At the end of 2024, Congressman Tony Wied (R-WI) joined the 118th Congress to represent Wisconsin’s 8th district. Prior to running for office, Wied owned Dino Stop Convenience Stores, a six-store chain in the Green Bay area, for almost 25 years.

“I was prepared to keep running my convenience stores for the rest of my life and really liked doing it. But I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sell when it came along,” Wied said. He sold the stores at the end of 2022. He took the next year to reflect on what he wanted to do next. When former Representative Mike Gallagher announced an early retirement, Wied jumped into the race.

“I’ve always wanted to serve our country and feel like it’s something I have an obligation to do,” he said. “Having a strong business background suits me well for being in a position like this and to lead in our country. To me, I truly feel like this is a service mission and that I’m placed here to do good work.”

How did you get into the convenience business?

I grew up in a very entrepreneurial family. My parents owned a snowmobile salvage yard and repair shop where they sold used snowmobile parts. They also had firework stands that they eventually added gasoline to in the early ’80s. I grew up working at their stores, running the cash register when I was 13 or 14, cleaning bathrooms, stocking shelves and other jobs around the store as a teenager.

My dad and his brother were partners, and my uncle unexpectedly passed away when I was a senior in college. That’s when I told my parents I wanted to get involved and help run their stores. I was so full of energy and really wanted to grow that business. But I also always knew I wanted to be entrepreneurial. Convenience stores were really starting to blossom as a good business in the ’90s. It was a difficult business to get into, but I decided to put all my energy into that, acquired Dino Stop, got partners, investors and building loans, and then built my first store in 1999—it was a very big store on Interstate 43 in Wisconsin, just south of Green Bay.

After that I couldn’t sit still. I managed that store and then started working on a store just 30 minutes south that was co-branded with McDonald’s. Within about a year and a half, I’d built another store. I just started locating land, securing financing and continuing to build stores. That was pretty much the first 15 years of my adult working life—building stores over and over again.

I grew up working at their stores, running the cash register when I was 13 or 14, cleaning bathrooms, stocking shelves and other jobs around the store as a teenager.

What do you miss most about the c-store business?

I think the number one thing I miss is serving customers daily and interacting with both them and my staff. Getting to know people and their families and seeing familiar faces every day was truly the best part of the job.

What are you most proud of when you look back on your time in the convenience industry?

Well, it’s a very difficult business. Anyone that has convenience stores knows how many moving parts there are when running a retail store, especially a convenience store or gas station, and especially once you start adding foodservice and some of the other new innovations stores have today. I’m proud that I was able to run a small business with my wife and manage something with so many moving parts. I didn’t always think I could do it, but we continued on.

It’s a day-by-day business. Every day is different, whether you’re dealing with hiring, securing capital, working with banks or continuing to reinvest. It’s a very capital-intensive business, with petroleum equipment, real estate and all sorts of other things.

And you have to keep up with the times, so I’m proud that we continued to innovate. I couldn’t have just done what I did in 1999 in 2015. Our store wouldn’t have survived. So retailers really have to be involved in NACS, be involved in their local state organizations, really see what others are doing and stay on top of the industry. I know it’s very difficult to try new things, but you have to in order to be successful in the convenience store business. It’s an intense business.

How did that experience prepare you for serving in Congress?

It is so important that I had that business experience and dealt with not only the difficulties of running a business, but also experienced being successful at it.

We had to make a lot of tough decisions while also leading a team of people and making sure they had what they needed to be the ones touching customers’ lives every single day. There are so many components to running a convenience store or a truck stop, but by far the most important thing is being a good leader and developing a good culture so that you can deliver best-in-class service for the customers, so that they’re happy and come back.

You also have to be willing to realize that you don’t know it all. You have to be a forever learner and know that what worked 10 years ago does not work today, or that what was your best store 10 years ago may have now become your worst store.

From going through all of those challenges, and having times where I didn’t think I would make it financially in the very lean years, sometimes due to things outside my control, I learned that if you take it day by day, continue to be disciplined and do the right thing, you will end up being okay and come out on the other side.

