What role in the community do you think convenience stores should play?

At Cubby’s, we believe in being a real part of all the communities that we serve, especially when it comes to children. We sponsor many athletic events and teams, and we also host our own Raise Some Dough fundraiser—where we partner with local schools and donate $1 to that store’s school district for every large pizza we sell. We have raised over $125,000 from just that fundraiser. Partnerships like those are investments in our communities’ futures.

What does NACS political engagement mean to you and what benefits have you experienced from being politically engaged?

Being involved with NACS’ government relations team has opened my eyes to many headwinds that our industry is facing. This can be a complicated business, with many regulatory issues and legislative issues that are sometimes buried in other bills. Being engaged with NACS makes it easier to stay on top of the legislative and regulatory issues that might affect us and allows us to educate our lawmakers so that they can do the right thing for our business and our industry.

What federal legislative or regulatory issues keep you up at night (with respect to the convenience store industry)?

The most important issue would be the passing of the Credit Card Competition Act. Credit card fees are our fastest-growing expense and our second-highest expense, just under labor. The passing of this bill has become a real passion for me. I am also concerned about fuel and transportation energy mandates, such as E15 or EV mandates by states and local communities. Letting consumers and the market drive what fuels or transportation energy retailers sell is the best approach. Competition and a fuel-neutral approach, rather than the government picking winners and losers in terms of what fuel has to be sold, allow retailers to make decisions based on demand by their customers and the costs to offer these fuels, such as infrastructure costs.

What c-store product could you not live without?

In general, I love a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit, but my No. 1 go-to is the Cubby’s Spicy Side Chick, there is nothing like that anywhere else.