Convenience Matters Intro:
[Music] You’re listening to Convenience Matters brought to you by NACS., Whether it’s for food, fuel, drinks or snacks, about half of the U.S. population shops at a convenience store every day. We’ll talk about what we see at stores and what the future may hold for our industry.

Jeff Lenard:
In the fall of 1963, a 7-Eleven in Austin, Texas was supposed to close at 11 o’clock at night, just like their store hours seven to 11 – that was their hours. It stayed open late because the customer rush was so…big after a big football game that the clerks kept the store open. When they finally looked at the clock, they realized they had worked 24 hours straight because it was seven in the morning. That was the first 24/7 convenience store. Obviously, our industry is known for 24/7 operations now. And now, we’re celebrating 24/7 Day this July 24th.

New Speaker:
Welcome Convenience Matters. My name is Jeff Lenard, I’m with NACS, and I’m joined by two colleagues also at NACS – Lindsay Buchanan and Steph Sikorski. And the three of us are going to talk about 24/7 Day, which is the industry’s only celebration of 24/7 operations. And what it means. So I want to start with you, Steph, in just giving us a big picture about 24/7 Day, how did it start and what does it mean to our industry?

Stephanie Sikorski:
Yeah, great way to kick it off. So about three years ago in 2018, we took a look at the industry just where we were seeing charitable giving efforts across retailers and suppliers. And from the research realized that a lot of folks were doing the same thing, no surprise, in some of the buckets, in terms of where we were trying to have impact. And with more than a billion that’s given from industry retailers each year, we saw opportunities. and quite honestly thought that 1 billion might be underestimated. When we started to dig into that, we took a look at different areas from disaster relief to fighting hunger, to funding education for future leaders, sustainable environments, healthy kids, these five areas. We found that we were all playing in the same area. When we looked at what we could do in terms of launching {NACS} Foundation, response relief was the most urgent at that time in terms of where we saw opportunities. And that is how 24/7 Days first came around in terms of taking a look at the calendar, looking for an opportunity to celebrate what our industry does, 24/7.

Jeff Lenard:
And really we got involved with the Red Cross in 2017. We met with them in January talked about how we might work with them. And then the three hurricanes hit in 2017. We had Harvey, we had Irma that devastated the U.S. And that led to a greater relationship with the Red Cross and helped make that rollout of 24/7 Day that much easier because we already had that relationship. They already knew our industry and it was really easy to partner with this group that has a great name reputation, because they also realized we had a great name reputation.

Stephanie Sikorski:
Yeah, you’re exactly right. When we took a look at our industry, we talk a lot of time and spoke convenience stores, but it’s also our supplier partners as well. And we know that we’re essential businesses. We know that our operations are 24/7. But we often don’t talk about things beyond just the convenience that we provide. A lot of times we forget to talk about the work that we do in the communities and you and I have often talked about us being the first supporters for first responders, right. And how often we’ve had to go back to headlines that talked about, you know, things, things that happen in Zero Dark Thirty, and it always has some type of negative headline. And I’ll never forget us sitting here in the office saying, you know, I think it’s about time that we took control of that and started to celebrate and, and really recognize the work that we do in Zero Dark Thirty, if that’s what you want to call it. And that’s where we saw an opportunity to pivot and say, thank goodness that our stores are the fabric of communities. And thank goodness that we have 24/7 operations, because whether it’s a snow storm or a hurricane or a wildfire because our stores are across the U S and centralized to those communities, it means that first responders have, have parking lots, for example, to set up shop and water and access to gas, to be able to get to those sometimes remote communities to do what they do. So that’s again, just talking about 24/7 operations and then linking it to the work of first responders and recognizing that their work doesn’t sleep either, right. We said last year, talking about that heroes truly don’t take a break. And I’m proud to be able to do an event…Lindsay has worked really hard on really growing this event over the last three years with us…but celebrating not only what we do in communities and how we are part of that, but partnering with Red Cross and others, like you said, to celebrate the work of first responders and to make a dent in disaster relief and to be able to do something super positive.

Jeff Lenard:
That was a perfect segue to talking to Lindsay about how to make this program activated. Because we’ve talked about this and hopefully somebody listened to this and said, I want in, I want to know how I can do this. And I want to know how much it costs and how complicated it will be. And Lindsay, I think you’re going to bust those two myths. It is not complicated and it is not expensive.

