just, finding some server player that can call a URL. Anthony Nerantzis: A hundred percent and I think that's what we're recognizing, and we really can only go as far as our CMS partners, media players. We're not going to give individual URL feeds to a thousand screens. We rely on them for that distribution.  Maybe my mind blanked or something, but did you talk about the typical frequency of content changes?  Anthony Nerantzis: That's a great question. So for our flagships, our news and sports, obviously that's quick hitting news and that needs to be updated throughout the day, which it is.  For our venue channels, those are mostly environments, for example, a doctor's office, you might really only be in a doctor's office once every six months, and you'd think that we'd say, we just need to update those channels every six months. What we really go for is, perception is everything. So if that venue owner isn't seeing it updated that often, they're going to think they're not connecting those dots. We're there to connect those dots for them. We're there to consistently fresh content. So when they're walking into their place of business, they're not like, wow, this is the same thing that was playing two weeks ago. So for our venue channels, we do updates at least two or three times a week to keep that content fresh, relevant.  Our biggest fear is stale content. That's what we want to get rid of. That's what we want to move past and we want to show up well for our CMS partners that their end users are happy with the content that's being displayed. Obviously with white label, it really depends on what the client wants, but again for us it's all about going above and beyond and being proactive in that sense to provide fresh content so that's kind of part of our bread and butter.  When you were developing the business plan for this, were you thinking white label was a big part of the business or is that something that you landed on as you started talking to customers or potential customers? Anthony Nerantzis: White label was not part of the plan at all whatsoever. That was born out of really, I would say a listening ot users. So pre launch, we were meeting with a lot of folks, and they were thrilled about and saying, hey, these plug and play options are great, compared to our rotating PowerPoint slides. Let's get this going.  But what we noticed was there was incredible demand, really desperation for tailored content. Obviously now everything's going to be tailored, customizable, and contextual. Not only in the infotainment space, but in the retail media space. So we're ideating, Hey, what if we make these custom channels? What if we can go to a brand and say, Hey, whether you're just trying to entertain your customers, let's entertain them with news and updates about the company? And then if you're trying to sell a customer on something, why don't we drive action through content and messages, that will achieve those goals. What we did was, we obviously went through a pretty big development phase on what we did is we put these samples in these productions in front of folks and the reaction that we got was incredible, and it really showed us that this tailored content and this white label content is really where things are moving away from the lowest common denominator and really going towards contextually relevant brand centric content. I assume that was a pretty happy discovery because you're able to, in rough terms, 10x the monthly subscription fee from an endpoint.  Anthony Nerantzis: We were very fortunate to be in a position where we were already tracking towards it. So yes, it was a “whoa” sort of moment, which was cool. I don't think we could have imagined the reaction that we've received from it, and transparently, we really used InfoComm as our major kind of launch point to get our name out there, and we were expecting to show up, shake hands, get to know people, meet people.  We brought, obviously, a little tablet. We were showing people what we were doing, and the reaction, specifically for these white labels… We were on our flight home, from Vegas, with huge smiles on our faces, I don't think we could have imagined how much these white labels, channel offerings, how much interest that would have generated. So you were at Infocomm and I walked right by, apparently.  Anthony Nerantzis: I guess so. I'll have to catch you at the next one. I think it's in Orlando next year, right? Yeah. It's starting to ring a bell now that when I walk around, I take photos of stands thinking, I don't know anything about them, I don't have time to stop right now, but I'll look this up later.  If I go through my photos, I bet you there's one in there like that and my apologies for not stopping, but, I get swarmed that week.  Anthony Nerantzis: I'm going to let you off the hook. We did not have a booth. We were just walking around. Maybe a booth next year. Maybe you can take a picture of a booth next year. But we were just on the ground getting to know folks, trying to make the most of it.  And you're able to do that just by having chats with people?  Anthony Nerantzis: Yeah, we're really fortunate. Obviously, the founders are from outside the digital signage space and someone who's been a huge mentor to us is Bob Ratcliffe. I don't know if you're familiar, but he runs, really, what we found to be an incredibly consultancy and, he's really been our mentor and also guided us around the show floor, and introduced us to who we needed to know. So we're fortunate for Bob and he's obviously a great partner with us.  Yeah, subject matter, knowledge and contacts and all that are invaluable. So how long ago did this start? Anthony Nerantzis: As I said, we usde Infocomm to put our name out there. Transparently though, I would say since June of 2023 is when the idea was first born.  Oh, so this is like real new?  Anthony Nerantzis: Yes. I think I mentioned earlier, but we thought we had an idea, we thought we had something, but what we did was we did a lot of listening. We met with partners even before we really put our name out there publicly. I can't tell you how many Zoom meetings, in person conversations that we had with people in the space, CMS operators. What are you looking for from a content perspective? What are you missing? What's your current situation? The production and development process, obviously, of our software stack, took a long time, to optimize it and get it up and running to what we wanted it to be, to show up in a way that we were proud of. So I'd say, yeah, about a year and a little before our one year anniversary, we came out to the world and timed up perfectly with Infocomm.  So what's the state of the company at the moment? Is it like a full time company or is it a side hustle for you guys?  Anthony Nerantzis: So we are just breaking out of our side hustle, which is amazing. The last month and a half have been an absolute whirlwind. We are in a full growth stage right now. We're incredibly proud of that. So We're going full on and we're fortunate that we were able to get so much excitement right from the jump that we're able to make this decision. So we're definitely in the growth phase. I think the next three, six, twelve months are going to be extremely exciting. We have a lot of really cool stuff coming down the pipeline, not only with product development, but with partnerships. So we're excited about where we're at. Actually, just last week, we were accepted into NVIDIA's Inception program for early stage startups. So that gives us a whole suite of tools that are going to propel us, even further forward with our capabilities. So we're really excited about that.  Yeah, that's how I got wind of this and I, admittedly, didn't know a darn thing about NVIDIA's inception program. What does that do for you? Is it funding or is it just support or connections? Anthony Nerantzis: I think a lot about the last one. So it really integrates us directly within their partner network of VCs of developer support. So I would say just from apartner in a network standpoint, that's going to be the biggest value add. The second really huge boon for us is going to be access to some advanced features within their software suite. Obviously we're always looking for ways to level up and optimize our production processes. And with Nvidia, with their help, and being part of this network, we're going to have access to a lot of the really cool things that they're doing behind the scenes. So we're really excited about that and hopefully over the next month or two here, we're going to be able to roll out some things that are a direct result of that, being within that network, so a huge opportunity for us for sure.  So that gives you access to a whole bunch of computing power, particularly on the graphics side, which I'm sure it is intriguing. Anthony Nerantzis: Absolutely. That's the name of the game right now. We need it and just to have a partner like that is pretty awesome. If people want to know more about your company, where do they find you?  Anthony Nerantzis: So we're a few places. I think our channel of choice is for sure LinkedIn. go ahead and follow us on LinkedIn. We're Stream, and then our website is streammedia.news. So we kicked .com to the side because we want to really show that we're news, we're content forward. We're not streammedia.ads. We're focused on that content with the news. With the news portion. So I encourage everyone to check us out.  I suspect streammedia.com was also gone many years ago. Anthony Nerantzis: Dave, you're exposing me.  As was the stream.com, probably gone in 2003 or something.  Anthony Nerantzis: I would imagine, yes.  Or 1993, I don't know. Alright, Anthony, that was great. Thank you. Happy to learn more about your company and best wishes with all this, and I guess I'll see you in Orlando next year. Anthony Nerantzis: Absolutely, Can't wait. Thank you so much. We really appreciate the opportunity. Thank you to all your listeners and we really had a lot of fun.  

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Steve Morris, president of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Retail Management Inc. Morris discusses leveraging technology to handle today's labor woes, the importance of maintaining menu consistency while sprinkling in limited-time offers and how getting customers inside a c-store starts with the moment they're looking at the building. Retail Management Inc. handles the operations, marketing and accounting functions for any small-format retailer including convenience stores and truckstops, vape shops and liquor stores. Operations include staffing and supervising, product replenishment and ordering and vendor negotiation. “At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts together with CSP editors to discuss the latest in c-store news and trends. From mergers and acquisitions to foodservice and technology, the podcast delivers the story straight to listeners in short-format episodes, perfect for the morning commute or a quick break at the office.

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP VP of Content Strategy, Abbey Lewis, talks to Restaurant Business' Editor in Chief, Jonathan Maze, about the future of online delivery in both restaurants and convenience—and how consumers really feel about those wait times and fees. Tune in to hear about what we've learned about the major delivery players, and some exciting news on a new delivery study that you can only find at Restaurant Business and CSP. “At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts together with CSP editors to discuss the latest in c-store news and trends. From mergers and acquisitions to foodservice and technology, the podcast delivers the story straight to listeners in short-format episodes, perfect for the morning commute or a quick break at the office.

Location, location, location! A great spot on the map can get a retailer` seen, but a good and accurate digital location presence can help them grow. In this episode, we dive into the importance of digital location management. Ensuring customers know a store is actually there and the full offer inside is possibly the most important kind of marketing needed. Related links: Check out a great article about Local Knowledge and digital location: https://www.globalconveniencestorefocus.co.uk/features/local-knowledge-puts-convenience-stores-on-the-digital-map-and-they-do-it-for-you/ Attend the Insight Market Focus USA: https://www.globalconveniencestorefocus.co.uk/events/market-focus-usa-2024/ With special guest: Trevor Nadeau, Founder and Managing Director, Local Knowledge Hosted by: Nick Scherzer and Carolyn Schnare

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks to Dan Razowsky, the marketing operations manager at Northbrook, Illinois-based Rmarts convenience stores. Razowsky (pictured) touches on looking to the future and building a foodservice program with love and attention, what effect electric vehicles might have on c-stores, and how handing out paper coupons at the pumps brings in business. Rmarts is a family-owned and -operated Chicago-area c-store chain that started in 1951 in downtown Chicago. With 11 locations today, Rmarts has evolved to emphasize convenience and community, where open-faced coolers and bean-to-cup coffee machines have replaced the auto repair bays of yesterday.

