Right on track- the RaceTrac interview
RaceTrac, the third-generation, family-owned convenience retailer, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is on a roll with an ambitious store remodelling programme and a fresh direction in food. Fiona Briggs reports in the lead up to the study tour visits during the NACS Show.
RaceTrac is in transformational mode. The third-generation, family-owned convenience business, is mid-way through a store remodelling programme, which will see all of its stores built before 2012 completely renovated and relaunched with a new food offer, which is focused on freshness, by 2018.
Not bad going for a company that was founded in 1934, as Robby Posener, vice president of marketing, merchandising, design and construction at RaceTrac, acknowledges.
“For a company that is approaching a century of operation, we will have no store that is more than five years old – we are really making a heavy investment in retail facilities.”
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, RaceTrac operates 425 RaceTrac convenience store locations in Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. It also owns a further 275 sites, which are operated via a third-party contract agreement under the RaceWay banner.
People focused
RaceTrac was founded in 1934 by Carl Bolch. His son, Carl Bolch Junior, took the reins in 1967, serving as CEO for 45 years, and remains executive chairman of the board. His daughter, Allison Moran, was appointed CEO in January 2013, following a background in retail operations at the business.
While the transformation of the RaceTrac chain is poised to be completed under her tenure, her contribution and legacy for the business is most likely to be focused on people.
“Her view is that anyone can build a nice convenience store but it takes good people to run a nice convenience store,” Posener states.
Moran is reported to have instilled great incentive programmes among RaceTrac employees and created an organisation that believes in treating people right, putting others first and remaining humble as servant leaders.
“The leadership she brings to the organisation is unique to the industry,” Posener states. “It puts us at an advantage. Allison is a person that thinks about people and organisational design and strategy. It’s not about having more stores but having highly profitable stores in the best locations,” he explains.
The remodelling programme was spawned in 2012 when RaceTrac launched a new prototype store for the company, codenamed 6K in reference to the store’s 6,000sq ft footprint.
“That allowed us to take store design and shopability to the next level,” Posener recalls.
RaceTrac completely revisited the store layout, introducing key destination zones in-store. These include coffee, a new Swirl World frozen treat bar, offering frozen yogurt, ice cream, Italian ice and gelato; a beverage bar featuring a drinks fountain and milkshakes; plus a 500sq fit walk-in beer cave.
“We changed our approach to consider how stores could be shopped by the consumer and that was the catalyst for the remodel programme,” Posener says.
Now RaceTrac is revisiting its older format stores – 300+ in total – and it is no half-hearted approach. Rather, RaceTrac is stripping back the stores to block walls and concrete floors, and then introducing all new elements such as restrooms and kitchens. “We are advancing the stores to be as though they are built new,” Posener says.
The company is on target to be half way through the store revamps by the end of this year. Each refit takes 45 days to complete. According to Posener, stores are kept open for as long as possible by operating out of a temporary space, only closing for two weeks in the final conversion period. The remodeling spans the store plus forecourt and fuel infrastructure. As Posener explains: “There is a lot of maintenance to make in order to set the stores up for success for the next 10 to 15 years.”
The new-look stores are enlarged versions of their forebears and RaceTrac is learning how to re-engineer sites in locations which are constrained by space issues, adding on restrooms, for example, or building on a new structure. “We are being very creative with how we use the space on these smaller lots,” Posener says.
The new layout and product offers were born out of research, which found RaceTrac’s core consumers like to be in control of their in-store experience,
“They appreciate that we have a lot of self service items,” says Posener. These include a roller grill with a fresh toppings bar and a self-service coffee offer, with an assortment of toppings and creamers. Swirl World, meanwhile, features five machines, each with two flavours, plus toppings and fresh fruits.
“Customers can make products exactly the way they like them – they appreciate the convenience factor and that we are making products more accessible and visible,” Posener says.
The focus on fresh is a key differentiator for RaceTrac too. Its strategy is to assemble items in the store environment, rather than ship in pre-packaged product from a commissary.
“Our strategy is to do more assembly in the store, with touch screen ordering so that a customer can build a sandwich or wrap or pizza and it’s made for them, there in the store.”
Posener says RaceTrac takes a lot of pride from its kitchen operations. “We want consumers to have full disclosure of how their sandwich is being assembled,” he says.
The societal trend to healthier eating is having an impact too. RaceTrac has responded by offering whole fruit, cut fruit, salads, and lots of other fresh offerings and is reported to be ahead of the game in providing calorie counts and menu labelling.
Technology Focus
New technology has been introduced too. RaceTrac has upgraded its inventory management system and PoS over the last couple of years and introduced services like free Wi-Fi.
According to Posener, the retailer will support all customer need states – those shoppers who are in a hurry and wish to grab a sandwich and go and those who choose to sit down and maybe send a few emails.
“We are upgrading technology to make the consumer experience a little bit better,” he says.
And, while the product offer is still focused on portability, RaceTrac provides both indoor and outdoor seating; enabling customers to either consume on-the-go or to stop and stay a while.
Technology is also enabling RaceTrac to get closer to its customers. Earlier this year it launched a new app, which enables shoppers to earn points on fuel and store purchases. Critically, customers are in the driving seat when it comes to point redemption – they can choose how to redeem the points in-store. The app also allows RaceTrac to communicate with its shoppers and it has built in analytics in order to stay engaged with consumers. The technology can send a coupon to a customer who may not have visited for a while to encourage them to make a return visit, for example.
Customers or rather ‘guests’, as RaceTrac prefers to call, them are assured a warm welcome at its stores.
“We want to be known for hospitality,” Posener says. “If people are in a hurry and late for a meeting, we are here to service that need. But if they are in store and have questions about the sandwich programme, for example, we will take time to treat them like a guest in the house.”
A ‘warrior’s passion for success’
To deliver that in-store service, RaceTrac has retained employees with a certain personality, or what RaceTrac calls a ‘warrior’s passion for success’, Posener says.
Delegates on Insight’s Store Study Tours during the NACS Show will get a taste of that passion with visits to both a new and remodeled store.
There will be similarities and differences but a remarkable level of consistency in the offer, Posener states; and learnings which are sure to be lapped up.
Posener has found Insight’s store tours fertile hunting ground previously.
“I always come back with more ideas than the time before,” he says. “A lot are to do with marketing elements such as digital signage or the subtleties of how things are promoted in-store. Our interior and exterior seating has been modelled on something I have seen overseas and our direction on freshness – being proud to showcase a high quality offer to the consumer – is something I have learned overseas.”
