Brian describes how Racetrac has evolved to fill the needs of the modern consumer. He and Sid discuss the importance of technology in maintaining operational efficiency, and how to deliver a consistent customer experience.
Brian describes how Racetrac has evolved to fill the needs of the modern consumer. He and Sid discuss the importance of technology in maintaining operational efficiency, and how to deliver a consistent customer experience.
Welcome to Elevating Brick and Mortar. A podcast about how operations and facilities drive brand performance.
On today’s episode, we talk with Brian Nay, Director of Field Services at RaceTrac. Racetrac, a family-owned company, owns and operates more than 550 RaceTrac gas and convenience store locations across seven southern states, and more than 200 RaceWay stores in 12 states across the Southeast.
Guest Bio:
After starting his Racetrac career in the stores, Brian worked his way up through the operations arm of the business before moving to the corporate office in the support center. There he ensured the success of the work order management system, and looked for new features to roll out. He now works in the Director position to work closely with store support teams to make sure brick and mortar maintenance runs smoothly.
Timestamps:
00:26 - All about Racetrac
01:31 - Brian’s journey
03:14 - Maintaining a brand promise
05:13 - Building customer loyalty
10:40 - How operations ensure consistency
17:31 - How to manage cost, but have quality
19:21 - Attracting skilled technicians
22:45 - The importance of evolving
33:07 - Brian’s advice for the industry
36:14 - Where to find Brian
36:33 - Sid’s takeaways
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[00:00:00] Welcome to elevating brick and mortar, a podcast about how operations and facilities drive brand performance. Here's your host industry and FM technology thought leader, and Chief Business Development Officer at Service Channel Shetty. Along with our guest Brian Nay, director of field services at Racetrac..
[00:00:19] Sid: Hello everyone. Welcome to Elevating Brick and Mortar. Thank you for listening. I am here today with Brian Ney, Director of Field Services at Racetrack. Brian, thank you for joining us.
[00:00:30] Brian: I appreciate that, Sid. Thank you for having us. I really enjoyed, uh, your show and look forward to, uh, our conversation today.
[00:00:35] Sid: Really appreciate it. We're excited to have you on the show as well. For folks in our audience who might not be familiar with your brand, can you share some insight into Racetrack, please?
[00:00:45] Brian: Yeah, Racetrack is store chain, uh, located primarily inside the, uh, in the southeast. From South Carolina out to Texas, and then all the way up into, uh, 13 states. We trade quite a bit of fuel around the industry, not only just for ourselves, but also for other companies as well. And then we have another company called Energy Dispatch. Which distributes, to about 400 of our own internal locations, delivering about 1. 2 billion gallons, uh, just to our, just to our Racetrac locations.
[00:01:21] Sid: that's pretty amazing. I want to dig in more into Racetrack, but before that, we'd love to talk about you and your journey and how you got here.
[00:01:30] Brian: I was actually completely at a different industry, and had a business that wasn't doing so well, so I needed a job. I got an opportunity to come work at racetrack, actually on the operations side as well. It was interesting. I started in, uh, in the stores and worked my way up through operations, you know, going from different, you know, different positions within the operation in the fields and so forth.
[00:01:50] And, probably about 6, 7 years ago, I went into the corporate office, our store support center in downtown Atlanta, and supporting the stores in for projects and things of that nature. And then,
[00:02:01] you know, ran that capability of making sure the work order management system was, uh, uh, was functioning and, look for new features and functions and kind of roll those out. And then about four years ago, we had an opening, uh, this director position role was opening and they asked me if, if I would, uh, volunteer to, uh, take this position and step into the world of facilities management.
[00:02:23] Since then, um, yeah, I've been, uh, working, you know, closely with, uh, with all the different, uh, store support teams and, trying to, ensure that our stores are up and running and then, and from an appearance standpoint are in being maintained.
[00:02:36] Sid: You've had a fascinating journey. I mean, you've been on the you've operations side, you've been in the field, you've been in the corporate office, and then you've gone into facilities. As you look at the impact you're trying to make and the impact you make every day, what is your North Star? And, and how do you see the role of facilities on delivering the brand promise that Racetrack has, to its consumers and honestly to its store employees as well?