You get stronger through the difficulties. And I think my experience as a convenience store owner prepared me to work in what’s currently not a very functional environment. I have to come in [to Congress] and find small ways of improving things. I know it’s going to take time and take getting other people in the House to come together to realize that if we continue to do what we’re doing, we’re going to leave nothing but trouble for our next generation.

Are there any examples of how that experience is helping you in your current work?

Running a convenience store was a very disciplined business. You literally have to watch every penny. If you can save $1 per week, you do it. You’re constantly evaluating your budget line by line to make sure that your expenses don’t creep up, especially because we have things that we can’t control, like credit card fees that continue to go up. I was seeing $80,000 credit card fees per store on my balance sheet in 2022. You have to stay on top of everything, because as the owner and operator, if I don’t make my store work, then I’ll lose everything and won’t be able to provide for my family.

We’re in a situation now where our government is not disciplined. We aren’t going through anything line by line and we’re spending more than we bring in. When I was running my stores, 2% was a good profit margin goal for me. So now, I’m moving from a situation of very, very tight margins to leading in an organization that is completely underwater, where we’re currently spending up to $2 trillion more than we have every single year. All business owners know that if you spend more than you bring in, you’re going to go broke.

That’s why I am such a proponent of going through our expenses as a country line by line and debating each individual spending bill, because that’s what I had to do in business, and is what every small business has to do. And unfortunately, we don’t do that in the government.

What are your top priorities this Congress?

We have a spending problem, and we have to get closer to a balanced budget, which is going to be extremely difficult. That just stemmed from people not truly being focused on what we need to do [to rein in spending].

I learned that if you take it day by day, continue to be disciplined and do the right thing, you will end up being okay and come out on the other side.

I think we have a prime opportunity now with a unified government, with [Republicans] having control of the House, the Senate and the Presidency, and have people that all want to accomplish that. It’s going to be difficult, but it is a priority for me to get our spending under control because as a country, we have to get inflation under control. The cause of inflation is the reckless spending we continue to do, which is then what’s causing rising prices, which is what hurts our customers. Many of our customers are on fixed incomes or use benefits, and they’re going to have to pay up to 40% more because of high prices. That’s a big concern for our country, and we just can’t continue to do that.

What is something you’ve enjoyed since coming to Washington, D.C.?

I have enjoyed getting to know and work with other members of Congress. There are people here from so many different backgrounds and I thoroughly enjoy building those relationships, on both sides of the aisle, so we can work together for the American people.

What is your advice for convenience retailers and NACS members on engaging with their elected officials?

In my short time in Congress, I can say that I’ve seen how important it is that businesses in any industry get in front of lawmakers. That needs to be at the state level and at the federal level. So I would encourage folks to use the resources within NACS, get on the Hill and just get in front of as many people as you can to talk about issues you are facing. Meeting face-to-face with lawmakers is the most impactful way to get the help you need from a government perspective.

I also realize that as a business owner, a lot of the time we actually need government to get out of the way. You need to explain the effects that the regulations that continue to be placed on business owners at both the state and federal level are having on your business, because we have to start working on pulling those back and letting the good people that are running our businesses survive and thrive.

I encourage you, if you have the time, to please get in front of your lawmakers, get a hold of your local state senator or your local state assembly, build a relationship and get to know them. Invite them to your store or your office. Let them know what you’re dealing with, because they need to know what’s most important to you as a business. A lot of the perspective that you bring as a convenience store owner is relevant to other industries as well—farming, manufacturing, etc.—and a lot of the issues are similar. So if you can get involved, you can make a big difference.

What’s something you want to leave convenience retailers reading this article with?

I think more people need to get involved in politics. Especially at the local level. You need to take care of your towns and get to know elected officials in the towns, counties and states that you operate in, and at the federal level as well. As convenience stores, you are in every community in this country and literally are such an important part of the community and of the economy. It’s not about bragging, but you need to explain the benefits that you offer to the community, as well as let people know about the challenges you face and the help that you need.

Now being on this side in Congress, I realize the benefit of being active even more. If you can, get involved. I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun and meet a lot of great people along the way, too. You’ll learn from your peers, gain new best practices and will become a much better operator by not staying isolated in your one location. As hard as running a convenience store is, try to carve out time to get involved politically.

What is your favorite convenience store item or snack?

Homemade chocolate chip cookies.