Crunch Fitness' CMO, Chad Waetzig joins The Current Podcast to explore how Crunch is developing their on-demand workout streaming app, how they're leaning into performance marketing versus brand-building and why digital media is the best way to reach its gymgoers. Episode TranscriptPlease note, this transcript  may contain minor inconsistencies compared to the episode audio. [00:00:00] Damian: I'm Damian Fowler[00:00:01] Ilyse: And I'm Ilyse Liffering. [00:00:03] Damian: And welcome to this edition of the current [00:00:05] Ilyse: This week, we're delighted to talk with Chad Waitzig, the CMO of Crunch Fitness, who leads the brand's marketing and communication efforts for its gym locations all over the world.[00:00:17] Damian: Headquartered in New York City, Crunch serves 2. 5 million members with over 460 gyms worldwide and continues to expand in the U. S. and around the globe.[00:00:28] While Crunch has built a community of fitness enthusiasts at its physical locations, it has also been on a mission of expanding its reach on digital.[00:00:37] We start by asking Chad about how he'd characterize the gym's marketing goals.[00:00:43] Ilyse: so Chad, how would you characterize the marketing mission for Crunch?[00:00:48] Chad: It's really important for us, to both build comprehension around what the crunch brand experience is.[00:01:05] And we think we've got a pretty unique offering in the high value, low price space and in fitness, but it's also to drive leads and it's to fill that, consumer funnel, with folks who are interested in exploring a fitness workout, And building that lead base so that our franchisees, our partners in our marketing journey, can invite them into the gym, give them a free trial, and encourage them to join and continue their fitness journey with us.[00:01:32] so as we think about what we do day in and day out, I'd say that, 80 percent of what we do is focused on how can we introduce the brand to more people and drive leads into the system.[00:01:41] Damian: Now, can you talk about your latest campaign and how that works? I know you're talking about, a kind of big campaign, but you're also then trying to target local gyms and gym spaces and demographics. Can you talk about how that relationship works?[00:01:54] what about the new campaign? Feel good, not bad? [00:01:57] Chad: Yeah. Yeah. So we're, really excited about feel good. [00:02:00] Not bad. we launched the campaign on December the 26th, which is, basically the start of our year, immediately after Christmas. and the, conceit or the gestalt of the campaign is to. recognize that as a country, we've gone through a lot of bad stuff, and, there's a lot of bad in the world, and we don't want to focus on the bad in the world, but we know that it's out there and  how do we, recognize that a way to combat that is to feel good, and to feel good.[00:02:31] You can do that through working out. So the whole campaign is focused on this idea of telling a story about the bad things that happen through silly, humorous, metaphors, banging your head on a drawer, getting stuck in a revolving door, waking up in the desert on a camping trip with a snake.[00:02:52] Attached to your face, really absurd, silly things as a metaphor for the bad in the world, and that through working out and through [00:03:00] working out at crunch, you can get those endorphin rushes. you can escape from the world. You can forget all the bad that's out there and really focus on yourself.[00:03:07] You can really lose yourself at crunch. so that's, the gestalt behind the campaign or the, idea behind the campaign. Now, the way we execute that campaign, and we do it in partnership with our franchisees, is through a mix of brand marketing, performance marketing, and retail marketing. And so we've designed, creative assets that kind of take you through that entire journey, whether it's television, radio, direct mail, or digital marketing assets, that really tell that story in a layered way as a consumer moves through the journey.[00:03:41] Damian: Yeah, that's interesting. now you mentioned the campaign, the Feel Good, Not Bad campaign is one that really dives into humor to convey how fitness can be fun. We recently had on this podcast, the CEO of BBDO, Andrew Robertson, who talked about the importance of funny ads and why they're so important.[00:03:59] [00:04:00] To building a brand's identity. I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. and why is Funny the right fit for you?[00:04:07] Chad: Yeah, first of all, I would agree with his assessment. And, at our heart, we're storytellers, right? All marketers are storytellers, and we're telling the story of our brand and our business. And humor, leveraging humor, is one way to tell that story in a way that we think breaks through the clutter.[00:04:26] We're a gym for goodness sakes, right? We're a place where people come to, to get better. whether that's more, more flexible, whether that's to build endurance, whether that's to lose weight, whether that's to gain strength and muscle, but we also don't take ourselves too seriously. And so we think that, our no judgments philosophy, the way we approach our members and the way we approach our experience, it really lends itself well to humor.[00:04:50] But the other thing to keep in mind too, is that. Humor can work in almost any business. think about insurance. 20 years ago, if you had said, we're going to use humor to tell [00:05:00] the insurance story, people would have thought you were crazy. Maybe it's more than 20 years now, but, Geico really broke through the clutter and now look at everybody in that category, right?[00:05:08] They all leverage humor for something that is not a very funny product. our product isn't funny, but our product and our experience is fun. And we think humor helps us tell that story. [00:05:19] Ilyse: Now here we talk a lot about digital channels, obviously, programmatic, CTV, and, there's a Common philosophy or really it's just a fact at this point that, that's a good way to reach like younger consumers. is that what you are finding? Are you trying to reach millennials and Gen Zers specifically?[00:05:44] ​Or are you looking at whole cohorts of people? Consumers, what is your approach?[00:05:50] Chad: our core consumer is somebody that we call young strong on social, they are our north star. They're the group that we [00:06:00] focus on, for crunch, about a quarter of our member base is made up of. Of people 18 to 24, about a third of our member base are members 25 to 34, so the majority of our members are in that 18 to 34 age range, and that's our young, strong and social group.[00:06:16] Now, we run, we have, campaigns available for our network, to target seniors, active seniors. boomers, Gen, Gen Xers like me, but really our focus is on the 18 to 34 and we do find that digital media channels, are really the best way to reach that audience, right? They, by and large, they're not cable TV subscribers.[00:06:39] they watch a lot of YouTube. They're on social media. and we find that, one of the best ways for us to build awareness is either through CTV, or through YouTube. Uh, and those are the two channels where we are dominant.[00:06:52] Ilyse: And I know you've also spoken about, TV itself too, a little bit. How has like this omni [00:07:00] channel like approach really benefited your brand?[00:07:04] Chad: Yeah, for us, it's been a journey. today we've got 460 gyms and about 2. 7 million members, and we're celebrating our 35th anniversary, but, we're still a small business. when I joined Crunch seven years ago, we had about 125 locations and, obviously we were significantly smaller.[00:07:21] So our dollars, We had to make a strategic choice back then, and our strategic choice was to invest in performance marketing almost exclusively at the expense of brand marketing. Now that we've grown, and now that we're bigger, and we have the, The resources available to us the critical mass. We have found that the omni channel approach for us has paid off in spades.[00:07:46] Our brand awareness has tripled in the last three years, whether that's aided or unaided. And we find that then drives. more consumers to consider us. Our consideration is higher, which then [00:08:00] leads to greater lead production, and greater sales. And, the brand doesn't do it alone.[00:08:05] Our franchisees play a big role in that, but if we had not made that strategic shift to really focus on the Omni channel, I don't think our results would be as strong as they are today.[00:08:17] Ilyse: And today, are you mostly now looking at consumer retention or learning new members to join? It does seem, we talk a lot about streaming wars, but it does seem like there's quite a lot of gym wars out there now.[00:08:31] Chad: Yeah, you know, the fitness industry is, really an interesting one. It is competitive. so today about one in five Americans belongs to a gym, a health club, the Y, or a boutique studio. Now, that number 10, 15 years ago was probably closer to 15%, 14%. The category itself is growing.[00:08:51] So when, crunch wins, the whole category wins when our competitors, when the category wins, cause we are growing the category, but we do compete [00:09:00] for a lot of the same folks, people do switch gyms, they break up with their old gym, they, join a new gym. and so it is a mix for us on the acquisition side.[00:09:09] To both bring new people into the category that maybe are just considering a gym for the very first time, but we're also trying to steal members from other clubs that without a doubt, and our competition would probably say the same. So in answer to your bigger question, how do we think about it is about retention is about acquisition.[00:09:27] It really is both. [00:09:29] Damian: It's interesting. you know, we did use the analogy of streaming, but there's a lot of churn in streaming. you turn off your subscription for one and then you turn it on for another. We just had some data recently that said, I think 30 percent of people who cancel return within a few months to the channel.[00:09:43] So, it's an interesting game, I guess. Yeah,[00:09:49] Chad: of our biggest sources of leads. we very much, look at our former members as potential future members, and they do come back.[00:09:57] Ilyse: Very interesting. Yeah. And, speaking of [00:10:00] streaming, Crunch has its Crunch Plus platform and I know this was a big kind of trend overall, no matter what category you're in, during COVID and everything was to go digital, make sure your product is available where the people were, which is their living rooms at home.[00:10:18] and now it's a little more than a year old. and it obviously it built on what you had before, which is crunch live. Can you tell us how this has been performing and how you would describe the divide between people going in person to the gym and potentially those working out at home now?[00:10:38] Chad: Yeah, really great question. So you're right. We launched, crunch plus about a year ago, and we retired an old platform that we had that was called crunch live crunch live we were the first big box gym to have our own streaming workout product it launched way back in 2013, and it was browser based [00:11:00] only.[00:11:00] Ilyse: Way pre COVID before it was cool.[00:11:03] Chad: it was cool. Before it was cool. And during COVID, we saw our daily usage. Increased tenfold, with a fairly limited library of workouts. And so we clearly realized that we needed to reintroduce our streaming products and that's how we got to crunch plus. So now crunch plus is available on, just about every streaming device.[00:11:23] And, we couldn't be more pleased with where we are today. versus our launch. and just this year alone versus where we finished, in December of last year, our user base on the platform is up 47%.[00:11:39] we have over 600, Workouts available and we're adding the goal is to add one workout a day Either through live streaming or through pre recorded content to the library And we see crunch plus as really both a member benefit. So if you are a crunch member, You get access to crunch plus and basically a [00:12:00] 70 discount off the retail price.[00:12:02] it's incredibly Affordable. It's 1. 99 a month. and so for our members, it's a way to take that brand experience outside the four walls of the gym, whether they're wanting to work out at home, or maybe they travel a lot and they want to take it on the road, but they can also take it right back into the gym.[00:12:19] And so we've got workouts that, are on a treadmill or on a spin bike, or require the use of dumbbells and other equipment that you may not have at home, We've got in the crunch gym. And so we've really created this hybrid workout environment between in person in the gym and virtual on crunch plus, and now for our retail subscribers, those that are not crunch members. they pay 6. 99 a month. ​Again, it's, an incredible value relative to other products in the marketplace, and we think it's a great way to extend the brand and reach into markets where crunch doesn't exist yet. you can get crunch plus anywhere in the world. we've got 460 locations and [00:13:00] 360 of them are in the United States.[00:13:01] So we have lots of growth ahead of us in terms of our physical footprint, but we love where our digital footprint has taken us.[00:13:10] Damian: Yeah, that's a great move. I see people in the gym with, their smartphones looking at workouts and things. It makes sense for you to have that workout associated with, crunch, or the gym in question.[00:13:21] Chad: that's exactly right. and we really have only started to scratch the surface of where we can take this. I mean, one of the biggest challenges for new people who have never worked out in a gym before is the intimidation that they feel when they come to the gym. And, Most people think about the intimidation as being the, I've got to lose weight before I join the gym mentality, right? the body image concerns. But think about this. If you've never been to a gym before and you walk in the door, you are seeing all kinds of foreign alien equipment with pulleys and weights and pins and benches that articulate in different directions.[00:13:58] Where do I even [00:14:00] start? And what we think CrunchPlus is going to be great for is to give people who are completely new to the gym experience that introduction of how do I get started? What is the best workout for me? How does this piece of equipment actually work? If I'm concerned about how I might be perceived by others, let me watch this video and see how to set this up correctly.[00:14:21] so we're real excited about where we're going to continue to take this platform as it continues to grow and mature.[00:14:26] Damian: Yeah, that's a great point.[00:14:27] Ilyse: could have used that for sure. Yeah, you[00:14:29] Damian: and you see some of these, dudes in there, they're massive and they're making it look like, child's play. I'm like, what? This,[00:14:36] Chad: Right,[00:14:37] Damian: this is scary. Yeah. [00:14:41] Chad: The great thing about those guys, though, is if you ask them for help, they're going to jump right in and help you. they're very proud to share. Here's, how you do this.[00:14:48] Damian: Mm. It's a community, right? a fitness community.[00:14:52] Chad: absolutely. Absolutely. It's the community. In fact, we just did a recent member survey, new member survey, [00:15:00] and we found that 46 percent of our new members, have actually made new friends or founded a community at crunch just by joining and getting to the gym.[00:15:10] So we do think crunch is a great place to build community and our members that it's one of the reasons why they join. [00:15:17] Damian: And speaking of community, you have recently teamed up with Amazon One. Can you talk about how that partnership improves the membership experience for your customers?