Lindsay Buchanan:
It’s not, yeah. We actually take a lot of pride in the fact that it, it is neither of those things. we focus on, you know, uniting the industry. We are the megaphone for the industry and the work that they’re doing in communities every day. They are able to come on with us and participate at no cost at at entry-level. We have additional sponsorship opportunities that allow you to go deeper in the campaign. If that’s something you’re interested in, but if you’re looking to come on board and unite with the industry, there’s no cost. And it’s very important to us that the two pieces that it requires you to participate are easy to get in on you know, what your offer is and who your offer extends to is up to you. It’s unique to your communities and that’s something that’s very important to us. Not that we don’t care about, you know, what these communities are and what a local hero is to you, but because we are, you know, we are interested and invested in you honoring your community and the people in your community and the way that is important to you. We might miss something. I know that one of my participants is including electric lineman in their offer because they have a lot of hurricanes in the area and it’s very important to have electricity, but that’s not something that we might have considered. So for us, it’s really important that you be able to build that out and make it unique and custom to you.

Jeff Lenard:
So thinking about other heroes – the truck drivers that we’ve heard about, there’s a trucking shortage now and who hasn’t had that overnight delivery of some essential item that really isn’t that essential, but the truck driver got it there the next day, or the truck drivers who are delivering all of the fuel in after the Colonial Pipeline issues and things like that. So there’s all kinds of heroes that we can customize. And also shame on me. I’m talking to two branding and messaging experts and my message to people was it’s not terrible. You know, it’s not a negative, it is a huge positive. It is something that is very tightly pulled together based on focus groups. And there is no barrier to entry for anybody that wants to participate in this. You get messaging that is focus group tested, and it works around social media. It works around all kinds of different elements of how you want to tell your story. So it’s a pretty cool program. And I know Steph one of the things that you’re proud of is telling people how quickly it has grown just enormous leaps and bounds in, in just a couple of years.

Stephanie Sikorski:
Yeah, we are entering year three from when we first launched. We had three different retailers that saw the vision for what this was and what it could be. And Sheetz, Wawa and RaceTrac joined us for that inaugural year. Last year we were able to grow the program more than 500%. We had more than 18 different retailers participating, more than 20,000 store locations, which is amazing to be able to say, thanks and recognize heroes across the U.S. In that way this year we are tracking to be over that again. And again, when we say tracking to be over that again, a lot of times you talk about, you know, what the wins are with celebrating something like that in this case, it’s an industry and community win, right? We’ve got retailers and suppliers that are uniting together. Sure, they could do it individually and recognize those hometown heroes one-on-one.

Stephanie Sikorski:
But what an amazing thing to be able to come together across the U.S. On one single day, 24/7 Day, July 24th. And to be able to say, thank you as a collective, I don’t know other other industries that have something like that that celebrated from an industry standpoint, we also recognize that the work of hometown heroes and, and disaster relief, it doesn’t sleep right. So we also know that while we’re recognizing it on a single day, this is something that happens year round. There’s amazing stories of what people are doing in communities and what individual retailers and our supplier partners are doing. But we saw an opportunity to stop and pause and recognize that on a single day, and whether it’s grabbing a cup of coffee at a local convenience store, or in some cases, we’ve had partners that have done tacos and lunches. In some cases, it’s been a check to the American Red Cross. So there’s, as Lindsay talked about earlier, there’s all different ways that you can customize the program. It’s important that it’s unique to your own community’s needs, that it’s specific to the type of disaster and response relief that’s needed in those communities. And it’s important to be able to pull together and create those offers that make sense for your own communities. And our job, as Lindsay said, is to be that megaphone, to help celebrate it and get the recognition out there.

Jeff Lenard:
And we’re also hopefully coming out of this pandemic. Now, we’re seeing that more people are freely traveling about that routines are picking up and as we go into July…July 24th…it looks like people feel pretty good about being out and about and re-establishing routines. So what better way to find a connection with your community by saying, Hey, come visit us, come check us out. ‘Cause we care about you guys. And it might be really helpful in, in telling that story as people come back out and they’re out all the time. So Lindsay, when we look at all this where we’re talking about we’re in early June, there’s still plenty of time to get involved in this program that just not doesn’t mean you want to hang out much longer in, in not jump in, but there is time to execute this.

Lindsay Buchanan:
And there’s plenty of time to execute. We had people that joined on with us on July 23rd. Is it harder to get the toolkit materials to you in 24 hours? Yes. Can we do it? Also, yes. And there’s just less time to promote your offer and your brand alongside the NACS Foundation brand. But it is possible. I mean, you can come on at any time and we will gladly have you!

Jeff Lenard:
Yeah, I don’t think we want 24/7, 24 hours notice? I don’t think we want to really go too far out on that offer, but it is amazing the flexibility that, that people know that we have in executing this and as Steph was talking about, it’s the building and it’s, it’s the idea of keeping those that have been in the program last year in knowing that they say, Hey, we’re doing this again. We have a lot of promotions that we want to execute, but this is important to us. And then we add new ones in there. When you look at 20 some thousand stores that are part of this program, and you think about how big that is. There are about 35,000 grocery stores in the country. So the equivalent would be is if every other grocery store in the country did something like this. So this is truly a movement, Steph. And there has to be some real pride in how you hear from people and what they tell you that this is just a program that, that fits their brand character very well.