[00:03:02] Brian: Our tagline is whatever gets you going, right? And so we want to deliver that, you know, to our guests. So what that really means to us is, if you want to come into our stores and, you know, you want a piece of pizza today with, a different type of potato chip or tomorrow you want it, with an energy drink, or the next day you want a cheeseburger, right? we offer all those different things and that's whatever you want when you want it. And so that's our goal is to be able to, you know, really provide that for our guests. And so really what my, you know, responsibility is, is trying to provide that experience for our guests from the very 1st moment they pull into the lot, ensuring that landscaping looks good, ensuring that the lot is clean. Parking lot is clean, you know, if it's at nighttime, the whole, the property is well lit, the bathroom, bathrooms are operational, all the equipment is up and running.
[00:03:54] Our guests are really on the go and so they want to be able to get in and get out and, and that means uptime. And so that means consistency of offers. And so that just means we have to make sure that we're, you know, we're ready for whenever the guest, you know, comes onto our lot.
[00:04:08] Sid: What's interesting is that this is a very complex business, right? I mean, you're, you have a certain demographic, I'm sure that there's the regular office goer and then there's, professionals who, you know, fill up their, their tank every day, you know, on the job, in the field. What kind of experience makes a customer loyal in the convenience store space. What makes a consumer drive the extra mile to say, no, I'm going to, I'm going to go to racetrack.
[00:04:37] Brian: Again, it's about consistency of offers, right? And so we want to make sure that, you know, that whatever the offer that they want when they come into our lot or come into our stores, we want to make sure that it's available for them. Generally we're competing against, you know, QSRs as well. Our guests are on the go and they want, you know, good food. They want good fuel. They want to be able to get in and out as quick as possible and we want to be able to provide that experience to them. We've always talked about that, you know, if you get somebody turned left when the competition's on their right, if we can get them to turn left, we're doing something right.
[00:05:06] Our goal is from that eye appeal from the very moment they see us from the street, right? Is it open and inviting, right? Does the landscape look good? Can you see the price sign? Can you, you know, be able to easily be able to recognize that it's a racetrack and, you know, have visibility from the street all the way through the, you know, the front court canopy all the way out to the store? And then when they get on that lot, is it clean? And so that's really what our goal is to try and do that. And then when they get into that, into the store, it's making sure that the equipment is up and running and we have very minimal downtime. And, you know, so that our store associates and our store teams can be able to do what they do best, which is take care of our guests.
[00:05:42] Sid: You've talked about how you want to make the experience frictionless, for both the guests and the store team, what do you mean by that? And how do you make sure that that happens with someone with a wide set of responsibilities in your role?
[00:05:58] Brian: For us, frictionless means, you know, ease of doing business from a guest standpoint.They can be able to, you know, get whatever offer that they want and be able to pick that up very easily, be able to be, Uh, served in any particular way, right?
[00:06:12] We have self checkout in our stores. So if you want to, you know, you're in a hurry and you want to just, you know, assist yourself in checking out, you can be able to go to the self checkout. And so part of that is just being able to offer that, that frictionless, you know, experience and whether that's coming in through the store, whether it's, you know, ordering ahead through our app or being able to use our partners for, you know, for delivery and so forth, it's really making that, that experience very easy for our guests, but also from a store teams as well, being able to, you know, offer from a store support, being able to do, you know, uh, being able to support them so that they don't have to, you know, And so those are things like part of our IOT initiative is really being able to get into, you know, remote monitoring and being able to dispatch a technician before the store team even knows that there's an issue out in the store.
[00:07:00] And so, you know, in a perfect world, we, you know, store teams really focus on, you know, 3 things, keep the store clean, you know, take care of our guests and then, you know, ensure that our food is, you know, clean. You know, ensure that the food is out there and those offers are available for our guests and so, and let the rest of the, you know, the rest of the store support team be able to take care of those other functions that are needed inside the stores.
[00:07:24] Sid: Now, you come from operations, and so I'm sure you have a lot of credibility with operations and you've been in their shoes. When you look at consistency and you, you talked about this a lot, especially as you grow and you have ,hundreds of locations around the country, consumers expect that they have the same consistent experience no matter where they are.
[00:07:47] They're not thinking that the racetrack in Dallas is great, but the racetrack in a different part of the country isn't up to par. They're thinking, no, I fill my gas at racetrack. I go and choose to walk into the convenience store to buy what I need when I'm on the move from racetrack.