[00:15:28] Chad: we love our partnership with Amazon. it has gone really well. And they've been, as you can imagine, they're one of the largest companies in the world. They are very sophisticated in what they do. And, they've been a great partner to work with, for those, listeners that aren't familiar with the Amazon one product, it is a biometric device reads basically the palm of your hand.[00:15:49] It is a touchless device. You basically hover your palm over their reader and it identifies you uniquely. So apparently the palm of your hand is as unique as your fingerprint [00:16:00] or your retina and, Amazon has piloted this in, I believe it's being rolled out in Whole Foods.[00:16:07] I believe they have a partnership with Panera. And then they were piloting it in their own C Store concept for a while. We got together with Amazon to really be the first to bring it to the fitness environment. And the initial application or use case is to validate a member's entry into the gym. And What we found is I think a couple of things.[00:16:32] there's a back office business case which reduces fraud for us. So we don't have members sharing their key tag with their barcode with friends, right? Because now I only can get in with my palm. So that reduces, that concern. But from the perspective of our members, it shows that we're progressive.[00:16:57] We're forward thinking. we've got the latest [00:17:00] technology and we're bringing that into the environment. and we've seen adoption close to 80 percent in the locations where we've rolled it out. There are some folks that are still concerned about having their biometric data. read by Amazon, and we respect that and we'll still have the old way of scanning barcodes at the front desk, but for the vast majority of our members, it allows them to get into the gym quickly and get right to their workout.[00:17:24] Damian: Mm. That is fascinating. I actually didn't know about Amazon One, [00:17:27] Chad: Yeah, if you have a Whole Foods near you, next time you go to a Whole Foods, see if they've got it. it's how I use, it's how I check out at Whole Foods. it is faster than even, Apple Pay and Google Pay, I[00:17:39] Damian: Wow. Mm.[00:17:41] Chad: I think it's a pretty great service.[00:17:42] Damian: in general, when it comes to partnerships, how important are those kind of brand partnerships for Crunch?[00:17:49] Chad: they're really important and, you can think about partnerships for us, at least. We think about it in a couple of different levels. One is this kind of, Big strategic capability [00:18:00] enhancing partnership, which we have with Amazon, and we've got obviously have partnerships with some of the best, equipment manufacturers in the fitness space, right? Whether that's through life fitness or, TRX or the other, brands of the space, and we look at that as a way to enhance our member experience. We've got a really talented member experience team headed up by our chief experience officer, Molly long and, Molly and her team are thinking about ways that they can bring these kinds of big brand partnerships that are enablers.[00:18:34] To bear on the member experience. But on the marketing side, we also look at brand partnerships as a way to enhance your existing membership. So we do partnerships where we provide our members access to crunch only discounts. So we have one right now with Crocs where members can get a discount on Crocs shoes that's proving to be very popular.[00:18:58] ​And one of the ways in [00:19:00] which we talk about our membership, pricing with our members. and so one of the things that we like to say to prospective members is that if you take advantage of all the discounts that you can get through your crunch membership, all the retail discounts with our brand partners, your membership practically pays for itself.[00:19:14] And so we like to think that because it is a membership, you are part of a community, you are part of a gym, you are part of a club. If we can give value back to that member, it only makes that membership more valuable to them. So for us, those brand partnerships are super important.[00:19:30] Damian: we want to talk about first party data, of course, and we want to talk about that and how that informs some of your campaigns. And we assume, given that you have this great membership, global membership, it's not necessarily an issue for Crunch.[00:19:43] But how do you go about, leveraging that first party data to inform your marketing efforts? [00:19:49] Chad: so obviously our first party data even more so today than in years past is important to us and being able to leverage that data is [00:20:00] an important part of what we do both on the brand marketing side, but also are we work with our franchise partners for them to execute on their local marketing side.[00:20:08] Our media agency of record is USIM, and through USIM, we have an identity resolution initiative with TransUnion, where we enrich our first party data anonymously, with the TransUnion data, and we use that for audience building, lookalike audience building, Former member, audience building, et cetera, et cetera.[00:20:29] And a lot of that is used, through programmatic. it, it informs, what we do, in terms of, our targeting. the way in which we've structured our media approach, brand marketing happens through the Crunch marketing team. We also pick up search, on behalf of our network, just given the complexities of search and the ever changing, approach to paid search.[00:20:54] we. We feel like we're in a better position to manage that on behalf of our franchisees than asking our franchisees [00:21:00] to do that. Really everything in between is through our franchise partners and we have four brand approved agencies that they can choose to work with And we work with them To make sure that they have access to first party data so that they can also enrich that data and do first party, audience building, et cetera.[00:21:20] So for us, it's a critical component of what we do. And again, of, what we spend, I would say that, from. CTV all the way down through search, probably 90 percent of our spend across the network is digital.[00:21:36] Ilyse: Very awesome. I actually have a question about first party data. Are you able to glean more, say from Crunch Plus? Because people are tuning in and you're able to see, what kind of workouts they're choosing, what kind of, when, they are actually working out.[00:21:55] It must be very revealing, even more so than your regular, gym [00:22:00] customers that come in.[00:22:02] Chad: it's actually, that's actually a great question and it is true because obviously we control and manage the crunch plus platform of the 600 plus videos or workouts that we have. We can see what the viewership is. We can, we understand the view through rate on each of those. We know what each subscriber is watching and what kind of workouts they're doing and the frequency with which they're doing that.[00:22:26] and that's rich data that. We don't necessarily have easily accessed on the gym membership side. so from that standpoint, in terms of building out new workouts, as an example, we found that the 20 minute workout videos were the most popular in the group. And yet when we launched, we were launching with 30, 45 minute workout videos.[00:22:51] We pivoted very quickly to doing more over 20 minute workouts. And what we found is. The 20 minutes were actually too long based on view through [00:23:00] rates. So we launched a number of what we call quickies, right? They're five minute workouts and the viewership on those has skyrocketed. that's where we've leveraged that first party data to learn on the gym side, it's a little bit more challenging, but we're actually building out more of a, first party data set around.[00:23:16] utilization of the gym. We know when they check into the gym. If they book and take a group fitness class, we know that they're doing that because that's an online reservation system. we know when they buy a personal training package and when they take personal training sessions. And so the next level for us as an organization is to better activate that first party data so that we can do a better job on member retention.[00:23:40] upselling into higher tier memberships, and cross selling into other parts of our business.[00:23:45] Ilyse: And based off of that, and knowing that you guys are located in 41 states,[00:23:51] Chad: Yes.[00:23:52] Ilyse: you can probably tell me which states are the fittest in the U. S. in terms of attendance. I mean, I'm just [00:24:00] curious.[00:24:00] Damian: just[00:24:01] Chad: so that's a really good question.[00:24:04] Ilyse: New York, I know.[00:24:05] Chad: I, I can, I can say I can say that,[00:24:09] Ilyse: work out a lot here.[00:24:10] Chad: there are certain markets. the southeast is one of them where the number of visits per member is higher than the average. Obviously, we have an average, per month in the southeast. Really strong gym attendance.[00:24:26] I'm not going to say whether or not they're more fit than[00:24:29] Damian: Yeah, you can't know that.[00:24:31] Chad: but utilization does vary based on, based on market. I don't know how much of that is driven by weather, or how much that's driven by lifestyle. [00:24:39] Ilyse: who's the laziest[00:24:40] Chad: in New York City, New York City, we have really strong, really strong utilization of the gyms, best ever, better than pre pandemic.[00:24:48] Ilyse: Oh well.[00:24:49] Chad: but we've seen that across the board that the utilization of our gyms post pandemic has been at a higher level everywhere than versus than pre pandemic.[00:24:59] Ilyse: People [00:25:00] want to get out there again.[00:25:01] Chad: I think people want to get out there. Yep. I think they recognize that the role of fitness in, in relieving stress and anxiety is important.[00:25:08] Ilyse: How do you then tailor your messaging? Based off of location, especially if you're, talking to the fittest people in the U S versus the laziest,[00:25:18] Damian: people in[00:25:20] Chad: we wouldn't say that we're all about no judgments,[00:25:22] Damian: no, of course.[00:25:23] Chad: there, there is no one type, there is no one reason, there is no one way, for us at Crunch. but we do build out marketing assets that allow our franchisees, who are the closest To the member than we are here in the puzzle palace here in New York City, right in the ivory tower.[00:25:42] and we make sure that we provide assets that, if your club is really strong in group fitness classes, that we've got the assets for you there. If your gym is really big into strength training, which is virtually all gyms. Now we've got lots of strength training assets, or if you're into hit workouts, or if you're into [00:26:00] Kids Crunch babysitting is important because you've got a lot of younger families and they need to have child care when they come to the gym and work out and we allow our franchisees then to use those assets to tailor their marketing communications based on their local needs.[00:26:16] Damian: It's interesting. Now, you mentioned, maybe people in warmer climates and warmer states going to the gym maybe than others, but I don't know whether that holds true, but what I wanted to ask you about is what does the marketing calendar look like for a gym like Crunch? especially around key moments, we're here, A good third of the way into the year, but January's obviously got to be a big moment for gyms because everyone has that resolution to get fit again, New Year's resolutions, and then there's the summer, approaching, people think about, oh, I've got to be back on the beach, what should we do?[00:26:50] How do you strategize around those moments?[00:26:55] Chad: Yeah, there is certainly a seasonality to, to both visitation and [00:27:00] membership joins new members joining the gym. the first quarter of the year is the. The most important quarter of the year for us. it is our Black Friday and Cyber Monday and holiday season. and we do structure our spending accordingly, right?[00:27:14] So we'll heavy up in Q1, in the months later in the year when gym memberships aren't as, The demand isn't as high. We will adjust spending accordingly. So we do balance that out throughout the year. So we do marry up spend with demand. Within any given month, we will run a series of national promotions that our franchisees can opt into.[00:27:39] And they tend to be priced Price driven, because that's the category we're in, but we provide the support to the franchise network around the if they opt into that promotion to try to convert prospects in the system to becoming members. We do look at certain, events. So certainly we look at. New Year's resolutions, New [00:28:00] Year to you.[00:28:01] We look at spring break. We look at the beginning of the summer. We look at back to school. and then we look at the, to school is the last big hit when you begin to hit November and December, most consumers are really focused on holiday shopping, holiday parties, family get togethers, travel, Wrapping up their year end of their job if they're on a calendar or fiscal year, And then we start right over again on december 26th, and that's when people are like, okay, let's get back to the gym so we do take all of that into consideration but every month has a cycle and every quarter has a cycle and then obviously there's a cycle to the year[00:28:41] Ilyse: so there's obviously one of the biggest categories on social media is fitness. I would say there's so many fitness influencers out there these days.[00:28:52] To what extent do you share a kind of like common goal to get people to the gym? Do you then access and use [00:29:00] these social media personalities?[00:29:02] Chad: Yep. yeah, really good question. influencers in the fitness space are very important and we have worked with influencers. off and on over the past several years, we work with them today. And what we have found them to be most effective for us is around awareness building, introducing crunch to their audience.[00:29:26] we have tried to activate, and I'm using air quotes for those, listening, obviously, we've tried to activate those influencers to try to sell gym memberships. And we've not succeeded in that. I think their audiences see through that.[00:29:40] Ilyse: Hmm. Interesting.[00:29:42] Chad: And so for us, it's more about the authenticity of we want to invite the influencers into our gym.[00:29:47] We want them to get in a great workout. We want them to tell their story on that does more value for us. than them trying to sell a membership to their audience. And so we certainly work and we pay influencers [00:30:00] for some of that awareness building. But we also Work really hard to make sure that our member experience is an excellent experience for all of our members because we have influencers in our gym all the time that we may not even be aware that they're there and we want them.[00:30:18] We wanted to organically. Work its way through social media, and we've actually had some great success with that. And so the success comes from our fantastic operators on running a great gym on the influencers who are already members are just telling the crunch story for us. They're evangelists on. You really can't put a price on that.[00:30:41][00:30:41] Damian: And that's it for this edition of The Current Podcast. We'll be back next week, so stay tuned.[00:30:46] Ilyse: The current podcast theme is by Love and Caliber.[00:30:49] The current team includes cat fussy and Sydney Cairns. [00:30:53] Damian: remember I'm[00:30:55] Ilyse: and I'm[00:30:56] Damian: we'll see you next time. And if you like what you hear, please subscribe [00:31:00] and leave us a review. Also, tune in to our other podcast, The Current Report.

