About Us

Philosophy
Food Service is the best opportunity to increase sales and profit in the C-Store today. The only thing that is more profitable than Food Service is bagging and selling Ice. We don’t believe Food Service should be treated like a category, But as a separate business. Where else can you start a new business with no rent, no employees, parking and guaranteed customer traffic? Of course it should develop where you need additional staffing. This is a good thing not a bad one!

Remember Food Sales will be your most profitable Sales.

Not all stores will have the same potential. Our recommendation is to start with a good Grab & Go Program, It’s a small investment that is easily implemented. Has pay back potential of 4 to 6 weeks. Four to six week pay back. Unheard of. Grab and Go will let you know which stores has the better potential for additional Food Service. Food Service in the C-store is Evolving there are a lot of different food concepts if they make the cash register go KA-CHING its right. If the main reason you are in business is to make MONEY you have to give Food Service a good Shot. That’s where we can help!

Our job is to help you to not leave money on the table, Lots of money
• If you have a broken water line you would call a plumber.
• If you need a New Electric panel you would call an electrician.
• If you have a problem in Food Service or are wanting to start Food Service You call Ya Gotta Wanna !
the first two are expenses. The latter is an investment that will pay back a hundred fold.

Bill Robson

photo - Bill Robson

Bill has 47 years of Food Service experience most notably 32 years with Luby’s Cafeterias, Inc. Both small and large volume operations. Bill has proven ability to design, create, open and Operate successfully, multi-unit Food Service facilities. He has a strong operational background coupled with corporate assignments that include development, and the H/R function. Bill has Extensive background in developing and accomplishing long Range plans. Proven ability to create, coordinate, train and develop staff that is able to accomplish organizational goals.

Bill is a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Business AMP Program.

Jim Loucks

photo - Jim Loucks

Jim started in the Food Service Equipment business in 1962 as a Service Tech. After four years in Service he went into sales with The Hobert Corporation was the Branch Manager in S. Suburban Chicago, St. Louis, Chicago, and San Francisco, where he was also the regional Manager for N. California, Nevada, and Hawaii. Not wanting to give up selling he handled the sales responsibility for National accounts such as Schnuck’s Jewel Tea, Safe Way and Lucky’s. He also loved calling on the Restaurant industry. Always looking to do things in a better way Jim has several inventions to his credit, a real knack for putting Food Service in the C-Store. We have come a long way, but the journey is not over.

Bill and Jim’s combined talents and experience is unmatched when it comes to solving problems and innovation related to Food Service.

Grab & Go

The hot Grab & Go concept should be used in every Food Service program no matter what the Food concept is. Grab & Go is a money maker. It requires the least amount of labor. It’s great for impulse sales and one of the best indicators of Food Sale potential.

There are literally a hundred different foods that work well in a Grab & Go Merchandiser. It’s as simple as you receive product frozen, placed in a freezer, taken out of the freezer & placed in a convection oven, taken out of the convection oven, Placed in Hot Food Merchandiser, ( Ka-Ching) Rung up at the cash register.

Breakfast items are extremely popular and fast movers. Egg Sandwich’s, Kolachi’s cinnamon rolls and the list goes on.

Between 10:00am and 11:00am: you will start switching to the items you will offer for the rest of the day. Samples of these would be chicken legs, corn dogs, Sausage on a stick, Burritos, egg rolls, etc.

Grab & Go is the simplest operation you will have, yet one of the most profitable. You simply can’t be with out it. I like calling it C-Food for the C-Store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C-Store Differences

Not all C-Stores are a like. There are differences.

  • Travel centers
  • Truck stops
  • Highway stores
  • Boulevard stores
  • Neighborhood Stores
  • In-Bound traffic Stores
  • Out-Bound Traffic Stores
  • All Day traffic Stores

You can’t successively have the same Food Service in all of these stores.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Existing Stores

Existing stores is where the great potential for increased sales and profit is. Please take a minute and you do the math. What if you could increase profit on an average of 200.00 a day in each store? Times how many stores? Example $200.00 Times 25 Stores =$5000.00 a day additional profit.35000.00 a week. That’s One million eight hundred thousand dollars a year. This is not a Fairy tale. That’s times 25 Stores how many do you have?

The existing store offers somewhat of a challenge as it was not designed for Food Service. Where there’s a will there’s a way! Be it a minor or major re-model and remember Food service in the C-Store is evolving, let it Grow start small and grow the business. Some stores are never going to do more than $400.00 a day in sales others have gone as high as 30,000 a week. Trust me when I say there are thousands upon thousands of small restaurants that would love to do $400.00 a day in sales. They have a lot more overhead than a C-store.

The existing stores are a Gold Mine sitting there waiting for someone to Strike the Mother Lode!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakfast

Breakfast is served from 6:00 AM Till 10:00 AM.

The most popular item by far is the Breakfast Taco or Burrito (depends on what part of the country your in as to what it is called). The Taco is offered in many different combinations. Ham & Egg, Bacon & Egg, Potato & Egg, Sausage & Egg , Bacon, potato Egg & Cheese, Etc.

Biscuit and Sausage Gravy is popular.

Breakfast plates

French Toast

Pretty simple a good draw, and nice volume. I will say this for all Food It must be of good quality with a good presentation. This is a must if you want to grow and sustain your Food Service. The above along with your Grab Go should give you a very nice morning business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch

Lunch should be served from 10:30 till around 2:00 PM. Lunch should defiantly be items that are prepared, kept hot in a steam table or Hot case and are ready to be served. Lunch plates are very popular, especially with construction workers Truck Drivers and the like.

You want to have two or three entries, two starch’s and three vegetables I.E. Ground round steak, Chicken Fried Steak, Baked Chicken. Fried Rice, mashed potatoes, Green beans, Broccoli, and Lima beans. I’ll repeat what I said earlier. All Food must be of excellent quality and the presentation must be good.

The average ticket sale for lunch will be higher than breakfast. The lunch business is a little harder to build than the breakfast. You might be in a morning store or an evening store. Never the less the Lunch business is worth the effort. You will be competing with the fast food restaurants for lunch, you are not limited in your offering as they are. Most people in the C-Stores shut their kitchen down after lunch.

Be a little creative with your lunch offerings. Don’t serve the exact same thing every day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evening Meals

The evening meal is the meal that C-Stores have had the least amount of success with. I believe it’s because you have to put another shift of people on to handle it.

The evening meal is the one you should devote the most effort to. It’s by and large the one with the most potential. The morning customer is mostly making a purchase for themselves. That same customer stopping for the evening meal may well be buying for three or four. Plus the evening meal should be the largest ticket meal of the Day.

The Super market industry has spent millions pursuing the evening meal. Nobody is better positioned to capture this market than the C-Store. We believe we have some ways to capture this Market. The stores with chicken or Pizza programs are probably doing the most but they have limited themselves by advertising Chicken or Pizza programs. If you don’t want chicken for Dinner you are not going to stop. If you do you will expect the same price as the Cornel.

This meal is begging for someone to do a good job with, and no one is better positioned than the C-Store.
YA GOTTA WANNA !