Convenience Matters

A known brand creates awareness that attracts customers to your forecourt, entices them to shop your store and establishes it as a community gathering spot—especially in small towns.

Related Links:

Cenex Cenex LIFT Initiative NACS Magazine: "Face LIFT"

Hosted by:

Jeff Lenard

About our Guest:

Akhtar Hussain, Director of Refined Fuels Marketing, CENEX

Akhtar Hussain is the director of refined fuels marketing at CHS, where he is responsible for Cenex brand marketing, retail development and retail imaging and equipment for Cenex, which has more than 1,500 convenience store locations across 19 states. In his more than 10 years at CHS, Hussain has held a number of roles including manager of petroleum equipment and manager of refined fuels marketing. A Minnesota native, he received his degree in marketing from Metropolitan State University.

McKinsey experts share why employees leave their jobs, what employers think are the reasons and what it would take to keep employees from quitting.

Related Links:

McKinsey & Company

NACS Leadership Forum | NACS Magazine

How To Attract Employees

Marshfield Hills General Store

Hosted by:

Jeff Lenard

About our Guests:

Annie Valkova, Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company

Annie Valkova is an associate partner in McKinsey's Chicago office, where she focuses on serving retail clients on frontline operations and labor topics. Her areas of expertise include labor productivity, process optimization and employee recruiting and engagement. Her recent research focuses on the current labor environment and automation opportunities in retail settings. Annie has experience working in all retail formats over the past 10 years, especially small format stores including convenience, drug and fuel retail.

Alex Rodriguez, Partner, McKinsey & Company

Alex Rodriguez is a partner in McKinsey's Miami office and a leader in McKinsey's retail practice globally, where he focuses on transforming retail operations. He has deep expertise in frontline enablement and capability building, customer experience, change management and labor productivity. He leads all of McKinsey's Customer Experience work, research and practitioners in North America. Alex serves retail clients across formats, especially small format stores, to reimagine the customer and employee experience, reengineer operations and design and test operating model transformations.

The bones were good at the location Pitmaster Carey Bringle chose for his latest BBQ restaurant, Bringle's Smoking Oasis.

Related Links:

Peg Leg Porker

Bringle's Smoking Oasis

Hosted by:

Jeff Lenard and Chris Blasinsky

About our Guest:

Carey Bringle, Pitmaster and Founder of Peg Leg Porker

Bringle founded his first restaurant, Peg Leg Porker, in 2013. Peg Leg Porker is named after Bringle and his greatest win, a cancer battle that he triumphed at the age of 17. With his win, he lost his leg, which led him to create a new name and only added more fire to his passion for success. Upon opening its doors in the heart of Nashville, Peg Leg Porker was quickly named one of the hottest BBQ joints in the country by numerous media outlets. His second concept, Bringle's Smoking Oasis, took over a former auto repair shop. The menu features smoked brisket, pulled pork, beef ribs and an array of homemade sides like Mexican Street corn, chorizo queso and Texas-style baked beans.

A convenience store with its own brewery? Yep! Chicagoland PRIDE Stores have even more innovation and excitement in the works.

Related Links:

The PRIDE Stores

93 Octane Brewery

Parent Petroleum

Ideas 2 Go: Parent Petroleum's Brewing Success

The Big Question

Hosted by:

Jeff Lenard and Rose Johnson

About our Guest:

Mario Spina, owner and CEO, Parent Petroleum

Mario is the owner and CEO of St. Charles, Illinois-based Parent Petroleum Co., a wholesale supplier of fuel and lubricants. He also owns and operates 15 The PRIDE Stores, which feature three foodservice concepts—PRIDE Cafe, Urban Counter, and Taco Urbano—plus a wine & spirits store, along with 93 Octane, a brewery.

Retail fueling experts break down current market conditions affecting the price per gallon.

Related Links:

NACS Fuels Resource Center Fuels Institute

Hosted by: Jeff Lenard

About our Guests:

Paige Anderson, Director of Government Relations, NACS

Paige represents NACS members before Congress and the administration on policy issues relating to fuels, energy, cyber and data security, consumer data privacy, climate change, transportation and patent reform. She joined NACS in December 2012 after spending 20 years on Capitol Hill in the office of Rep. Mary Bono Mack (CA-45) as deputy chief of staff and legislative director, and in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. She hails from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and has a B.A. in political science and economics. Paige also earned an M.A. in national security studies from California State University, San Bernardino.