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” David Poulnot, vice president of fuel and c-store at Upside, shares findings from the technology company's C-Store Report released this month. He talks about how despite sales growth headlines, convenience-store revenue has decreased when inflation is considered, dropping 19% between January 2021 and January 2024. Shoppers are making fewer c-store trips and buying less because of cost concerns and replacing visits with grocery trips.  Poulnot said that digital personalization is the most effective way to face this issue because by connecting one-to-one, retailers can collect individual return on investment per transaction. Upside is a marketplace that connects consumers with brick-and-mortar retailers through personalized offers. It uses artificial intelligence (AI)-driven personalization technology to enhance purchasing power. “At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts together with CSP editors to discuss the latest in c-store news and trends. From mergers and acquisitions to foodservice and technology, the podcast delivers the story straight to listeners in short-format episodes, perfect for the morning commute or a quick break at the office.

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Senior Editor Hannah Hammond talks to Patricia Coe, senior director of client leadership, for Advantage Solutions Convenience Division, and Doug Middlebrooks, senior vice president of channel sales, for Advantage Solutions. The three talked about how convenience-store sales reached a new high in 2023, the time it takes for c-store customers to decide what to buy, how quickly food is consumed after it's purchased and more. Advantage Solutions, Clayton, Missouri, helps build brand value for manufacturers and retailers through insight-based sales, marketing and technology solutions.

Convenience stores are upping their food game and one concept is taking advantage of it. This week's episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Jim Norberg, the CEO of the convenience-store chicken concept Krispy Krunchy Chicken. We had Jim on largely because convenience stores are getting a lot of foodservice business right now. Traffic at convenience stores is up 17% since before the pandemic, compared with 5% at quick-service restaurants—meaning that some of the lost traffic at restaurants is heading to the local gas station. One reason is the higher quality food c-stores are putting out now. Krispy Krunchy is taking advantage of that. Norberg is a former executive with McDonald's, and he is bringing a restaurant mentality to the concept. The brand is getting into third-party delivery and recently hired its first chief marketing officer in Alice Crowder. We talk with Jim about the company's rapid growth and how many locations it expects to go into this year alone. We talk about how that program works and what's driving interest in c-stores. We also talk about Krispy Krunchy's new marketing program and how it can market a concept located in other businesses. We're talking convenience-store chicken on A Deeper Dive, so please check it out.

This edition of Truth and Consequences featured a C Store worker who's a little fed up over a certain customer and what he puts in the store microwave. Maybe after today these two will never see each other again.