[00:08:06] How does operations see the role of facilities in ensuring that consistency and how do you partner with them to ensure that you're fulfilling your promise to your operations team as well?
[00:08:21] Brian: you talk about that consistency, right? That's obviously our goal and that's the, you know, that's what, you know, we're striving for, right? Whether you're in down in Miami or you're out in Dallas or you're all the way up in Indianapolis, you know, we want the same, you know, consistent experience for our guests. And so, as I said before, really being able to work with, you know, our operations team and providing that experience, but it's part of the brand image, right? We are very, protective of our brand. And rightfully so, I think we do a really good job of ensuring that our guests get that same experience. And that's not just the interaction with the store teams. It's also the appearance of the stores. It's also. You know, ensuring that the equipment's up and available so that the offers can be presented to our guests. That's really what it's all about, is just trying to be able to, you know, provide that same brand so that, you know, guests understand that no matter where they're at, they can be able to, enjoy themselves on whatever they're doing.
[00:09:13] And, you know, again, whatever gets you going, you can be able to walk in those stores and be able to know that you'll be taken care of. And it's interesting as we continue to grow, you know, we're moving into brand new markets, right? So we introduced several new, you know, new markets over the last couple of years, and we just went into Indianapolis, uh, Indiana, you know, Indiana, and, you know, we only have two stores, and so, you know, part of that is to be able to, introduce new guests to our brand.
[00:09:39] And then when they're traveling, they're going to get good fuel at a great price, and they're going to get good food at a great price, and they're going to get great, you know, uh, guest service, and so it's really trying to, you know, grow that consistency from, you know, from one location to another.
[00:09:54] Sid: Yeah. And, and in your business, you know, from what I understand, like a big part of your strategy is to get the consumer to walk in to the actual store, right? I mean, gas is very competitive. Um, you know, you sometimes have the lowest margins on gas, and I think you do. you have to have the consumer walk in
[00:10:17] What role does, facilities have with construction and design, you know, to ensure that you're, you're building upon the right concepts and the right kind of experience and, you know, what works and what doesn't work. How do you engage with your, with your partners and other functions to ensure that you're looking at this whole thing holistically to make those sites warm and welcoming and, and like guide the consumer into the store, you know, as much as possible.
[00:10:48] Brian: we have a saying at Racetrack, particularly at the Store Support Center, right? We're all one Racetrack, right? So we all work for the same company, and we all have the same goal. You know, that goal is to take care of our guests, right? We want, you know, we want, you know, we want to be the convenient store of choice, right?
[00:11:02] You mentioned it earlier about you're driving down the road, you have options when you're driving down the road, and we want to be that, that convenient store of choice. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks. And be able to provide, you know, as I mentioned before, provide whatever you want and that frictionless experience.
[00:11:14] And so we really want to be able to do that. And so for us, it's about, you know, working with all the different departments, uh, to, you know, behind that 1 goal, right? What are we trying to accomplish? And so we are very fortunate that I feel like we have really good relationships with all the different, uh, departments.
[00:11:30] You know, departments and whether it's, we're exploring, you know, brand new, you know, fancy coffee and, you know, you know, cold brew or things of that nature and working with our food category teams from the very beginning and be able to say, hey, this is a new piece of equipment and then my team work with them and say, okay.
[00:11:48] We'll dive into equipment, we'll dig into it and see how that works, you know, what's the reliability, you know, reach out to my, you know, my peers, you know, I have good relationships with multiple other, you know, uh, C Stores and, you know, QSRs and so forth for individuals in my position and be able to reach out to them and say, hey, Hey, Hey, Can you tell them about the reliability of this piece of equipment, you know, and being able to do those things. Something were, you know, were to go down or a piece of equipment were to break, we want to make it easy for the technician to be able to, you know, work on it. And so, you know, ensuring that there's access to the equipment, those kinds of things. So we're in constant communication with multiple different departments. On, you know, how to be able to achieve that one racetrack goal and really be able to serve our guests. And, you know, on the construction side, every month, we have a meeting where we are, you know, looking at every work order that comes through a brand new store in the 1st, 90 days to see, is this something that is that we should, we need to make changes, or is this just a 1 off type situation? So we really try and, you know, do that, you know, a consistent basis to make sure that, You know, again, that that experience for our guests is consistent across the, you know, across, you know, all stores and, and I feel like we do a really good job of, uh, you know, really providing that, you know, that one racetrack goal and everybody working together for our, you know, for, for our guests.
