Stephanie Sikorski:
We started 24/7 Day, about four years ago. It kicked off with RaceTrac, Wawa and Sheetz and if you fast forward we’re entering our fourth year and more than 40 different brands participating. But truly what I wanted to talk about was where it all started, and that was around pivoting, which we’ve done a lot in the convenience space. And when we took a look at what can we solve for and where some of the things that we’re doing really well in communities and the things not so great that we’ve been in headlines for was around 24/7 operations. The idea that not too much good happens after dark or first thing in the morning, and a few of us sat down and said, you know what if we change that. What if instead of playing defense, we took an opportunity to say think of all the great things that happen and thank goodness that we’re available 24/7, and enter response relief, disaster relief with first responders.

Stephanie Sikorski:
We’ve often heard of us as being first supporters for first responders. And because we’re open after dark or first thing in the morning, it’s about the end of a shift for a local fireman or firewoman, it’s the start of a medical personnel’s day. Whether it’s a wildfire or snowstorm, tornado, hurricane, you name it, our parking lots have often been the setup for these first responders to come to. It’s also the place where folks go for those basics in terms of ATM, gas, food, water, knowing that they can get in and out really quickly. When you look at the calendar, we also saw July 24th happens to be the busy summer season also happens to be when we start to see a lot of stir up in weather and patterns.

Stephanie Sikorski:
It naturally felt like a day that we could attach to as an industry on a calendar and really rally behind the great work that we do in communities and importantly, the great partnerships that we have with first responders and others to be able to say, what if on this one day, even though a number of us celebrate that year round, what if we just took one day to pause for a second and say thank you and do it in a way that was unified across our industry. How powerful could that be, and enter 24/7 Day

Jeff Lenard:
Some groups are celebrating truck drivers because of the disruptions we have in the supply chain right now. Imagine how much it would be if truck drivers were only on the road for eight hours a day instead of 24 hours a day moving things across the country, needing a place to fill up at three in the morning, or you name it. Those Amazon packages don’t arrive on your doorstep without a lot happening behind the scenes. Derek, when you look at 24/7, I know one of the things that I’ve heard from people in zoning hearings is that usually the people who love convenience stores aren’t in zoning hearings. But the people who show up at zoning hearings, usually the first thing you hear is I don’t want a store that’s open 24 hours a day. Nothing good. All that stuff that Steff talked about.

Derek Gaskins:
Certainly. I think you hit the heart of the matter. You and Stephanie had the foresight that this industry prides itself on—being open when no one else is. I mean, that is the very definition of the C in convenience. We are selling time. We are selling to different shifts. Someone’s first shift can be very different. Our core customers, they may be coming to us at eight in the morning, but for them that’s night. They are just getting off and ready to go home to bed. And then vice versa, someone coming in at eight or 10 o’clock at night. So we’ve always taken pride from the origins of the industry and being open when others aren’t. To take it a step further in times of crisis and why this resonates with Yesway, and I would say with the industry, we fuel those who need it the most. When it’s a hurricane, when it’s any kind of natural disaster. We operate stores right now in New Mexico where we’ve had fires that have impacted dozens of our stores. And even though those stores have been really close to fires and have been the last thing to close prior to that, we were the only source of water, the only source to refuel fire trucks and engines, a place to get a meal. If you look at COVID, just that era and what we have gone through, I think NACS advocating on behalf of the industry that we were essential retail was not to be taken lightly. And Jeff, to your point about fueling truckers and the supply chain, we had to be open and maintain the best semblance we could of 24/7.

Derek Gaskins:
As the world closed around us, we were the only place open. And to your point about the NIMBYs at the zoning committees, hopefully, you know, people started to realize that. I know in the case of Yesway we attracted and retained a lot of new customers through that. If their grocery store was closed or their restaurant was closed, they were able to come in, get a hot meal, find out that we had fill-in grocery and perishables and produce and fresh items for them to buy or even staples, milk, bread, and eggs, something that basic. For us, the 24/7 is a commitment. It’s a brand pillar. Even if NACS did not galvanize this, we already give beverages to first responders, police, fire, EMS in uniform on shifts at every new store that I open. And we open stores at a very fast clip. I’m giving away four to $5,000 per store.