40,000 convenience store owners have spoken, and they had A LOT to say about the growing energy drinks category. And even if you aren't super familiar with this beverage category's sales insights, I'm sure you intuitively recognize that convenience stores are the most important in terms of channels for energy drinks in the U.S. market. But here are the top 3 biggest “categorical” takeaways from the recent Goldman Sachs Beverage Bytes survey. The first is a market reaction to what I coined “energy everything” years ago…with performance energy drinks taking share from the coffee category. The second is that CELSIUS is likely to win the most incremental shelf space in 2024…just slightly ahead of C4 Energy. And finally, is that Red Bull is losing cooler space because the brand's proprietary coolers are being replaced by CELSIUS and C4 Energy coolers. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠ ⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠ ⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

The 16:9 PODCAST IS SPONSORED BY SCREENFEED – DIGITAL SIGNAGE CONTENT When I first spoke with industry lifer IV Dickson about his move from software to the managed services firm SageNet, the company was still in the relatively early days of getting itself organized to chase and then service digital signage opportunities. Five years on, digital in environments like chain retail and QSR are a core, what he calls consequential, part of the Oklahoma company's overall business. SageNet's role has evolved from being an IT-centric managed services company that was adding digital signage to its deployment and network management capabilities, to having a main service line called SageView. It's a full-meal-deal suite of solutions and services that run from the ideation stage all the way through deployment and ongoing management. These kinds of turnkey, all-in solutions are relatively common now in the marketplace, but the SageNet twist is its deep roots, experience and acumen in the hard-core aspects of networking design, connectivity and cybersecurity. Dickson started out at SageNet as the digital signage guy, but as business has grown, and with it the staffing and skillsets associated with that work, he now has a role as SageNet's Chief Innovation Officer - looking more broadly at all the technologies that have a role in or influence customer projects. IV Dickson, how are you doing, sir?  IV Dickson: I'm doing well. Thank you, Dave. How are you this morning?  I am good. We haven't chatted in a while. We did a podcast back in 2019, so I would say it's time for an update.  IV Dickson: We did. A lot has happened in five years, if nothing else, a pandemic, but also just a lot has happened in the SageNet, and SageView world for us. Yes. The last time I saw you, we were walking up a very long hill to the Barcelona Football stadium, and you're probably keeping a wary eye on me to make sure I didn't have a heart attack.  IV Dickson: Yeah, I don't know. It might have been mutual there, Dave, but I do know, though it was worth the walk. I will say that it was worth the walk.  Every little bit of it. So over those five years, quite a bit has changed with your company. I would say the big thing from my perspective is five years ago, SageNet was starting to get heavy into digital signage, but it was one of the things that a larger company did. When I look at the website now, I kind of see SageNet leading in certain respects with what it does in terms of digital experience and digital signage in general. Is that a fair assessment? IV Dickson: It is a fair assessment. And, by the way, my marketing team will be very glad to hear that because I think that's a position that we want to take and have taken. But we've also positioned ourselves in the market to be that, but also executed in the market to be that, and I think if I think about five years ago, one of the things I think I probably even said it five years ago in, in this podcast was we're a managed service provider in an integrator world. That really hasn't changed in many respects. There are still great integrators out there. However, what really has changed for us is the way people are now coming and looking at digital experience, digital engagement, and pure digital signage, right?  Call it passive or a kind of consumable digital signage. It's become more important today than ever to manage that in an ongoing fashion, and management is not just content. It's everything. Is the screen on? Is the player running? If it's broken, or when it's broken, how are you getting it fixed? And that's a big piece of the puzzle, and over five years, we've grown a lot. I mean, we've grown exponentially to be honest in this area. We were a few customers with a few thousand devices out in the world, and now we're north of a hundred thousand devices that are under management in that digital experience realm. So, as a managed services company as a whole, what do digital signage and digital signage-sih activities represent for the company? I don't need an exact percentage, but I'm curious.  IV Dickson: That's a great question because it's something that actually was a driver for me in my previous role at SageNet as the VP of digital signage and digital experience: to make it a consequential piece of our business. And so at this point in time, whereas five years ago, it was just a mosquito kind of on the sideline of our portfolio. It is now one of the pillars of our organization. So if you look at our organization, historically, we still track the traditional managed services of circuitry and router switch firewalls. However, now, the idea of IOT and IOT management, digital experience, and digital signage management kind of lined up in three pillars for us.  I have heard a few times now that one of the things that's really changed in the last five years or so again is how, historically, the first meetings that you would have with a larger enterprise-level customer or prospective customer would be with the visual merchandising people, HR people, business communicators, that sort of thing, and the IT people would be there, but only begrudgingly. And, now they tend to lead these initiatives and guide them.  Have you seen that? Does it help the case for SageNet because they're familiar with the kind of work that you do?  IV Dickson: Yes, and yes. Yes, we are seeing that shift in who's leading the effort, and yes, that has been obviously fruitful for SageNet, but also just for the market as in general, to be honest. What I mean by that is that the marketing initiative has not been dampened; it's still the guiding light or the Northstar associated with the effort. Now, you're getting buy-in from the organization about the importance of this type of infrastructure in a distributed environment. So if you have a thousand restaurants or five hundred or a thousand stores, all of a sudden, when you have a director or even a CIO-level IT person in the room saying this is something that's consequential to our business, that changes the level of investment from a general brand perspective. The other thing that we've seen, to be honest, is that we've seen its scope outside of it, marketing and even operational folks that are in the building, or as everybody's talking about retail media networks and how this bigger trade or merchandiser world factors into that conversation as well, depending on the brand. One of SageNet's other big pillars is cybersecurity. Are you finding that's helpful in the pitch and in the ongoing effort for clients in that you have that pedigree, you have that understanding? It's not, “Yeah, we do have a cyber guy. His name is, let me look it up.” It's part of your DNA.  IV Dickson: Exactly. It's one of the greatest parts of our extended portfolio. So, about a year ago, I took the role of chief innovation officer, and it's been a journey for me, not only to understand some of the technologies that I didn't understand well but also to understand some of the technologies and wrap my brain around how do customers see that footprint and to your point about cyber security if you look not only at cyber, but you look at how cellular is affecting the market and you also look at the pure infrastructure that's going into one of these restaurants or into one of these retailers, and you start to realize that the POS that used the point of sale that used to be one of the primary network consumers, and by the way, it's still one of the primary from a cyber perspective.  However, it's a very small footprint compared to all the other aggregate devices that they now have talking on the network, whether that be IOT monitoring devices or whether it be digital signage and digital experience devices, or whether it be guest and or brand WiFi, all of a sudden the cyber level or the management of that connectivity becomes even more important than it was maybe ten years ago. And now you have changes in that market around not only how it's managed, but also around protocols that are being utilized, and you start to look at PCI 4. 0, and all of a sudden the brands are getting that much more intense in their needs, but also smarter in their requirements. And so when you bring in a media player and a screen, they no longer say, “Hey, we're going to stick this on the network.” They want a deep dive into how that's going to communicate and communicate with what and for what purposes.  Yeah. I think many more traditional pro IV integration companies and solutions providers lack that perspective and experience. When you look at something like a restaurant or a retail operation, as you just said, all the different business systems and sensors and everything falling into it, it's just a big chart to be able to try to understand all that.  IV Dickson: It is, and luckily I have fantastic team members, right? We've brought in folks with senior-level capabilities from the industry, not only from pure restaurant retail but also from the I.T. on the side. We have fantastic folks in our organization to be able to tackle that because, to your point, one of the differences, and I talked to many of our partners about this in the industry. One of the differences in our business that a lot of people don't recognize from a traditional integrator perspective is when we walk in the door as SageNet, we make two near assumptions.  If we're talking to a restaurant or even a retailer, we make the assumption that you're geographically dispersed, which means you're probably over at least 5, if not 10, or 50 States. So you're all over the country. But the second assumption we make is that your ownership environment is potentially variable. What that means is it could be a franchise, a dealer, or some qualification of the licensee, and in that scenario, you're then adding a layer of complexity to that individualized brick-and-mortar environment that you're servicing, and that creates major complexity in the process.  Yeah, cause they might not all use the same business systems for some core operations, right?  IV Dickson: You got it. Especially when you get into the dealer and licensee world, and that's really where our focus on that, what happens in the “four walls” of that local environment, and then how do we bring that back to a more macro level of IT and AV management?  One of the things that SageNet did, and I assume, added to its breadth of capabilities and bench strength, was acquiring Convergent back in, I think, 2021. Why was that done, and what does that meant?  IV Dickson: We did acquire Convergent Media Systems back in 2021 and it's an interesting conversation about why was it done versus what has it meant. I think actually it's relative to both, and yet there's some separation, right? The interesting thing that a lot of folks don't know is that there was some distant relationship between SageNet and Convergent prior to the acquisition because of the VSAT environment that SageNet acquired from SpaceNet, the better part of 10+ years ago, and so part of our business is VSAT Uplink for connectivity and Convergent back in the day was doing much of their delivery of Corp comm and digital signage and whatnot, TV broadcast type work over VSAT protocols.  So there was some natural connection there that kind of tied the two organizations together. However, at the really the kind of height of the pandemic, luckily, in some respects, but also prescribed in others, SageNet had grown, and our SageView digital offering had grown to about half of the size that it is today, and we've done that organically, right? We had team members that we had grown a fair amount of operational team members at the time. We had brought on Rob Suffoletta back from the Seneca day to day, and he was there a few years ago. And, so things were starting to churn, and we were about half the size that we are today. The acquisition at the time of Convergent took that business and positioned it in a place where it was about double, not quite, but about double, and so it was very substantial. The other piece of that puzzle and I'm very proud to say this, is we acquired some really fantastic folks in that acquisition, including some real leaders in the digital industry who have substantially more experience than I do, 30 years in this industry from broadcast to digital signage. So, in that moment, we kind of bolstered our operational environment.  What subsequently has happened, and it's a good outcome of any acquisition when you can make this happen, we are now a broader force to deal with in the market. So our capabilities are beyond just Installation, monitoring, and management of hardware and software, and now we have capabilities to build solutions, to code against APIs and or pure I.P. We also have creative capabilities to augment what customers may have or what they may want through our experience labs group and so there's the footprint now of the capabilities that we bring to the table is a much more rounded out environment than it was three years ago when we first made that acquisition.  Now, does that all roll up under SageViw?  IV Dickson: Yes, that's correct. Yeah, SageView is a SageNet sub-brand, as you would call it, and that is specifically digital experience and digital signage. There's some kind of muddying of the waters between that and our SageIoT environment.  