[00:13:06] Sid: That's fantastic. You know, when you think about, you know, convenience stores, there's a lot of critical revenue generating assets, right? Like the gas pump is really important. Nothing's more frustrating in that moment that when you go and you park your car and you get out to fill gas and then, Then you see in like small letters, like out of water, you got to get back in your car and drive around to the other side. You know, I'm just speaking from personal experience, right? How do you stay on top of that? And what role does technology play in ensuring that when something is about to go down, like you're on top of it, someone doesn't park their car, fill up gas, walking in with the expectation of having freshly ground coffee. And then the coffee machine's down, you know, that, that could be really frustrating. And, and I presume if that happens once, they'll come back again. And if it happens twice, they might give you a third chance. But at some point the customer's like, yeah, I'll just, I'll just start driving the extra half mile to the next station.
[00:14:05] So how do you think about that and how do you stay on top of it?
[00:14:10] Brian: That's our goal, right? 100 percent uptime. We're a little bit different when you think about us versus a QSR, right? In a QSR, only the employees touch the equipment, right? Only the employees touch the food machine, where in a convenience store setting, you know, the guests have the ability to touch the machine and they'd be able to, you know, do things.
[00:14:26] And so, you know, achieving that 100 percent uptime is, really difficult, right? And so there's just, you know, different abuse and things that, you know, that happens. And so, you know, for us, it's really about really trying to drive that. And so the first thing is, can we identify it as quick as possible?
[00:14:42] Right? And so we, you know, we rely on store teams, we rely on even guests, you know, saying, Hey, did you know that this was down or there's an issue here? You know, and then immediately being able to create those work orders that we can either dispatch our internal technicians or dispatch a third party vendor.
[00:14:57] To be able to get there as fast as possible, and then creating processes within the department to make sure that we're, you know, consistently following up on those work orders and being able to, you know, drive the, you know, the resolution for, for whatever that issue is.
[00:15:11] and it's hundreds of thousands of work orders every single year. but our ultimate goal is trying to get that piece of equipment up and running, because you're absolutely right, you know, our guests want that consistency, as I've mentioned before.
[00:15:21] And so, you know, we can't, we can't fail them, you know, multiple times or they're, you know, they are going to go somewhere else. And so we really strive to ensure that we do that.
[00:15:32] Sid: Now facilities teams can decide, you know, which model they want to use in terms of how they service those locations, whether they're going to use only third party providers or a lot of internal techs. Now you went down the path of a hybrid model, right? You have internal techs, you have third party providers, and you, I would say you were pretty ahead of the curve in terms of how you began using internal techs to service your locations.
[00:15:57] What made racetrack good on that path and what benefits have you seen, uh, with having the flexibility of a hybrid model?
[00:16:07] Brian: Two things that we have to manage is cost and quality, right? And so, you know, that quality is about uptime, right? If we're really trying to maintain that uptime, it's how quickly can we get some, you know, somebody out there to repair it. And so, where, you know, a third party vendor might not necessarily think You know, they might have multiple different customers.
[00:16:26] And so, and so it's really just whichever one came in first, right? The work order that just came in first, they might address it that way, or depending on, you know, the size of one of their customers, they might, you know, dictate that that person's more important than, you know, that racetrack. And so what we decided to do in 2017 was really trying to grow the company.
[00:16:44] You know, and start an in house program where we had in house technicians and, um, and our ultimate goal is really about, you know, uh, you know, repairing it faster and so getting it up and running. And then, you know, obviously, if there's a cost control there as well, then if we can, then we can do it, you know, you know, and save racetracks some money and doing it.
[00:17:02] And so, um, fortunately, we've been able to do that. And, um, You know, we do fix things a lot faster. Um, we, you know, we try to focus on the revenue generated assets, as you mentioned before. our goal is to complete 90 percent of food and fuel work orders. The entire team can be able to drive that, those resolution days, get it up and running as fast as possible, you know, with a good quality repair. And then I'll, you know, obviously, uh, you know, save Racetrack some money as well.
