The team at W.O. Stinson & Son began looking for a coffee chain partner in 1998 for its four gas bar locations in Ottawa, Kemptville, Arnprior and Pembroke, Ontario.
They chose Country Style for the company's product and approach, says John Armstrong, general manager of W.O. Stinson & Son Ltd. "We liked their product line at the time and found working with the staff and company very easy."
Stinson compared the overall cost and product quality and paid careful attention to reputation, he says. "Country Style was willing to take a chance and work with us in Kemptville, which had no franchised food or coffee outlets. No other food franchise saw the potential of Kemptville."
Finding the right location
"There's a big difference between getting a coffee program and being in the coffee business," says Karen Weidman, vice president of new business development, Express ~Brands, Country Style MR. SUB. "We've turned down a lot of convenience stores that are just not up to our standards."
Right at the top of the qualification check-list is location. "We look where the store is situated related to traffic volumes, especially in the morning, and we look at overall c-store sales," says Weidman. But none of the other considerations matters if the operator applying isn't up to the standard. "Coffee's not the magic bullet; it's got to be the whole package-your store must look great, it has to be clean, you need to merchandise well," she says. "Operators need to understand that coffee has to be fresh, and that means you are going to have waste. But with the margins on coffee, you can afford that."
It turned out that Stinson's Kemptville location required a major reconfiguration to convert a small warehouse into a Country Style coffee and deli sit-down for 20 custom-ers. The three other locations were designed from the ground up with input on the design and layout from Country Style, he says. Its newest location in Arnprior was planned with participation from Stinson's employees working at its other stores and the design team at Country Style.
Getting foodservice components up and running demanded special attention to staff-ing, training, and learning how to handle the food products safely, Armstrong says. "The fresh food deal was new to us. It didn't take long, but it was an interesting challenge to learn the drive-thru restaurant business." All maintenance at the foodservice com-ponents is done by a key employee who has been trained in all aspects of the business, he explains. "Hands-on employees know the equipment and how it should work."
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