I remember going back a couple of years, I think I referenced it as kind of a full meal deal offer now that you can take a project right from the idea stage all the way through to ongoing management and do things like you just mentioned, doing the creative work and so on. IV Dickson: Yes, that's exactly right. And if you look at just digital experience, our capabilities to now engineer and design an outcome and a solution and then bring that to fruition by hardware acquisition as well as configure kit and install. But then all of that, as we still really talk about on a daily basis, it's every conversation that we have. We do a lot of that just for the purpose of day two because still, five years later, we talked about this five years ago, I'm sure, the value of that technology is on day two or day fifty or day five hundred. It's only as somebody in my organization says: day one is only cool for 24 hours, right? So that's really a big piece of that. But then, as we were talking about earlier, with regards to the portfolio, when you expand that digital experience, that SageView footprint and you start to add SageConnect, whether that be cellular or otherwise, you start to add SageIoT, then all of a sudden the footprint even gets bigger in terms of that, and that's really where we strive, and you look at someone like Noodles & Co, for example, that's a solution that we have been a network provider for many years. Last year, we subsequently rolled out to all of their corporate locations with digital and a network upgrade. but that's where the entire infrastructure of those four walls is key to that conversation. Are you having companies come to you primarily with the idea that SageNet is capable of handling the degree of scale that we're looking at. We need to be out to 800 stores in the next six months or something like that versus jobs that, let's say, an Electrosonic, those kinds of companies might do that's an airport, it's one location. It's one big wow factor thing that I suppose you guys could do in theory, but that's not really your sweet spot, is it?  IV Dickson: No, not at all. And actually, to be totally honest with you, we sometimes leave those deals on the table on purpose and when you talk about scale and deployment, that is such a key piece to this environment that people do forget and it's hard to roll out that type of technology not only at scale but fast, and these retailers and restaurants expect fast. Back in 2021, we were in the midst of a deal that we are still managing today. They had extremely high expectations of rollout, and we were doing nearly 300 installations a day during the month of June 2021, and we did the better part of 10,000 installations in eleven months.  Was this retail or QSR?  IV Dickson: Retail, but I mentioned Noodles & Co, that's about 400 locations. We did all of that in the 2023 calendar year for the most part, some 95+ percent. So you have to have some serious project managers.  IV Dickson: We do have some serious project managers. That's one of the things I really like is we have those called macro or global project managers. We also have a really amazing field management team, and those folks are dealing with config, the kit, and our national logistics center and getting it out. Then, the onsite technicians make sure that the installation is done correctly.  Is the competitive landscape evolving? Are you seeing different kinds of companies getting in the competitive mix of opportunities?  IV Dickson: You know, when you started to ask that question, I thought, boy, howdy, has it changed! If you look at the vertical markets, some things are identical to what they were before. I would say retail is still pretty similar. The folks who play in retail and who really excel in retail haven't changed a ton. Where we do see a lot of change in the market space from a competitive landscape perspective, QSR is a quick-serve restaurant and fast casual. Not only are there a lot of new names, but they're also not really new to the market. They're new in that space. There's also a lot of different offerings and it's very cloudy. It's extremely cloudy and selecting a provider because we're not there's a, there are a handful of folks that do what we do or similar to what we do. There's a handful of folks who really are on the manufacturing side and creating great technologies. But they're selling those as holistic solutions, and they might not be, and then you still have the historic landscape of the content management systems, and CMS is out there that everybody goes, well, I don't know what to do with 85 CMSs, right? So that's where the competitive landscape is still the same, and yet you are seeing a lot of volatility in who's in the room.  Does it get murky because you have all kinds of companies with different sorts of software-driven systems that can bolt on a very rudimentary digital signage application and say, okay, here we've got a digital menus application for you? You don't need to buy a license, a CMS, or something else; just use this. Do you get those questions?  IV Dickson: You do, and you get some of that bolt-on conversation, and by the way, some of that is probably in our pitch deck as well because there are things that we do that are custom to a customer or customized for a customer around that. However, if you think about my background, I was at Scala Stratacache and back at NanoNation, and we're talking over 20 years, I've watched a lot of that change. I think a lot of people today, there's two factors that kind of drive that.  One is that many people don't understand the complexity of managing an enterprise-level menu. They think they're template managers; they think simple integrations will do it. When you get down to what might be fifty or a hundred or even two hundred configurations, it's extremely complex to manage all that content and data. I think the other thing though, that's driving that conversation that the customer really struggles with picking the right solution is today, data integration and usage in menus is higher than it's ever been. The ability to get calories and price and even dynamic images or have dynamic capabilities to resort menus based on configurations. There's more landscape around that type of capability than we've ever had before. That clutters the idea of what my CMS does in its pure interface. What is the UI to take care of versus what am I going to have to go build and manage? And we, to be honest, in many respects, have fantastic CMS partners, and yet we downplay the use of that interface because most customers want that managed, and so they're not going to go and become experts inside of a CMS interface. Yeah. Years ago, a very large QSR contacted me. They were very irritated with their CMS company because of some business moves that they made. They engaged me as a consultant, and one of the first questions was, what do you think of the software, because, you know, they wanted to consider moving on from it.  And I said, well, we've never seen it, and I said, pardon me, and they said, well, it's all managed, and I said, well, can you get a log in? And they're like, well, we can ask for one, but we've never logged in or anything, and I thought, whoa, this is like completely managed remotely. I guess it was a glimpse of where a lot of the business was going because you'd want to focus on making coffees or whatever. IV Dickson: Yeah, it is, absolutely, and also, you have layers of software that are above the CMS now that are as valuable or more valuable, and yet they feed the outcome of the CMS, right? They feed the outcome of the menu, so if you have mobile data, a menu data management system, Adobe Experience Manager, or some other creative digital asset management environment, those are all sitting in a macro environment above that CMS, feeding into it and then getting distributed to those individual locations.  With SageU, you also introduced something called digital merchandiser two or three months ago, where you're doing some degree of software, like presentation-level software and management software, that might more traditionally be done by a CMS. Is there a bit of a dance that you have to do with your partners where it doesn't feel like you're starting to eat through their lunch?  IV Dickson: Yes and no. I think the real key to that conversation is that SageNet builds and deploys solutions in the end. We utilize best-in-breed outcomes from hardware and software providers to do that, and we utilize incredibly talented and skilled folks on the inside of our team who do that as well. Our head of R&D, David Kai, who also oversees our IOT buildout, comes to the table and sees this from a greater solution perspective. So when you bring him into the room, it's not a CMS discussion. It's an outcome-driven customer and customer outcome-driven environment, and you and I have joked online. We talked a little bit about it in Barcelona. This is actually where I embrace the idea of physigital. I know there's a lot of people who don't like that, right? However, if you really think about the idea of physigital beyond just marketing fodder and you think physical and digital, the consumer who has made the decision to go to a brick-and-mortar location, they've made the decision to go to a C Store, they've made a decision to go to a restaurant, they've made a decision to go to a retailer. They have the expectation of how digital technology is going to affect that, but it's just grown exponentially over the last five to ten years, especially with the pandemic. It created a situation where we did almost everything digitally. So now we're going back to that.  When you really think in that four-wall environment, and you think about, okay, they made it to my physical location. I now want digital to enhance their experience, then digital works for me, right? It becomes something of value. To that end, then we had to take what the infrastructure was and the solutions were the best-in-breed pieces that we had, and create solutions around that. So you mentioned digital merchandiser, there's a new video out that's about an artificial intelligence shoe kiosk that we showed.  It's about the integration of all the parts and bringing those to a space where they become seamless for the consumer, but they become wildly valuable for the brand. I joked at NRF because we showed lift and learn, and I've shown lift at learning at NRF before. Probably in 2004?  IV Dickson: You got it, right? However, the idea is that I walk into the store, look at something in the mobile app, walk up to the AI kiosk, ask it for a product, it shows me where that product is, I pick it up, and I'm then having a web and physical experience in a very similar manner, or a digital and physical experience. Those capabilities have become possible because our engineering base in what we monitor and manage was extremely solid. We added the team members, not only through acquisition but also through a refinement of how we engage through experience labs and bringing David Kai into those conversations with software development capabilities and then really listening to our customer's voice is key for this, and so that's a big piece of this puzzle is really listening to what the customer is trying to accomplish, and finding the avenues where digital can help with that, not replace it, not be the only thing, but help with that transaction. Last question. I'm curious because we've mentioned Barcelona a couple of times. I go for my own reasons. A lot of people go over cause they're selling stuff or whatever. As a chief innovation officer, I suspect you're going over there because there's great wine, but that you're there to kind of see what's emerging, what's different, and it's a different walk than what you're going to do, walking around NRF or InfoComm, that sort of thing?  IV Dickson: Yeah, very much so. I mean, ISE, for me, is still a location that has more value. Visual technology in one place than anywhere else. I can spend three or four days walking around somewhat by myself or with colleagues, friends, or folks from the industry. But I can consume that and be able to say to myself, what's out there that I'm not using, or how can I use something differently? You know, I use a quote many days, I think it was the MTV founder who said, “Innovation is taking two things that are known and putting them together in a new way.” I think that's actually the thing that we've somewhat forgotten in this industry is that sometimes we don't have to go build something brand new if we can make something new and interesting out of pieces we already have. And, Barcelona, regardless of location, although Barcelona is a great location, the reality of that conversation is I go to look to see like, what are people doing? What is starting to drive the industry? And to see the year-over-year refinement of transparent OLED, and to see now the influx of transparent, or call them holographic, I don't know that I would call them that, but that's what the Muxwave folks call them that, that environment, but then also now to see what's going on with Kinetic LED and moving pieces and parts while the LED is showing visual capabilities. But then, even going back, I took a video of Epson. They had a massive umbrella, and it was covered in projectors. It was just a reminder that technology is out there and how it gets used. People often forget that this industry is not entirely new, and yet there are many different ways to do stuff that are actually super exciting.  Yeah, I always say these trade shows are not about giant leaps; they're incremental advances, and you have to have the knowledge and experience where it's helpful to have that knowledge and experience to recognize, I go, oh, that's interesting, they've done this. It's not like I'm blown away by it, but oh, they've conquered this little challenge, and now it's better. IV Dickson: Yeah, that's exactly right.  IV, we could talk for three hours, but I try to keep these to a certain time window, so I'm going to shut this down. It was great chatting. IV Dickson: Dave, thank you so much for the time, and look forward to seeing you soon out on the road.