[00:17:30] Sid: now, clearly you're doing something right because you You know, have had techs work for you for some time now and you've built a full internal tech program. Why do techs want to come and work at racetrack, especially now when there's such a dearth of, of skilled technicians out there in the market, but how are you solving for it? And how are you making this a good job that, that folks want to come in and, and have?
[00:17:57] Brian: you know, Racetrack's been around for 90 years to, you know, 2024 is our 90th anniversary. And so I'll say the first thing is really the Racetrack culture. I really do think that the culture at Racetrack is second to none, and as I was saying earlier, when I came to Racetrack and, you know, I came here, you know, needing to, you know, do work and support my family and everything, and I found a company that Yeah, You know, that, that I love, right?
[00:18:23] The culture is really, I think, is the first thing that, you know, attracts people here and keeps them, you know, wanting to stay here. And then it's also about taking care of your employees. And so we have a fantastic team, you know, in enhanced maintenance, you know, over 200 employees inside of the in house maintenance department that really support those, that facility management function.
[00:18:45] All of those individuals, it's about making sure that they have a good work life balance, right? And, you know, that we're not, you know, we don't force overtime. We don't force working, you know, we can work for our, you know, individual employees. And so we've had individuals come to us that have experience.
[00:19:02] And they say, well, you know, I, I'm tired of working every weekend, you know, and I want to be able to, you know, coach my daughter's soccer team, or I want to be able to, you know, not have to work overnights and things of that nature. And so it's really about that work life, you know, work life balance.
[00:19:18] and I'll say one last thing. We also have a lot of opportunity, right? We have grown a lot. We're, you know, as far as internal technicians, we're up over 250 percent over the last, you know, over the last 3 years. And so, there's a number of technicians and, um, one of the fortunate things by having such a large footprint of stores, we can take individuals from the stores You know, who want to be able to, you know, look for a different, you know, career and maybe grow.
[00:19:41] And so within Racetrack, we have a lot of people that have started in the stores and not only grown within our department, but within a multiple different departments within Racetrack. And so multiple, you know, factors really play into it of what, you know, attracts people to Racetrack and then also, you know, keeps them here because they know that there's opportunities.
[00:19:58] And, you know, I've always said, if you come to work with a great attitude and you're coachable, you know, and you work hard. You know, I mean, you know, the sky's the limit at Racetrack, and that's not just in our department, that's in just about any department.
[00:20:12] Sid: That's phenomenal. Let's pivot a little bit to like, just look back at the past, right? I mean, the last four years have been very, very interesting. And, and I presume there's been some impact in terms of how C stores have to think about their business because, you know, during COVID a lot less people on the road, a lot less travel.
[00:20:32] Then the world changed and now we're kind of going back to a hybrid model. But now again, COVID has changed. A lot of companies are having returned to office. So like the, you know, a certain demographic of folks have, have had their entire commute evolve, right? How has that impacted the C Store business in terms of how, you know, the entire space is thinking about engaging with the consumer, um, And how does, like, how do you play a role in kind of, you know, as, as the leader of a facilities team in ensuring that those touch points that you do have with the consumer, um, you know, are everything we discussed, which is, you know, great and consistent and so on and so forth.
[00:21:18] Brian: When you think about our offers, right, food and fuel. And so, you know, we really want to be able to provide that for, you know, whatever the guests want. Right. And whether, again, I've said it before, whether you're a guest trying to get on there and get to work in your automobile or whether you're a professional driver, you know, driving an 18 wheeler across the country.
[00:21:37] You know, we want to be able to provide that, that, you know, that individual their fuel. Uh, we just started rolling out, you know, electric vehicle chargers as well. And so being able to provide that, you know, whatever they offer, you know, whatever the fuel of choice for your, you know, for your, you know, vehicle, or whether your fuel for your body, we want to offer a great food program and services and so forth.
[00:21:58] And I'll say that that's probably the biggest change that we have. It was, we really leaned into food. And, you know, as gallons, because you're right, people are driving, you know, their patterns are different, um, and I feel like racetrack, you know, racetrack is, is, uh, faring, you know, probably better than most, I mean, are, you know, as far as gallons and things of that nature, and, uh, but we also want to be able to offer where maybe you don't even need fuel, maybe you just need to stop by because you want whatever, whatever gets you going. And so our food team has done a phenomenal job with, you know, new offers and new ways that we can, you know, provide that offer. And, um, and so I think it really starts with, you know, with them and then the marketing department and being able to drive that and get that brand awareness out there.
