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NATSO Blog: Truckstop Business
Posted in: Great Ideas, Truckstop Business, Darren's Great Ideas for Independent Operators, Marketing & Retail
Are your retail sales over last year up because you are selling more merchandise to more customers, or have price increases impacted your performance to the point where fewer customers are paying more?
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Posted in: Truckstop Business, Human Resources
One if not the most important cornerstone of the Corrective Action process is documentation. Good documentation is imperative when you begin the Corrective Action process. Often we forget about documentation until it is about time to terminate a troubled team member. At that point, documentation just becomes a way to cover our “tracks”. Understand, there are events that take place in our 24-hour operations that require us to move immediately to termination and even in these types of events, documentation is critical.
But why do we document, why is it important?
If you do not document the events, did it really happen? Documentation eliminates “he said she said” events.
You reduce legal implications to you and your organization.
Documenting it as it happens ensure that you are not trying to remember it later. You reduce the chance of inaccurate statements and events.
If you ever find yourself in court for, an unemployment hearing, etc., you have to be able to prove that the team member deserved the termination and that all other means of discipline had been taken in order to resolve the issue.
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Posted in: Truckstop Business, International
We also saw a focus on an open, inviting shopping experience, whereas UK retailers had much larger SKU counts driven in the food categories with robust offerings of prepared and ‘craft’ fresh offerings.
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Posted in: Great Ideas, Truckstop Business, Human Resources
No matter how you look at it, the human resource piece of running a successful operation is often the biggest daily challenge. In this day and age, even with unemployment over double-digits in many areas of the United States, hiring, training and retaining are a struggle.
I have noticed in my travels and visits with independent operators who do not have automated process that scheduling team member appropriately can be difficult. Those that are doing schedules manually often tell me that the process for laying out a week’s worth of work is not a 20-minute activity. I think we all would agree that if we are spending hours on manual schedules, it is not a good distribution of manager or ownership labor hours. Below are some helpful hints to scheduling you may want to consider.
1. Try not to guarantee anyone a specific shift unless they are looking for the 3-11 or 11-7. I know it is tough to recruit, but the more flexible your staff is, the easier to schedule.
2.Try not to guarantee weekends off. Every staff member should work some weekends. Use your weekends to award good staff performance.
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Posted in: Truckstop Business
49.5% of E-Cig users purchased their first e-cigarette online due to a lack of saturation in the market.
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Posted in: Great Ideas, Truckstop Business, Darren's Great Ideas for Independent Operators
As our industry trends to more robust food service offerings covering full-service restaurants, quick-service offerings and grab and go, it is important not to forget the smaller offerings that can generate exceptional sales and profitability.
One of those offerings in popcorn; yes popcorn. Some locations are selling popcorn and other locations have done it in the past. Results may vary because of how the program is executed. It is imperative to have a plan of action when you implement a popcorn program.
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Posted in: Truckstop Business, Americans with Disabilities Act
We continue our series on the top 20 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance issues seen in truck stops and travel plazas by discussing curb ramps. Are your curb ramps compliant?
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Posted in: Truckstop Business, International
For the most part the programs that have been embraced are those that ‘craft’ the food—creating the perception of VERY FRESH FOOD programs. It is a lot like Starbucks and/or Panera Bread where the product arrives in a box and then is thawed and ‘crafted’ to appear fresh.
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Posted in: Truckstop Business, Fuel and Trucking, Diesel Exhaust Fluid
Since the product in the 2.5 gallon jugs are branded with attractive packaging, what can we do to advertise the brand value of DEF at the pump?
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Posted in: Truckstop Business, Human Resources
Cashiers are often the first people customers talk with at your truckstop and are the face of the company. Customer service is the most influential aspect in creating a loyal customer and is crucial in the cashier position. Not only are cashiers often the first point of contact for customers, they are also typically the last, so customer service must be outstanding.
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