The convenience industry's foodservice future is bright thanks to its commitment to innovate. Hear how a regional distributor is working with a celebrity chef to elevate its offer. Hosted by: Jeff Lenard About our Guests: Andrew Zimmern, Celebrity Chef Chef Andrew Zimmern is an Emmy-winning and four-time James Beard Award-winning chef, TV personality, writer and social justice advocate. A star of cooking shows on Travel Channel, The Food Network and currently host two shows on the Magnolia Network: “Family Dinner with Andrew Zimmern” and “Family Restaurant with Andrew Zimmern, he has devoted his life to exploring and promoting cultural acceptance, tolerance and understanding through food. Michael Ray, President, Team Modern Michael is the third-generation president of Team Modern, a family of companies headquartered in Somerset, KY. He has served on the board of the Convenience Distribution Association as well as being an active member of NACS, the Kentucky Petroleum Marketers Association and the Tennessee Fuel & Convenience Association.

What are your stores famous for? For HOP Shops, it's their disco bathrooms. The concept is so popular that a couple recently got married in one. Hosted by:Jeff Lenard   About our Guests: Ann Gilbert, Human Resources Manager & HOP Shops' Marketing Manager at Valor Oil As marketing manager for Valor Oil, Ann is responsible for the development and supervision of all marketing and communications strategies for its HOP Shops convenience stores. She also oversees a number of human resources functions for the company. Damon Bail, Vice President of Operations and Marketing for Valor Oil Damon has been vice president of operations and marketing for Valor Oil for the past 5 years. Prior to that, he served in leadership roles for several c-store companies including RaceTrac, MAPCO Express and Buchanon Energy Co. (Bucky's).

There are upwards of 200 billion coupons issued in the United States every year, mostly paper. Digital coupons, called 8112s, are reshaping the coupon landscape. How can convenience retailers jump on the emerging opportunities? Hosted by: Jeff Lenard About our Guest: Sam Jonas, CEO & Co-Founder, nData Services Sam is a 25-year entrepreneur with a focus in the payments industry. Today he is focused on how digital coupons will revolutionize couponing by providing high-value digital discounts directly to consumers' phones, eliminating paper coupons and not requiring a consumer to be a member of a loyalty program to receive the discount.

Pick a big moment in the convenience store industry's history and John Roscoe was there. He popularized many of the huge advances we see today in our industry and shares what he thinks is the path forward. Hosted by: Jeff Lenard About our Guest: John Roscoe, Convenience Industry Icon John Roscoe was named one of the 50 most influential people in the convenience store industry by Convenience Store News for good reason: He was in the room during many of the industry's critical junctures, and led conversations that greatly affected the ultimate direction of the industry.

The early forecasts of the convenience retailing industry's 2023 performance are positive. Which trends stood out and what do preliminary numbers tell us about where the industry is heading in 2024? Hosted by: Jeff Lenard and Chrissy Blasinsky About our Guest: Chris Rapanick, Managing Director, NACS Research Chris oversees the day-to-day operations of NACS Research, manages and directs departmental financial and operational performance, and drives strategic development of NACS long-term research capabilities and offerings for the convenience industry.

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Senior Editor Hannah Hammond talks to Jessica Mente, director of training at convenience-store chain Royal Farms. Royal Farms is No. 30 on CSP's2023 Top 202 ranking of top U.S. convenience-store chains by store count. Mente recapped her experience at CSP's inaugural C-Store Women's Event, which took place in November in Napa, California, and shared how Baltimore, Maryland-based Royal Farms is taking steps to diversity the workforce in Maryland. “At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts together with CSP editors to discuss the latest in c-store news and trends. From mergers and acquisitions to foodservice and technology, the podcast delivers the story straight to listeners in short-format episodes, perfect for the morning commute or a quick break at the office.

2023 has been a big year for convenience store M&A activity. Speaking of which, Foxtrot and Dom's Kitchen & Market plan to merge. And, grocers saw a bigger-than-normal boost on Turkey Wednesday.

Coborn's is selling off more than a dozen c-stores to focus on its grocery business. Holiday grocery shoppers will likely be omnichannel shoppers. And the first C-Store Women conference is wrapping up in Napa.

Kwik Trip is in the midst of a system-wide outage. Walmart is building a milk processing plant. And convenience store acquisition activity just might speed up before year's end.

With the 2023 NACS Show in full swing, c-store retailers are discussing hot topics like retail media networks and acquisition strategy. And, in grocery, it's a busy time for new store openings.

These are the states that saw the most new c-stores last month. Kroger's CEO kicked off Groceryshop in Las Vegas. And there's a new c-store brand in Houston.

In this podcast, we get a chance to talk with Stefanie Miller, President, Away From Home at Kellogg Company - We explore the way we consume food away from home is rapidly evolving. Whether grabbing a quick snack at a convenience store (C-Store), dining on a military base, or choosing options at a college or university cafeteria, the food service industry is witnessing significant changes. One of the most notable trends is the shift towards more snacking and a growing demand for healthier food selections. Let's delve into these exciting developments and back them up with data.The Snacking RevolutionSnacking has become a pervasive part of our daily lives. People are no longer restricted to traditional meal times, and this trend is evident across all the sectors we'll explore.C-Store Snacking: Convenience stores have always been a go-to destination for quick snacks, but the variety and quality of snacks have improved dramatically. With busy schedules, consumers increasingly turn to C-Stores for their snacking needs.Military Dining: Military personnel often have demanding schedules, and quick snacks are necessary. As a result, military dining facilities are expanding their snack options to cater to the snacking habits of service members.College and University Cafeterias: College and university students are notorious for their irregular eating habits. Campuses are now adapting by offering more snack-focused choices that cater to students' busy lives.The Health-Conscious ConsumerIn tandem with the snacking trend, there is a growing awareness of the importance of healthier food choices. Consumers are increasingly seeking options that align with their wellness goals.C-Store Health Initiatives: Many C-Stores have responded to this demand by incorporating healthier snacks, such as fruit, yogurt, and nuts, alongside traditional offerings. This has resulted in a shift towards more balanced snacking choices.Military's Nutritional Focus: The military strongly emphasizes the nutrition of its personnel. Dining facilities are now offering a more comprehensive range of health-focused snacks to support the overall well-being of service members.Higher Education Health Trends: College and university cafeterias are under pressure to provide healthier options to meet the dietary preferences of students. This includes vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free snack choices.Data-Driven Insights69% of consumers are increasing snack occasions to 6X weekly: This statistic underscores the growing importance of snacking in our daily routines. People are snacking more frequently than ever, and this trend shows no sign of slowing down.Healthier snack sales have surged: Healthier snack options, including items with reduced sugar, lower salt content, and organic ingredients, have experienced double-digit growth across all sectors.Predictions for the FutureBased on historical analysis and these trends, we can make some predictions:Snacking will continue to rise: The snacking revolution is here to stay, with people looking for convenient options to fit their on-the-go lifestyles.Healthy snacks will dominate: The demand for healthier snack options will lead to more innovation in this space, resulting in a wider selection of nutritious and tasty snacks.Customization and variety: Expect more customization options in all sectors, allowing consumers to personalize their snacks based on dietary preferences and taste.In conclusion, the future of food away from home in C-Stores, military dining, and college and university cafeterias is shaped by the twin trends of increased snacking and a focus on healthier options. As these trends continue to gain momentum, we can anticipate a more dynamic and diverse landscape in the food service industry, offering something for every palate and dietary need.