[00:22:39] And, um, I feel like that's really been the biggest change for us, but also in the industry, right? We're selling more, we were selling more hot food than we ever had.
[00:22:48] Sid: really.
[00:22:49] Brian: Yeah, and it, and it's been phenomenal, right? And so again, like I said, it starts with, you know, you know, from our executive chef to, you know, to start with, you know, a great offer.
[00:22:58] And then our program, you know, our food programs to be able to put that together and, you know, try and get it all into stores and, you know, the store teams, you know, training up on it and executing on that, that offer. And then, you know, You know, if there is an issue of equipment failure or whatever, my team be able to get out there as fast as possible to be able to get out there and keep that piece of equipment up and running as fast as possible so that we can continue to, you know, offer that to the guest.
[00:23:22] And so I think that's where they've been the biggest dynamic shift is, you know, during COVID people really, you know, they changed their habits. But they also, they also changed their shopping habits. They didn't want to go into big, you know, big box, you know, uh, grocery stores or, you know, to be able to get in there.
[00:23:39] They wanted to get in and out very fast. And so I feel like that introduced a lot of people to, Hey, they got pretty good food here. Right. And so, you know, they got a great offer or the fact that I have a lot of variety, you know, in my choices and so forth. And so continue to deliver on that. And then continuing to be able to add, you know, different offers throughout the years and so forth has been really able to drive that key.
[00:24:01] And I think that's the biggest fundamental change in our space. it's not the old days where you think of a convenience store, you know, um, as far as what that offer is.
[00:24:09] You don't just go there for gas anymore. It becomes a destination and you stop in there and you, you know, you'd be able to recharge, you know, whatever you need to, you know, yourself, your car, whatever, and be able to, you know, uh, get on your way in a, in a, uh, you know, at the pace that you want to.
[00:24:25] Sid: That's phenomenal. I mean, you also mentioned how you're thinking ahead and now you're also installing electric chargers at, at your location. And so to your point, traditionally, it may have been a relationship where it was gas and convenience, but you're not stopping there. You're, you're, you're thinking about every way in which you can help the commuter.
[00:24:48] I'd also love to understand, like, as you look into the future, will that trend of consumer behavior continue to evolve? And, and, you know, you as a leader and, you know, racetrack as a leader in the business, like, how are you thinking about where you expect the consumer to be and how you need to be prepared for it?
[00:25:08] Brian: for us, we've always been about, you know, our guest choice, right? So, you have choices on what you want to eat, you have choices on what you want to fuel, and so, you know, we got to say, and we're from the, you know, we're from the South, so that, you know, whatever you want to put in your tank, if you want to put sweet tea in there, we'll start filling up your car with sweet tea, right?
[00:25:25] We're from the South, and so, you know, we're fuel agnostic, right? And so, whether that's, you know, whether that's liquid fuel, or whether that's electron fuel, or whether we go into hydrogen, or whatever the next question is. You know, that the next thing is, you know, we're, we're going to provide that, right?
[00:25:39] And so as the, you know, the consumer demands a different, you know, fuel for their vehicle or a different approach when it comes to, you know, food or so forth, being able to offer that, you know, it's just like, Okay. You know, four years ago, we didn't offer a delivery. You know, we didn't have a way for, you know, somebody to get, you know, our food to their house and not even ever have to leave it.
[00:26:00] And so now we offer that, right? And so it's whatever that, you know, being able to, you know, shift and change based on what are the, you know, the consumer is at, you know, is asking for. And, and we've done a really good job of that. Like I said, we've got a great team back as a store support center that, you know, is really keeping up.
[00:26:16] Being able to, you know, make those changes and be able to do it in a way that we can deliver, you know, at that top, you know, that, that, that, you know, top experience for our guests.
[00:26:26] Sid: There's a lot of new technology that's making its way into the physical, like built environment, right? Everything from, um, you know, smart assets, sensors and everything to AI, you know, AI and drive thrus, what are you seeing in terms Might make its way into, um, the convenience store business and, and maybe it's already there, right?
