In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Rachel Gignac talks to Jesse Wolcott, assistant director of information technology at Royal Farms.
They speak at C-StoreTEC, where Wolcott was part of a session on artificial intelligence (AI) strategy in convenience stores.
Wolcott shares how Baltimore-based Royal Farms is leveraging AI, challenges with implementation and goals.
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Rachel Gignac talks to Terry Valdivieso, chief financial officer at Atlantis Management Group.
Valdivieso discusses the role of technology in the company's expansion and operational efficiency. Among additional topics, she shares insights on the implementation of suggested ordering systems and the future integration of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance data analysis and decision-making.
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editors Hannah Hammond, Heather Lalley, Chuck Ulie, Diane Adam and Rachel Gignac discuss their biggest takeaways from the 2025 NACS Show.
The NACS Show took place Tuesday through Friday at McCormick Place in Chicago.
In a recent “At Your Convenience” podcast, CSP sat down with industry experts Bill Flack, senior vice president, head of foodservice strategic business, and Ed Shabaz, vice president of sales, director-foodservice and CPG, both from Ajinomoto Foods North America. According to Flack and Shabaz, this trend is being driven primarily by younger demographics including millennials and Gen Z consumers.
Latin American cuisine continues to dominate growth, with core items like tacos and burritos expanding to include trending options such as Birria tacos and elote. Empanadas are particularly well-suited for the convenience channel, showing 12% menu growth due to their portable nature and operational efficiency.
On the Asian front, dumplings and pot stickers are gaining significant traction. These handheld items appeal to consumers seeking authentic global experiences while offering retailers operationally friendly solutions that require minimal labor and hold well under heat lamps.
Listen to the full “At Your Convenience” podcast episode above for deeper insights into how convenience retailers can successfully implement global flavor programs and stay ahead of emerging food service trends.
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Executive Editor Hannah Hammond talks to Julia Lazzara, president of Leading NOW, during CSP’s Outlook Leadership event in August.
The two talk about CSP’s upcoming C-Store Women’s event, which takes place Nov. 3-5 in San Antonio, Texas.
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Diane Adam talks with David Spross, executive director of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, Washington, D.C. The two talk at CSP’s Tobacco Plus Forum, held in September in Schaumburg, Illinois.
On this podcast, Spross discusses the Food and Drug Administration’s plan to fast-track nicotine pouch authorizations, state excise taxes and challenges of the illicit e-cigarette market.
On this special edition of the CSP podcast At Your Convenience, Melissa Vonder Haar introduces listeners to supplier members of the CSP C-Store Cannabis Board.
Vonder Haar is managing director of TradeWorks for iSee Store Innovations and chair of CSP’s C-Store Cannabis Board.
Board members were required to apply for their seats and were selected for their diversity in the segment, how long they’ve been in business and more.
Listen in for the advice these suppliers have for convenience retailers looking to get into the hemp-THC space.
Suppliers appearing on the podcast, in order, are:
Jake Bullock: co-founder & CEO of Cann
David Daily: founder at GRAV
Angus Rittenburg: co-founder & CEO of Wynk
Lenard Gega: vice president of Hemp, Curaleaf
Daniella Segal: head of Delta 9, Charlotte’s Web
Koby Licciardo: SVP of sales, NOWADAYS
Blake Patterson: chief revenue officer, Keef Brands
Genya Akselrod: founding partner, Looner Cannabis
In a recent episode of “At Your Convenience” podcast, CSP’s Abbey Lewis spoke with Kara Calderon, head of underage access prevention at Reynolds, and Stephanie Sikorski, CEO of TrueAge, about the collaborative efforts to prevent underage access to tobacco and nicotine products. The conversation highlighted how industry partnerships between manufacturers, retailers and technology providers have contributed to lower rates of underage tobacco use.
Reynolds' strict marketing protocols and contractual obligations with retailers, combined with TrueAge's innovative age verification technology, have created an ecosystem that effectively prevents youth access to age-restricted products. The discussion also addressed current challenges, including the rise of illicit vape products targeting youth, and future initiatives to strengthen underage access prevention efforts.
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Deb Bowman, category manager at Rhodes convenience stores, from CSP’s Center Store Forum on Sept. 9 in Lombard, Illinois.
Rhodes, based in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, is operated by PAJCO Inc.
On this podcast, Bowman talks about some of the most fun and challenging parts of her job—and how she doesn’t see an end in sight to the avalanche of flavor innovations. She also shares how Rhodes has expanded its meat snack section in response to the growing GLP-1 trend.
In this episode of At Your Convenience, CSP Executive Editor Hannah Hammond talks to Art Sebastian, founder and CEO of NexChapter.
They spoke at CSP’s Outlook Leadership event in August about the report, which details five outlooks for the convenience-store industry, based off the 2025 Outlook Report Survey and data from CSP’s sister research firm Technomic, NielsenIQ and Upside. The full report will launch in October, and it will also be featured in CSP’s October magazine issue.
Sebastian, who is also the chair of CSP’s C-StoreTEC advisory board, also talked about the speakers he is looking forward to hearing at the C-StoreTEC event, taking place Oct. 27-29 in Plano, Texas. Learn more about that conference here.
