2019 Southeast Retailer of the Year:

Savannah, Georgia-based Parker’s Kitchen is in the midst of a campaign to “strategically redefine America’s convenience store industry.”

What is Parker’s doing?

As Founder and CEO Greg Parker describes the strategy, it involves Parker’s transforming from a convenience store company that sells foodservice into a foodservice company that sells convenience.

While Parker’s operates 64 stores in Georgia and South Carolina, 42 of them are Parker’s Kitchen locations, meaning they feature cafés. The Kitchen stores are known for their homemade, Southern-inspired food, including Southern Fried Chicken Tenders, made-from-scratch mac n’ cheese, potato logs, full breakfast bar and daily specials. These are complemented by a selection of beverages, including Parker’s Coffee, a bean-to-cup product made with high-quality coffee beans. And that Chewy Ice in the fountain drink area? Parker was the person who thought there was a way to make ice easier on people’s teeth and challenged his team to come up with a solution.

USA Today has recognized Parker’s for its impressive food selection, and the company has earned raves as a top-rated restaurant on TripAdvisor, in addition to being named one of America’s Best Convenience Stores by Food and Wine magazine in December 2019.

The company also has been recognized for its new Parker’s Rewards loyalty program, award-winning Fueling the Community charitable initiative, innovative mobile app and acclaimed PumpPal program, which has saved customers more than $10 million since its inception.

Parker’s Kitchen also gives back to every community where it operates a store through its “Fueling the Community” program, which donates a portion of the profit of every gallon of gas sold on the first Wednesday of the month to area schools. In addition, the company endows the Parker’s Emergency and Trauma Center at Memorial Hospital in Savannah and spearheads an anti-litter campaign in Savannah. It also was one of the first convenience store retailers to enter into a partnership with auto maker Tesla to offer electric car charging stations.

Parker’s Kitchen employs nearly 1,200 people throughout the region and completes more than 125,000 transactions daily.

The Shelby Report is proud to name Parker’s as our 2019 Southeast Retailer of the Year. Learn more about this progressive foodservice/convenience retailer that at the same time keeps its eye on the basics—customer service, excellent product and giving back to its communities.