[00:26:51] How much is, is, is it that you're thinking of? And then how does facilities prepare to, uh, handle that kind of wave of new high tech, uh, presence in the, in the stores?
[00:27:05] Brian: we're already doing that, right? Technology, I think, is going to be what the future is, is, is laid out for us. It's really about how do you embrace that technology. And fortunately for Racetrack, uh, you know, that's one of our things that we want to be. We want to be at the, you know, the front of any technology advances that are out there.
[00:27:20] We have a great, you know, IT team and IS team that be able to support the stores and be able to look at different technologies. And, you know, I'll just give you one example. I mean, You know, just through the first half of the year, 58 percent of all work orders for our fuel dispensers are created automatically.
[00:27:38] We have sensors out there. And so, you know, through those, you know, through those sensors, we, you know, we immediately know what the actual problem is. And that creates a work order automatically within service channel. And then we have the ability to also be able to potentially remote fix those. And so of all the work orders, you know, complete, you know, created in our fuel dispensers, and that's, you know, um, over, you know, over almost 50, 000 work orders year to date.
[00:28:04] You know, 15 percent of them, we've been able to resolve remotely. And so, you know, don't, you know, and eliminate a truck role. And so, not only does that save racetrack money, because, you know, we don't have to worry about somebody going there, but what it also does is it gets that offer back up and running, right?
[00:28:18] It gets that fuel dispenser up and running. We are now taking that same, you know, that same success that we're doing on, you know, that we're, that we're seeing from a fuel dispenser and being able to take that same thing and mirror it. And, you know, working with our fuel, it was our food equipment manufacturers. And so we've got active tests right now for that. We're currently working with, you know, the equipment manufacturers and saying, give us those same type of, of, you know, that information so that we can make better decisions with it, not only just on a repair and maintenance, but even on operational side of things, right?
[00:28:49] And I really do see technology changing, not only just in that ser, you know, situation, but also, you know, expanding us into the future. You know, and being able to grow and be able to provide, you know, continuing to work on that frictionless pillar of racetracks.
[00:29:04] Sid: I love it. You know, We're in a time of massive change, right? And if you kind of put your, you know, C store leader facilities that are hat aside for a second and think of it as a, as a consumer as well, what excites you about your interactions with the brands you love and where do you see that going? What expectations do you have of the brands you love, right?
[00:29:26] Brian: I think from the way it excites me is like, where can technology assist in, you know, delivering that, whether that's, you know, delivering a brand that I love and whether that's at a, QSR, or a convenience store chain, or just general retail, being able to get those things, I mean, you think about it, just, you know, just working and, you know, you go online, you can purchase something, you can have it the next day, right?
[00:29:46] And so, you know, being able to get those, and I think that that technology is really what's going to change. You know, being able to embrace that. And if you don't embrace it, I think you're going to be left behind. And so that's what excites me the most is, um, is the, you know, the technology side of things.
[00:30:02] And we're, we're really where we can take it and delivering on the, the ultimate, you know, customer experience and whether it's, you know, in our C Store or whether it's, You know, in a general retail or, you know, facility or whatever. And I mean, you think about what we're doing. I mean, you can, I mean, we can get on a, you know, online with a doctor nowadays and they can, you know, they can do some things with the doctor.
[00:30:23] Right. And so that, that technology is just, you know, is, is really, I think what's exciting. Um, and the second thing I'll say is just what we're, what we're doing from a food perspective and from a food offering and so forth, and particularly within, you know, our industry and with the Racetrack brand, we have some great food offers, super excited about them and, and, We have a great team, as I mentioned before, you know, our food team and, you know, with Executive Chef and constantly looking at, you know, what can we do? How can we do it better? How can we offer a good, craveable, you know, food offering that, that, you know, that the guests want? And, um, and so I'm really excited about where we're going to take those two things and, um, you know, the technology, then also from the food side and, you know, to where we're, we're ultimately, it's not a, we're a food destination.
[00:31:06] We're not a fuel destination. And that's where, um, I'm excited about, you know, seeing how we do that. And then. You know, for, you know, me and my department being able to, you know, how do we support that, you know, that vision, uh, within racetrack and being able to, you know, provide that offer up and, you know, keep it, you know, uh, maintain a, you know, availability of equipment and, uh, that consistency to our guests.