John Eichberger, Executive Director, Fuels Institute

John leads the Fuels Institute, a nonprofit, independent think tank founded in 2013 and managed by NACS. Prior to the Fuels Institute, he served more than 14 years at NACS as vice president of government relations and as the director of motor fuels. He oversaw advocacy operations and represented the convenience and fuel retailing industry before the media and federal government. With decades of experience, Eichberger is a recognized and go-to expert on fuels and fuel retailing.

From culture to automation, Jared Scheeler shares how his company is tackling labor challenges.

Related Links:

"Thinking Big," NACS Magazine, January 2022

Hosted by:

Jeff Lenard and Chris Blasinsky

About our Guest:

Jared Scheeler, CEO, The Hub Convenience Stores

Scheeler, who is also the 2021-22 NACS chairman, began his career in the convenience industry in 1998 while attending the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, where he worked at Minneapolis-based Bobby & Steve's Auto World. His engagement with NACS goes back to 2001, when he attended his first NACS Show in Las Vegas. "That's when I fell in love with the industry," he said in the January 2022 issue of NACS Magazine. In 2015, Scheeler returned to his hometown and co-founded The Hub in Dickinson, North Dakota.

Not all emissions are equal. A new study explores how energy can determine where EVs and hybrids reduce emissions. Hint: It varies considerably by region.

Related Links:

Fuels Institute

Life Cycle Analysis: Electric and Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles

Hosted by:

Jeff Lenard and Chris Blasinsky

About our Guest:

John Eichberger, Executive Director, Fuels Institute

John Eichberger leads the Fuels Institute, a nonprofit, independent think tank founded in 2013 and managed by NACS. Prior to the Fuels Institute, he served more than 14 years at NACS as vice president of government relations and as the director of motor fuels. He oversaw advocacy operations and represented the convenience and fuel retailing industry before the media and federal government. With decades of experience, Eichberger is a recognized and go-to expert on fuels and fuel retailing.

What President Biden's address means for the convenience and fuel retailing industry.

Related Links:

Merchants Payments Coalition NACS Advocacy NACS Day on the Hill

Hosted by:

Jeff Lenard and Chris Blasinsky

About our Guest:

Doug Kantor, NACS General Counsel

Doug joined NACS in May 2021 after serving as a partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he worked with the NACS government relations team to define effective policy-based solutions on issues ranging from fuels to financial services. He has established and administered coalitions of companies and trade associations that share common legislative and regulatory objectives, including the Merchants Payments Coalition and its work to reform credit and debit card swipe fees.

From flavored milk to supporting service dogs and veterans, Kurt Weigel shares how the 90-year-old company is just getting started.

Related Links:

Weigel's NACS Ideas 2 Go | Weigel's NACS HR Forum Smoky Mountain Service Dogs

Hosted by:

Chris Blasinsky and Britt Brewer

About our Guest:

Kurt Weigel, Recruiting Manager, Weigel's Stores Inc.

You'll find Kurt Weigel at the Powell, Tennessee-based Weigel's, handling recruitment and customer concerns and overseeing the company's annual Weigel's Family Christmas. He has been with Weigel's for nearly two decades and previously taught middle school in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Weigel's traces its roots back to 1847, when Carl Augustus Weigel emigrated from Saxony, Germany, and purchased a 470-acre farm for $1,000 in Wartburg, Tennessee. Fast-forwarding to 1964, Bill Weigel opened the first Weigel's convenience store located on Oak Ridge Highway. Today there are 70 Weigel's stores throughout East Tennessee.

Vehicle sales trends have massive implications for the economy and the future of fueling. What's affecting sales now, and what could change in the next five years?

Related Links:

National Automobile Dealers Association NACS Fuels Resource Center Fuels Institute

Hosted by:

Jeff Lenard and John Eichberger

About our Guest:

Patrick Manzi, Chief Economist, National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA)

Patrick Manzi works with NADA and the American Truck Dealers (ATD), a division of NADA. He regularly speaks to various audiences about the auto industry and is responsible for many of the association's monthly and annual economic reports including NADA Data and ATD Data.