In this special edition of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Senior Editor Hannah Hammond talks to leaders from the four founding sponsors of CSP's C-Store Women's Event. Paula Weeks, of Atlanta-based The Coca-Cola Co.; Michelle Patterson of Temple, Texas-based McLane Co.; Danielle Holloway of Richmond, Virginia-based Altria Group Distribution Co.; and Kevin Martello of Burlington, Massachusetts-based Keurig Dr Pepper shared why they wanted to be sponsors and what they hope to come from this event. The annual conference will take place Nov. 8-10 in Napa Valley, California. “At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts together with CSP editors to discuss the latest in c-store news and trends. From mergers and acquisitions to foodservice and technology, the podcast delivers the story straight to listeners in short-format episodes, perfect for the morning commute or a quick break at the office.

Grocery sales continue to fuel Walmart's solid quarterly results. Visits to convenience stores are up. And is it time for c-store retailers to pull back on private label?, one expert says.

NACS was founded in August 1961, but its roots go back decades earlier. We share stories about how and why the industry--and NACS--was created, and where it's going. Hosted by: Jeff Lenard

What categories across C-store foodservice are declining?From 15 years ago to the most recent NACS show, what has changed the most?In the "New Product Hall" better-for-you space, what are the growing trends?Which C-Store chains are on fire and doing a great job innovating?

The August cover story of CSP magazine is all about labor and hiring. As a companion piece to that story, in this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks to Fady Bazzi, operations manager and co-owner of the 33-store Chillbox, owned by New Haven, Michigan-based Bazco Oil. Bazzi discusses his convenience-store chain's practices in attracting and retaining employees, including how and where they advertise to recruit employees, the increased frequency of performance reviews and the Chillbox incentive program, which includes health insurance, 401k plans and paid time off. Bazzi also talks about how to boost the odds of getting quality talent more likely to stay in the job. “At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts together with CSP editors to discuss the latest in c-store news and trends. From mergers and acquisitions to foodservice and technology, the podcast delivers the story straight to listeners in short-format episodes, perfect for the morning commute or a quick break at the office.

In this special bonus episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Senior Editor Hannah Hammond talks to Julia Lazzara, president of Leading NOW on what it means to be a leader and how companies can help more female leaders succeed. Leading NOW will combine career development, education, problem-solving and networking experiences to develop women in the convenience-store industry at the inaugural C-Store Women's (CSW) event in November. Lazzara gives a preview of what event attendees can expect, and why growing female leadership is important in this podcast. “At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts together with CSP editors to discuss the latest in c-store news and trends. From mergers and acquisitions to foodservice and technology, the podcast delivers the story straight to listeners in short-format episodes, perfect for the morning commute or a quick break at the office.

An Amazon Fresh overhaul is underway. One Tennessee c-store operator has acquired another in the state. And grocery employment was on the upswing in July.

Layoffs are hitting both Amazon and Anheuser-Busch. Why a federal attempt to block the Kroger-Albertsons mega-merger may be a bad idea. And why investing in dinner appears to be a wise idea for convenience stores.

C-store beverage sales appear to be on the upswing. Digital sales propelled Albertsons to a solid first quarter. And Dollar General is intensifying its competition with other food retailers.

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Senior Editor Hannah Hammond interviews Amanda Buehner, senior vice president of retail events and media for Winsight LLC, on the company's new C-Store Women's Event. The two talk about what attendees can expect in November, why this event is being held and the challenges women face at work. For more information on the event, visit cstorewomen.com or contact Buehner at abuehner@winsightmedia.com. “At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts together with CSP editors to discuss the latest in c-store news and trends. From mergers and acquisitions to foodservice and technology, the podcast delivers the story straight to listeners in short-format episodes, perfect for the morning commute or a quick break at the office.

The world's largest convenience store just opened. One regional grocer is preparing to go on strike. And Oregon might finally allow motorists to pump their own gas.

Questions:- What trends are fueling innovation in the convenience channel?- Has the consumer demand and behavior actually changed or is it just a really loud minority?- How does a brand best support once they launch into the C-Store channel?- What are best practices when cold prospecting to a C-Store buyer?- How much does data matter when presenting to 7-Eleven and other C-Stores?- What is the 'Brand with Hearts' process, how it's changed over the years, and what does it look like today?- What trends are fading that experienced accelerated growth the last few years?

There are more than 1 million convenience stores across the globe. Here's a look at sales trends in 2022 across 5 global regions and the underlying causes. Hosted by: Jeff Lenard  About our Guest: Jason Zelinski, Client Director, Convenience and Growth Accounts, NIQ Jason leads strategic planning, end-to-end client engagement, revenue management and, most importantly, client satisfaction of the largest convenience retailers in the United States.

Summary:We take for granted how rapidly restaurants have gone digital in the past few years, but it's actually been a vision 20 years in the making. And it all started with today's guest.Noah Glass is the founder and CEO of Olo, a leading commerce platform powering the restaurant industry's digital transformation. Over 600 of the most recognized restaurants and C-Store brands use Olo to grow digital sales, preserve direct consumer relationships, and maximize profitability. More than 85 million consumers run their orders through the platform annually.After attending Yale and spending some time abroad, Noah founded Olo at the age of 24. He established the company before the rise of the smart phone, starting out with a focus on text message ordering. Noah is now recognized as among the most influential leaders in the restaurant industry, and was named number one on 2020's Nation's Restaurant News Power List.Noah and I talked about Olo's inspirational origin story, the incredible impact the company has had on the restaurant industry, and the huge opportunities in this space going forward.Highlights: An introduction to Olo (3:23) Noah tells Olo's origin story (4:01) From protype to actually commercializing the product - getting restaurants on board in the early days (8:27) Noah takes us through Olo's products (10:51) The challenges of digital transformation in the restaurant industry (14:39) Noah talks about the total addressable market and how far into digital transformation we really are (16:38) The status of the restaurant industry, and the mindset around tech adoption (18:14) Olo's approach to R and D (21:06) Noah discusses Olo's financial position and philosophy on acquisitions (22:59) The culture at Olo (25:23) What investors might not understand about Olo (27:32) Links:ICR TwitterICR LinkedInICR WebsiteNoah Glass BioNoah Glass LinkedInOlo WebsiteOlo LinkedInFeedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, marion@lowerstreet.co.

Zeoli Show Hour 3:  In the third hour of the Zeoli Show, Rich discussed the concern of rising gas prices in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with a possible solution to curb some cost by allowing New Jersey residents pump their own gas at stations in the state. He was joined by Executive Director of the New Jersey Gasoline, C-Store and Automotive Association 8:00-Sal Risalvato, Executive Director of the New Jersey Gasoline, C-Store and Automotive Association, joined Rich to discuss a proposal to allow New Jersey residents to self-pump their own gas and hopefully relieve some stress on the rising gas prices.  8:21-NEWS 8:39-Governor Wolf and several Governors support Congress to enact a "gas tax holiday" to help relief at the pump  8;43-Callers on pumping gas  8:47-MSNBC's Katy Tur says it's insane that the US is depending on authoritarian countries for oil  Photo: Getty Images

Today on the Zeoli Show, the rising prices in gasoline is causing everyone to find solutions to the problem. Including a bill to allow New Jersey residents to pump their own gas to bring down costs. Give everyone the choice of pumping their own or being provided full-service at gas stations, we can't be restricting choice to supply at times like this.  6:05-NEWS 6:10-Biden announces ban on russian oil imports without consulting Congress 6:15-The world isn't ready for green energy  6:37-Jersey shore is already struggling to hire workers 6:44-Russia is going to be fine economically because of China 7:01-NEWS 7:06-Harry Potter author JK Rowling under fire against for anti-trans rhetoric yesterday on International Women's Day  7:15-Competing based on your biological gender 7:31-Former Editor at Russian Today media outlet fears we're on the brink of nuclear war  7:37-New York removes indoor mask mandate but not for early learning students 7:40-Product downsizing is causing a "shrink-flation" for common goods 7:46- CUT SHEET | Elizabeth Warren supports more economic sanctions against Russia to make it painful for Putin | Warren doesn't want profit margins for oil companies to go up | We must go after crypto | Oscar co-host Amy Schumer will 'burn every bridge' at the Oscars this year |  8:00-Sal Risalvato, Executive Director of the New Jersey Gasoline, C-Store and Automotive Association, joined Rich to discuss a proposal to allow New Jersey residents to self-pump their own gas and hopefully relieve some stress on the rising gas prices.  8:21-NEWS 8:39-Governor Wolf and several Governors support Congress to enact a "gas tax holiday" to help relief at the pump  8;43-Callers on pumping gas  8:47-MSNBC's Katy Tur says it's insane that the US is depending on authoritarian countries for oil  9:01-NEWS 9:05- New Jersey Assemblyman Hal Wirths joined Rich to discuss the budget proposal yesterday by Governor Phil Murphy which includes a waive on driver's license and marriage license fees starting this year for residents  9:15-Governor Ron DeSantis confronts reporter on the so-called "don't say gay" bill in Florida  9:43-CUT SHEET  | CNN reporter goes to the New Jersey Turnpike to hear Americans are okay paying higher gas prices to hold Russia accountable | Joy Reid thinks we only care about Ukraine because they're white | President Biden knows we have a lot of questions but he's not answering them yet | Biden warns of continued rise in gas prices and emphasises need for clean energy  9;55-Final Thoughts  

Sal Risalvato, Executive Director of the New Jersey Gasoline, C-Store and Automotive Association, joined Rich to discuss a proposal to allow New Jersey residents to self-pump their own gas and hopefully relieve some stress on the rising gas prices.