[00:31:27] Sid: I love it. Brian, what advice would you give to folks in our audience who are either just getting started on their journey, you know, earlier in their career, or folks that are in the space but aren't yet making the kind of impact they would like to make within their functions? What advice would you give them?
[00:31:43] How should they get started? How should they change how they make impact,
[00:31:46] Brian: I think I've heard before on some of your, you know, some of your guests on your show have said they never went into, you know, uh, facilities, as a, as a dream coming out of, uh, you know, high school or whatever.
[00:31:56] They just kind of, you know, worked their way into it. Well, what I'll say for the young folks is that it's a, it's a great trade. resources are going to be a challenge going forward and trying to continue to get, you know, folks into those trades.
[00:32:07] And, um, I would say that if you're in the trades, uh, stay with it because there's going to be a high demand and, you know. The stars will shine and there'll be, you know, limitless opportunities in the trades.
[00:32:19] The one thing I'd say is, you know, align facilities with whatever the company goals are. Right. And so I think that's. I think that's really important and that, and that's where you're bringing the value, right?
[00:32:31] I think that's really where, you know, I mean, the whole idea behind elevating brick and mortar really is about aligning with the, you know, the, the, what, what the organization is trying to do and making sure that you are fully on board with what those are. And help the business support that, right? And so, you know, for us, it's about, you know, offering that frictionless experience.
[00:32:51] And that's why we're rolling out, you know, IoT sensors and trying to do that, you know, keep, you know, equipment up, you know, as fast as possible. And, um, and I really just say that if, you know, if your department's not aligned with, with whatever the company goals is and what we're trying to provide to, you know, your customers, your brand, whatever, I think that's, that'd be the biggest thing that I would say.
[00:33:11] Because once you do that, It's really exciting, right? What we do isn't exciting, right? And so, um, but, you know, when you're aligning with that goal, it makes it more fun. It makes it more challenging. You're trying to support the business as you, you know, as the business continues to grow. And when you see those successes for the business and knowing that you are a part of that and part of that success, It's very rewarding, right?
[00:33:34] And so, um, you know, just some of the things we've been able to do over the last year has, you know, been mentioned at different times and different, you know, corporate wide meetings and, you know, and board meetings and things of that nature. And, and it's, you know, it's exciting and rewarding to know that, hey, we helped there.
[00:33:48] Sid: Right. That is absolutely perfect. And I could not agree more. Today's conversation is just one of those ways in which we highlighted the impact facilities has on your business, on the top line, on your brand promise, right? Part of what brings a consumer in is, how does your space look? Uh, is it welcoming? And once you're in there, is everything working like it should? And once they walk into the store, is everything frictionless? And you know, is the employee who's helping you, are they happy to be there? All of that. Ties to facilities. And I think you highlighted perfectly today the impact that, that you and your team have at Racetrack.
[00:34:29] And I would say that holds true no matter which vertical or type of industry you're in, facilities plays a huge role. Thank you so much, Brian, for coming here and sharing your story. And for sharing the impact that you have within your business and for sharing, um, how things work within the convenience store space and, um, sharing us some insight into, into racetrack as well.
[00:34:50] Brian, if anyone in our audience would love to connect with you, where can they find you?
[00:34:55] Brian: You can find me on LinkedIn. They can reach out to Racetrack. Feel free to reach out to me anytime.
[00:35:00] Sid: Perfect. With that, just want to say a huge thank you once again, and to all those in our audience, I'll see you on the next episode of Elevating Brick and Mortar.
[00:35:09] Thank you for listening to my conversation with Brian Nay, Director of Facility Services at Racetrack. It was a fascinating conversation. Brian shared how the convenience store business has evolved and continues to evolve with consumer behavior and trends. He shared how Racetrack doesn't just see itself as a fuel destination anymore, but also a food destination.
[00:35:33] Whatever gets you going, as he says. In the convenience business, grabbing the attention of the consumer and delivering a great, consistent experience is key to developing brand loyalty. Facilities, in many ways, is front and center to ensuring that. With that, I'm your host Sid Shetty, and I'll see you on the next episode of Elevating Brick Mortar.