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editors Diane Adam and Rachel Gignac speak to Adit Gupta, founder and CEO of Lula Commerce, about the company's new nicotine delivery services.
Convenience-store retailers in states where nicotine delivery is legal can now sell and deliver these products on DoorDash with Lula. Lula's Visual ID Verification captures and verifies government-issued IDs at checkout, not just at delivery. Geo‑fencing prevents orders from regions where tobacco delivery isn’t allowed.
In this episode of CSP's "At Your Convenience" podcast, CSP Editor Rachel Gignac talks to ExtraMile's director of operations, Dennis Francis, about the chain's Mystery Shop scores.
Recorded live at CSP's Outlook Leadership conference in August, they touch on the categories ExtraMile performed well in, including interior, coffee and employees.
While Worcester, Massachusetts-based Nouria, which also won in 2024, received the first-place score in the Mystery Shop audit, Pleasanton, California-based ExtraMile came in second, with a score of 96.84%, and York, Pennsylvania-based Rutter’s received the third-place score of 96.53%. This podcast was recorded before the winner was announced.
“At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts together with CSP editors to discuss the latest in c-store news and trends. From mergers and acquisitions to foodservice and technology, the podcast delivers the story straight to listeners in short-format episodes, perfect for the morning commute or a quick break at the office.
In this episode of At Your Convenience, CSP Executive Editor Hannah Hammond talks to Danielle Gutierrez-Stone, senior director of retail operations at Pony Express. They spoke at CSP’s Outlook Leadership event in August about the challenges of running a small chain, being a female leader in the convenience-store industry, what it means to work for a "Native American"-owned company and more.
Ho-Chunk Inc. is the parent company of Pony Express. It’s based on the Winnebago Indian Reservation in northeast Nebraska. Pony Express first opened for business in 1996 in Winnebago, Nebraska, according to its website.
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie (right) talks with Jere Matthews (left), vice president of operations at Rutter’s, York, Pennsylvania, at the Outlook Leadership conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
On this podcast, Matthews talks about some of Rutter’s scores in CSP’s and Intouch Insight's Mystery Shop audit. Nouria was the 2025 winner, but Rutter's took first place in 2017, 2018, 2022 and 2023.
Matthews discusses striving to provide world-class customer service, the importance of giving customers a pleasant parting remark, having well-stocked stores, why Rutter’s competes in Mystery Shop and more.
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Diane Adam talks with K.C. Crosthwaite, chairman and CEO of Juul Labs, Washington, at the Outlook Leadership conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
On this podcast, Crosthwaite talks about the Food and Drug Administration’s authorization of five Juul e-cigarette products. He talks about Juul’s latest innovation, challenges of the illicit market, youth nicotine use, age-gated technology and more.
In a recent episode of CSP's "At Your Convenience" podcast recorded live at the Outlook Leadership conference, Abbey Lewis, vice president of content strategy at CSP, and Max Clark, vice president of growth at PAR Retail, shared insights on the concept of "loyalty everywhere."
Clark emphasized that loyalty has evolved beyond traditional engagement points like mobile apps to encompass the entire customer journey. "It's the app, the forecourt, the pump, the associate checkout, self-checkout kiosks and connected cars," he said.
He stressed the importance of creating an integrated system where all touchpoints work together to deliver a frictionless experience. Clark also highlighted PAR's growing focus on developing direct relationships with CPG partners to create more streamlined value across the entire retail ecosystem.
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks with John Pszeniczny, director of operations at Nouria, Worcester, Massachusetts, at the Outlook Leadership conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
On this podcast, Pszeniczny talks about Nouria being a finalist in the 2025 CSP Intouch Insight Mystery Shop audit, before the convenience-store chain learned at the conference that it won top honors for the second straight year.
He talks about the importance of having well-stocked restrooms, courteous cashiers, why Nouria competes in Mystery Shop and more.
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Eric Hildenbrand, chief strategy and administrative officer at Temple, Texas-based convenience-store distributor McLane Co., about the Food Safety Modernization Act, also known as FSMA 204.
On this podcast, Hildenbrand talks about the goal of the act, which is to make traceability much faster than it is today. He also discusses some of the foods that will be affected and what c-stores should be doing now to get ready.
InConvenience Inc. is doing things differently in the convenience-store industry. In this episode of At Your Convenience, CSP Executive Editor Hannah Hammond talks to InConvenience CEO Tiffany Fraley, who runs The Gas Spot and The Goods Spot c-store brand.
The chain has 25 locations, picked up from shuttered Mountain Express and SQRL Service Station locations. Seventeen of those are currently up and running now in Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas.
Fraley talks about what she’s learning about the c-store industry, the chain’s new mascot, having a nearly all-female c-suite team and more.
In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editors Diane Adam and Chuck Ulie discuss labor and hiring challenges that convenience stores are facing. They share examples of how c-stores are integrating artificial intelligence (AI), robots and other technology tools to perform duties formerly tasked by humans.
Look out for CSP's August cover story which delves into this topic.