Photo by CSP Staff

With the goal of becoming a convenience store chain fully focused on the grocery industry, Dash In Convenience Stores has invested a lot of time over the past five years in redeveloping its existing network.

“Now there are grills, fryers and Vector ovens in every store,” said Blackie Wills (pictured: second from left), president and CEO of The Wills Group, which operates Dash In. “We have a pretty extensive prepared food menu. We remodeled it early last year and are in the process of integrating new menus into all existing stores. We should be done with that by the end of the year.”

Wills spoke earlier this month about “Finding Your Size” at CSP 2024 Outlook Leadership Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

Loyalty programs, branding and more were other topics discussed by Wills and two other experts, Jennifer Bach (far right) of MFA Oil Co. and Rob Chumley (second from right) of Murphy USA. The event was moderated by Mitch Morrison (far left), Vice President, Retailer Relations and Event Content Director of Informa Connect Foodservice, the owner of CSP.

“We’ve been on a journey over the last decade to transform both the brand and the company,” Wills said of the La Plata, Maryland-based company. “We’ve done a variety of things in the last year: We launched a new prototype, revamped the company menu and visual identity, developed a new technology stack and loyalty program. A lot of work has gone into bringing that vision to life.”

Referring to the company’s 60-location Splash In car wash business, Wills said, “We believe we have a competitive advantage if we can offer a car wash with fuel and convenience in the same location. Our goal is 125 car washes by the end of the decade. This model is becoming an increasingly larger part of our business.”

Break time

At MFA Oil Co., Columbia Missouri, which operates the Break Time chain, a tier-based system has been developed “where you have to qualify for a tier to get certain rewards from us,” said Jennifer Bach, vice president of Break Time operations. “There’s the entry level, if you visit us once or twice, then you move up to the next tiers. The highest tier is 20 visits per month.”

Most customers look for fuel rewards, followed by coffee and beverage rewards, Bach said, adding: “You have to requalify every month to stay in the tier you were in to get those rewards.”

Break Time has had a loyalty program for about seven years, but wanted to do something “a little different than what was common in the market at the time,” she said.

MFA Oil Co. “has accomplished a lot through acquisitions,” Bach said. “We have a lot of different store sizes depending on the markets we enter, and we try to keep our concepts consistent across the different size stores. We have a grocery offering that we’re heavily involved in, and we offer our own breakfast sandwich that we offer in most of our stores where we offer grocery.”

The chain is trying to play on the word “time” because “as everyone knows, the convenience store business is trying to save people time,” Bach said.

Murphy Oil

At Murphy USA, Rob Chumley, senior vice president and chief digital officer, said there are about 1,600 Murphy USA stores and about 150 QuickCheks.

Under the El Dorado, Arkansas-based parent company Murphy USA, there are three different formats that function differently, he said.

“We have 750 kiosks, then we have small walk-in kiosks and we have large walk-in kiosks,” Chumley said.

Morrison pointed out that Murphy USA’s stores are very traditional and don’t have an extensive make-to-order food program. “Yet it works very well,” he said. “I’m curious why that is.”

Chumley said, “At Murphy USA, we have about 2 million transactions a day. I call those missions, and for the most part the customer has already decided what that mission is. What I mean by that is that a customer has never walked into a Murphy USA kiosk and been disappointed that they couldn’t get a custom burrito in that tiny little shack, so they’ve already decided what mission Murphy is going to accomplish for them.

“I believe that loyalty is a reward for providing real value to your customers and for them to show you loyalty in return.”

“If they wanted that burrito made to order, they would go to one of our competitors. So we focused on our low-cost operating model and doubled down on our investments in fuel and tobacco. And we make no apologies for not being food curious and not offering food made to order. There are more than enough missions that can be solved for our customers.”

On the topic of loyalty, Chumley said, “Loyalty was never the goal. I believe loyalty is a result that you get when you provide meaningful value to your customers, and in return they give you loyalty.”

“We never had goals in terms of ‘getting this many sign-ups.’ When we look at it, I don’t really care how many people sign up, as long as I can see that we are demonstrably changing their behavior in a profitable way.”

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