The annual NACS Leadership Forum was held on Amelia Island, Florida, in February. Industry executives gathered for networking and dynamic sessions on a range of pressing topics for the industry.

Henry Armour has led NACS as president and CEO for two decades and was a highly engaged NACS member and an accomplished retailer before that, while Brian Hannasch was president and CEO of Alimentation Couche-Tard before recently becoming a special advisor to the company. Couche-Tard operates in 31 countries and, with its Circle K stores, is the second-largest U.S. convenience retailer. Hannasch also currently serves as the chairman of NACS.

“I think everyone would agree that our country and the world have never really experienced more change than right now,” said Armour. “So how do we respond to that? And I think maybe more importantly, how do we drive change? How do we become the change agents?”

Leadership Lessons

Hannasch shared that during the Covid lockdown, with the corporate offices closed, he and other Couche-Tard executives spent more time in stores. “And we spent time stocking coolers.” The executives found that the process was awkward and frustrating.

The best VPs I’ve had, when I look back at who ran the business well, are people who err on the side of being in the store.”

As a result of this hands-on experience, Couche-Tard changed the way it stocks coolers. “Little things like that you just don’t see from our offices,” Hannasch said. “The best VPs I’ve had, when I look back at who ran the business well, are people who err on the side of being in the store.”

Couche-Tard experienced rapid growth through acquisition with Hannasch at the helm. A key to making that work: “We’ve been out. We’ve been visible, welcoming new members into the family, integrating them into the culture, not letting that happen by accident.”

As workplaces evolve, another key attribute of a leader is emotional intelligence. Hannasch cited the need for “genuine empathy for the people out there working in our stores 365 days a year.” Empathy, he said, is foundational to culture. “I can’t say our culture is perfect, but given what we’ve done in bringing companies together, I feel pretty good about the journey that we’ve been on.”

Giving Back in a Big Way

At the NACS Leadership Forum, NACS Chairman Brian Hannasch announced that the NACS Board of Directors approved a $2.5 million matching donation to the NACS Foundation. The NACS Foundation unifies, amplifies and sustains the convenience industry’s commitment to giving back. Signature programs include 24/7 Day and the Future Fund, which provides college scholarships to convenience industry employees and the children of store employees. Learn more at conveniencecares.org.

The Future of Fuel

With its large footprint in the Nordic countries, Circle K has as much EV charging insights as any global retailer. Norway in particular has taken the lead on EVs through large government investments, including incentives to purchase EVs, as well as disincentives (in the form of taxes) to purchase internal combustion engine vehicles. The result is that over 90% of new vehicles sold in Norway are EVs. Driving an EV is “a good customer experience,” said Hannasch. However, the experience of charging an EV is not always a good one.

When Couche-Tard first invested in EV charging, “Like what you’re seeing in the United States, we treated it as a side business.” That meant a charger far from the store, without a canopy or amenities like a squeegee. “So our offer really looked like the McDonald’s offer or Starbucks’ and everybody else,” said Hannasch. “Since then, we pivoted. We’re treating that customer like a customer.”

With an average dwell time of above 20 minutes, “Those people are looking for something to do.” Hannasch noted that Couche-Tard was fortunate in that it was already food-forward in the countries that have most eagerly embraced EVs, since foodservice is such a natural fit with longer dwell times

Using Norway as a model, “Trips are down. You have a high percentage of charging happening at your home,” work, or elsewhere. “But the economics are good. We make money selling food and electricity and everything else.” With demand decreasing, weaker sites will inevitably close—but that creates opportunity for stronger sites.

Kindness Day

Kindness Day, an initiative with the goal “to promote mutual respect and foster a safe, inclusive work environment for all,” has been a hit for Circle K, starting small in 2023, spreading to more countries in 2024 and swelling into Kindness Week in 2025.

The idea started in Lithuania, a country of less than three million people on the Russian border. Among the unique challenges that country faced was spillover from the war in Ukraine, with displaced Ukrainians sharing space with Lithuanians of Russian descent who speak Russian. “We saw violence in our stores grow,” Hannasch shared.

Lithuanian store leadership convinced Circle K operators in Latvia and Estonia, similarly small countries bordering Russia, to join in the first Kindness Day. “It was a resounding success,” Hannasch said. “It’s really nothing more than encouraging the celebration of our employees, our team members and celebrating the customer.” Items like free cookies helped spread positivity. “It’s got to be one of the top two or three things that our employees have recognized us for.”

Foodservice Is the Future

The convenience industry succeeds together, and Hannasch credited U.S. food-forward retailers for leading the way, “showing us that food can be done well in our industry. It really set the foundation for all of us to convince customers that we are a viable option.”

When it comes to foodservice, “First and foremost, you have to have it there.” But that’s not enough. “Stay committed,” said Hannasch. “We’re not very patient. We’re not very good at not making money.” Since some customers still haven’t tried c-store food, it’s vital to keep “pushing trial, pushing advertising, not sacrificing on quality.”

Hannasch identified a “cultural shift” happening in c-stores. Minimizing waste will always be critical—and Couche-Tard has “invested pretty heavily” in tools that control foodservice waste—but not at the expense of quality.

“What’s going to differentiate a customer turning right or left in the future? I think that food is a key driver of that,” Hannasch said.