Derek Gaskins:
And we start with police and fire and schools, those being the three. I’m opening 50 plus stores a year, you’re talking about several hundred thousand dollars that we are writing checks and saying be a part of this. And then when we have a grand opening celebration, it could be a concert in the parking lot, or a ribbon cutting or any kind of ceremony. We have the fire trucks there for kids to climb one. We have the sheriff there to help us commission the new store. We’ll bring in the township folks and that’s Yesway, but that’s also other brands that I’ve been a part of. I have to give Rutter’s credit. I worked with Scott Hartman and that family and group for six-plus years and Scott took it very seriously. I spent time with Couche-Tard and Exxon and going all the way back 20-plus years ago to Giant Eagle and our GetGo. Same thing. Every supermarket, every convenience store that we open, we recognize to be a pillar in the community. You want to work closely with those who protect and serve the communities that we serve. So it is definitely crucial to us and with Yesway, something that we are proud of and glad to be a part of what NACS has going on this year.

Stephanie Sikorski:
I wanted to hit in a couple things that Derek said, it was super simple, but it’s a really powerful statement. And I think a lot of folks who are listening or in the industry would agree with that. And that was this statement: We fuel those who need it most, and that unpackaged says so much about 24/7 Day as well as 24/7 operations and for each of us who have brands in the community. The idea that not only are first responders there when you need them, but also on the flip side as community pillars when they need them. And the idea that a hero looks different across communities. Some of our friends in South Dakota might have been battling some snowstorms and for others it’s tornadoes or hurricanes, but the one thing that isn’t different is how we show up time and time again in the communities and how we say thanks. And that’s truly the power of the 24/7 Day program—it’s not about saying that everyone has to do the same level of thanks or the same offer, the same recognition across communities. It’s about showing up and doing it in a way that’s true to who you are as a brand, as a company, how your employees show up, but really important, what it means to the community.

Stephanie Sikorski:
That’s where we live, it’s where we work, and it’s how we show up in terms of wanting to make sure that we get back up and running again. To bring it full circle to what Derek said with the fueling, but to make sure that we get back up and running again when we are hit with a crisis. And certainly over the last four years when we first started this, we talked about it being about celebrating and recognizing and saying, I see you to first responders. That definition has absolutely evolved because it was our employees on the front lines who allowed us to be deemed essential by showing up every day. It was the truckers you talked about, Jeff, that are loading necessary fuel and also water and food supplies. Those from 911 professional operations, oftentimes the first on the other end of the phone, medical personnel, there’s a lot of different definitions of what that is. Again, just a great way for us to say thank you.

Jeff Lenard:
And basically what both of you are describing is how do we celebrate the heroes in our community, the heroes who protect us and make it easy for all of us to do heroic things every now and then. Derek, the phrase hero really resonates in how you market and how do you tell stories. Is there anything that Yesway is doing related to 24/7 Day that’s worth mentioning, an idea that maybe somebody else could execute?

Derek Gaskins:
Absolutely. We are partnering with a supplier Keurig Dr Pepper and looking to do a one for now, one for later type of program where we’re offering a free beverage in a dispensed cup, hot or cold, that Dr Pepper will be offering from their core portfolio, so CORE bottled water for only $1. So that’s a beverage for now and is something for later. We’re also doing some discounted meals on our Allsup’s world famous burritos and chimichangas, which absolutely will get the police, fire and first responders well fed and fueled, fueling your mind, body and soul and your belly too. I would say Jeff, the most important thing, while it was not directly related to NACS 24/7, it was similar and it came out of COVID, this notion of heroes. We launched a program called Hospitality Heroes, where we wanted to recognize our team members who were on the front lines during COVID and kept our stores open 365 and 24/7 as best they could.

Derek Gaskins:
I keep saying when the whole world closed down, we were open. We operate in some states, South Dakota, Wyoming, Iowa, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, where we’re urban, suburban and rural. Our people still were heroic. I traveled throughout that and was motivated because as scary as COVID was, getting on a plane when no one else was on there and having a mask and staying in a hotel when you literally could not get a meal, no housekeeping and there may be two people in the entire hotel—but my people were in the stores working. And so we launched this notion to get senior leadership in the stores and positively reinforce some of the behaviors that we wanted to see. Right now this seems trite b ut if you think back to 2020, when COVID was really raging in spring and summer, there were culture wars, and in some of my markets people were like ‘I’m not wearing a mask. How you can’t tell me to wear a mask.’ Well, rather than try to have confrontation, we encouraged our folks to model the behaviors that we wanted from customers. We put signage up, we had mask mandates, but we also had our people cleaning high touch areas, wearing masks, wearing gloves, being visible. So customers felt safe or safer. They felt safer that this place takes cleanliness to such a level that I feel more comfortable. And I love taking the C from convenience and saying C in community. I feel more comfortable shopping in my community where I know the people, and as irrational as that may seem than going even 10 miles outside and going to a big Walmart, Target Kroger, or what have you, where there may a thousand people who I don’t know, that served us well. And I think as an industry, you can talk to many leaders and that’s why we had the sales growth that we had, and it may have shifted within categories. So, going back to this notion of our heroes, that started a Hospitality Hero program for us. Each one ran for about six to 10 weeks and we would go out in the stores with cash and catch team members. And if they were modeling what we thought were worthy behaviors that we desired, it was bonuses right on the spot. Put $100 in someone’s hand, a $50 bill in someone’s hand. And it wasn’t the cash. It was the fact that they were recognized. I joke about this and my ops team calls me soft, but I’ve never cried as much as I cried when we would do store visits.