Stephanie Sikorski:
Yeah, exactly. There’s a lot of programs, especially when you think about fundraising that are cookie cutter. And there’s the benefit of having something that’s cookie cutter because it is what it is and it can be replicated really easy. in this case, like we talked about earlier, we wanted something that was unique to that community, unique to that brand and the needs, not everyone thankfully has to deal with wildfires and on the flip side, not everyone has to deal with blizzards and snowstorms. So those types of outreach and thank yous, the hometown heroes might look a little bit and we didn’t want to have to say that this is what it is and what it isn’t. at the same time, we also knew that the focus of the program and the response relief pillar of the foundation, which is what 24/7 sits under was for us to be able to expand the reach and the impact, and importantly, the awareness of what our community does.

Stephanie Sikorski:
And when I say our community, I mean our industry. How convenience stores partner with local communities in individuals when we’re needed most. And we really felt that by aligning our efforts, that there’s a real power there, we can have not only deeper engagement with our employees, because a lot of times what we’ve heard and Lindsay’s heard this more even than I am working directly with them is that employees had comments like, wow, I had no idea that I was a part of a company that cared so much about the community, and this is fantastic to be able to give that cup of coffee or that sandwich or whatever that offer is as a way of saying, thank you. That’s a lasting impact, right? And it goes beyond just 24 hours, seven days a week that’s year round. We also know that by aligning that way, we have greater impact.

Stephanie Sikorski:
So instead of making an impact by that single store in that single community or that single street corner, now we have 20,000 plus sites and growing where we’re able to make impact. And hopefully we don’t have to deal with another pandemic of this size, but again, by, by uniting all of us together, there’s strength there for whatever we might need to tackle in the future. And now you’ve got this, this stronger community and by community, I mean, nationwide, we do have our eyes on growing globally. But nationwide to where we can quickly assemble individuals and companies. Now we have a whole network to be able to affect change and to really respond to whatever that disaster and type of relief is needed.

Jeff Lenard:
I want to just touch on one point that you mentioned, you talked about the employees, the value for employees in this. And I think that is huge. And I think it needs to be restated that right now, when we survey our members and we ask, what are the biggest challenges you face? Number one is it’s difficult to get and keep labor. It’s just an incredibly difficult market. And when you’re able to make that job a little bit more meaningful, because you’re tied into a national celebration and maybe your company is part of this, and then you see something on the news, it just reinforces that this is a big deal and that you’re celebrating heroes that, that everyone wants to be in line with because they’re what keeps the community together. I think that’s a really cool point to, to reinforce as this program is rolled out this year.

Stephanie Sikorski:
No, you’re exactly right. I mean, it’s got impact on both sides of the counter, right? It’s impactful to the community member, whether they are one of the local heroes or that community member is making a purchase to help support disaster relief efforts or it’s the employee. And while the employee might be on the other side of the counter, there’s still a consumer, right. We still vote with our dollar. if you will, in terms of how you want to purchase where you want to work. And for a lot of people a paycheck is one thing, but having impact and knowing that you’re contributing to something that’s bigger and positive, and you can be part of something that has real measurable change is really important. And that’s what we heard with 24/7 Day was, you know, it’s so fantastic to be able to talk one-on-one and say, thank you to those that come in. And just the volume of people that are coming through those front doors and being able to say that on a personal level, it’s something you don’t forget.

Jeff Lenard:
Yeah. And you’re also possibly going to get a thank you right back, because it is a two way appreciation. And after all, we are essential businesses and we demonstrated how important we are in communities 24/7. So Lindsay wrapping everything up just to let people know, we, we don’t want you necessarily to send, to contact Lindsay on July 23rd. It would be good sooner than later, how can they get involved? As soon as this podcast is over to commit and to have something that is unique to their market and their needs.

Stephanie Sikorski:
Absolutely. Yeah. So there’s more information at 247day.org That you can explore and learn about the event itself, who’s participating. And there is a contact form if you’re interested in going through the site and one of us, Stephanie, or I will contact you with some more information or you can email me directly. My email is [email protected]. Definitely reach out and we can start a conversation.

Jeff Lenard:
Let’s create a movement because this is really cool. It is the industry’s only celebration of its kind and it is growing. And it is something that means a lot to an awful lot of people. So thank you, Lindsay and thank you, Steph, for joining us today and thank you all for listening to Convenience Matters.

Convenience Matters Outro:
[Music] Convenience Matters is brought to you by NACS and produced in partnership with Human Factor. For more information, visit convenience.org.