Name of company:
C Express

Year founded:
2013

# of stores:
2

Like many c-store owners, Richie Kaneria, owner of C Express, fell into the industry because he wanted to be his own boss. “I’m by profession an engineer, but I lost interest in that after completing my master’s program,” he said. “I’d worked for convenience stores and liked the simplicity of the business model.”

Eventually, he bought into one store, then bought another one. The two locations are in Norman, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City. “Convenience stores are simpler operations than restaurants, and with more than one revenue stream, a safer bet too,” Kaneria said. “The hours might be longer, but the store generates revenue 18 hours a day.”

A Simple Store

Kaneria decided early on with C Express to not compete with local chains but rather figure out what his customers wanted and deliver it as quickly and efficiently as possible. At the Oklahoma City location, “We offer only two types of gas at the pump because that’s what our customers want,” he said, adding he would consider putting in electric vehicle chargers if the demand was there. The Norman location does not offer fuel.

Foodservice is one example of how he caters to his clientele while not trying to one-up the competition. “I can’t compare with chain stores in made-to-order food, so I decided to use an a la carte model with hot food available in a hot case rather than filling individual orders,” Kaneria said. “My customers don’t want to wait for their food to be made—they’d rather grab it and go.”

The kitchen makes fresh chicken tenders, burritos, sandwiches, toasters and other fried foods on-site from scratch. “Our food program is a little bit different from other c-stores, but our customers love it,” he said. Fresh, hot food is available from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

The rest of the store has typical c-store items, including wine, beer, candy, snacks and packaged beverages. While C Express has a Facebook page, social media engagement isn’t something Kaneria is prioritizing right now. “We’re a very localized business, and most of our customers live within a five-mile radius of the store, so social media isn’t something that generates much interaction for us. We feel our efforts would be better spent talking with our customers in the store than online.”

A Friendly Place

For Kaneria, his employees top the list of what he’s most proud. “A lot of my employees know many customers by name,” he said. “People are more comfortable coming into the store with friendly workers.”

Like many retail establishments, finding and keeping employees has been challenging in the last few years, but Kaneria has developed an onboarding process to ensure his workers have the proper training. “We make sure all of our employees keep up-to-date on their required trainings, such as for selling alcohol, and also know how to take care of the store,” he said. “If we don’t have stocked shelves and clean bathrooms, customers won’t return.”

Kaneria keeps an eye out for community needs. For example, when local schools were closed during Covid, he gave free meals of a half order of potato wedges and a fountain drink with a choice of a corndog or a bean and beef burrito to children who might otherwise have gone hungry. “Many of these kids get their meals at school, so with the schools closed, we decided to step into the breach and give the meals every day to kids under 18,” he said.

At the end of the day, Kaneria says his attention to the basics has built his business. “It’s simple, really, because a customer has to be able to find parking, walk into a well-lit store with clean bathrooms and find what he wants fast,” he said. “We focus on making sure we give that to our customers.”

He also wants his customers to leave C Express happy and satisfied. “I don’t want them to think they should have gone to another convenience store,” he said. “I want them to be glad they stopped because of our quick service and friendly staff.”

Bright Ideas

Richie Kaneria believes much of the success of C Express comes down to two things—his customers and his employees. “I always tell people the customer is number one—but our employees are also number one,” he said. “Obviously, you need a clean store and clean bathrooms, easy parking and good merchandise, too.”

He works hard to train his employees to care about the business and to keep it clean and orderly for customers. “It’s a hand-in-hand situation—good employees bring in good customers, who keep coming back because of the staff,” he said.