Derek Gaskins:
And, you know, people would ask ‘may I hug you’ and be moved to tears and say, ‘I didn’t think that anyone cared. I can’t believe you’re out here and doing these things.’ And I’m looking at it through the lens of, I can’t believe our stores never closed and we were able to keep open and operate relatively safely in the face of a pandemic. And so the notion of first responders and heroes, you know, I extended it and we took it a step further and we wanted to recognize our people also because they were heroes and they were doing things that I know I couldn’t do. There’s no way I could staff a store for 8, 10, 12 hours shift and deal with that many transactions and the uncertainty in those days when people didn’t even know whether it was airborne. I mean, there were so many misconceptions out there. I don’t want to speak about it, but it was absolutely crazy.

Jeff Lenard:
You hit on not only the idea of heroes, but the other phrase you used was cares. And I think when we’re looking at $5 gas, $6 gas, wherever it is wherever you are in the country, people are finding a lot of things that are challenging them right now. Steff, the whole notion of the Foundation is convenience cares. Talk a little bit about the caring element that goes into telling the story about 24/7 Day.

Stephanie Sikorski:
Well, and at its core, I think that’s what we’re all talking about, right? It’s about something that is as small as saying, I see you and thank you for what you do. It’s those small moments of gratitude, but it can’t just be that alone. It has to be where it’s genuine. Derek, you just told us some amazing stories as you walked us back through there, but lined through all of it that common thread was that gesture. It could have been something as simple as a hug costs nothing, right? Or the in-the-moment bonus—it’s the fact that you did it on the spot recognizing there in the moment without having to wait for some large platform or stage. They’re the moments that matter because, importantly, I think it’s that there was the recognition on the spot and you truly saw the person as an individual in that moment versus waiting to make it a larger production. For 24/7 Day, I think across all groups it’s what we’ve talked about in terms of participation. It’s about the flexibility to make sure that it’s authentic and true to your brand and your community and what feels right for that piece. And in some cases it might be a water as, as Derek described, as opportunities to partner that way. In some cases, it might be a cup of coffee, it might be a sandwich. It could be a check that’s written from a donation program to a local charitable group that’s doing first response work.

Stephanie Sikorski:
For each group it’s a little bit different. And the role of the Foundation is to help recognize and celebrate that at the national level while giving the resources to all of these groups at the local level, to be able to tell their story. I will challenge you to find an industry that bands together in the way that we’re doing through this one program. And it’s just one program. There are so many stories out there that reiterate what we’re talking about in terms of ‘convenience cares’. It just happens to be that we’re talking about response relief and disaster relief for this one, but our industry shows up daily. The Foundation’s role is truly to be that megaphone and that mouthpiece to celebrate and bring attention to the daily interactions, hourly interactions and in some cases, minute by minute.

Jeff Lenard:
It is all about stories. When you get 30,000-plus stores all committed to the same messaging and with supplier partners joining them, that’s pretty powerful. Steff, what are steps for somebody who has heard this and says, I want in?

Stephanie Sikorski:
That’s the first step, right? And then getting in touch with us here at NACS Foundation. The website is 247Day.org. That’s the easiest spot to go to. In terms of getting in touch with us and walking through, it’s really nothing more than 20 or 30 minutes with us. We love to hear the stories of what’s already working in the community, what you already might be doing. In some cases it may be the very first step or program that you’re putting in place. But like I said earlier, in terms of the customization, the flexibility, the fact that there’s at entry zero cost to anyone to participate, it’s about us coming together and doing great things on a larger scale. It’s that first conversation from there we’ll develop a customized toolkit, which gives retailers everything that they need from press releases to public service announcements, to social media graphics. Again, it’s attempting to make it as easy as possible to participate, but having that unified front from an industry standpoint so folks know who’s delivering it and that we all band together to say thank you.

Jeff Lenard:
So community heroes, all kinds of awesome things. I think that we can really tell stories and that’s really what marketing is now.

Jeff Lenard:
Thank you both Steff and Derek for joining us today.

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

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