Sweetening Fall Candy Sales

Many of Chestnut’s company-operated stores without a coffee QSR like Dunkin’ (above) are converting from soft heat servers to new bean-to-cup coffee machines for Chestnut’s proprietary Lotta Java coffee brand (right).

“We’ve always had grab-and-go and grocery items in the store,” Sharif Jamal said, “but depending on the site and the size of the store, we could be carrying more fresh items, more produce. … That’s one of the reasons we went with the name Chestnut Market — we’re starting to carry more fresh products.”

Many of Chestnut’s company-operated stores without a coffee QSR are converting from soft heat servers to new bean-to-cup coffee machines for Chestnut’s proprietary Lotta Java coffee brand.

“We work with a local roaster out of New Jersey,” said Executive VP Cal Jamal. “We use 100% Colombian coffee and a Java Reserve mix as our two main coffee offerings. All locations also carry additional flavored coffees and teas.”

Despite a high-quality coffee offer, the pandemic impacted Chestnut’s dayparts, said Faheem Jamal, director of c-store operations — particularly in the morning.

“COVID has changed the morning commute,” he said. “People have been starting their days later, or not commuting at all anymore, which resulted in a major shift to midday and afternoon traffic patterns.”

Still, he said, “customers relied on us being a quick and clean stop for convenience and grocery items. We gained customers’ trust and loyalty by having clean and fully stocked essential products.”

For Mickey, Sal, Sam and Cal, the move toward foodservice is full circle. Their background, before opening that first store in 1981, was in foodservice and in distribution.

“We’re very familiar with the food business,” Mickey Jamal said. “Now, the whole convenience industry nationwide has been focusing more and more on specialty offerings. And most of that specialty offering is food.”

With that in mind, the brothers foresee CPD operating a commissary down the line, to really streamline the foodservice offer to all Chestnut Market sites, no matter the size or location.

“We are in small communities, so our stores are not cookie-cutter. It’s somewhat difficult to have the same service from a 900-square-foot store to a 3,000- or 5,000-square-foot store,” noted COO Sam Jamal. “So we’re focusing on eventually having a commissary where we deliver food to all our stores and are able to deliver from the stores directly or through a local/national service to the community.”

And while some of Chestnut’s sites already feature drive-throughs for its Dunkin’ QSRs, Faheem Jamal said the company plans to expand the drive-through offer and the products available.

“We’d put drive-throughs at every store if we could,” he said. “One of our biggest battles right now, with all these different municipalities that we’re trying to get permitting in, is fighting for a drive-through, too. We’re going to keep pushing it.”

Checking Out Chestnut PetroleuM

Company: Chestnut Petroleum Distributors Inc. (CPD) C-Store Brand: Chestnut Market Headquarters: New Paltz, N.Y. Founded: 1981 CEO: Mickey Jamal Number of Sites: 64 company-operated sites (with plans to hit 100 by 2025), plus 175 commission agent/dealer locations in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut Fuel Brands: Exxon, Mobil, Shell, BP, Irving, Sunoco and Gulf

The decision to rebrand as Chestnut Market centered around forming a more cohesive identity, one that customers will recognize for excellence in customer service, product selection and cleanliness — values the company has held since its inception.

From left: Faheem Jamal, director of c-store operations; Farris Jamal, foodservice manager; and Sharif Jamal, director of brand development

CPD plans to hit 100 company-operated sites by 2025, all of which will be under the new Chestnut Market brand.

If all goes well, he said, as the company develops its Chestnut Market foodservice program, it will continue to grow the drive-through offer.

NEXT-GEN

The company is working on developing a new website and an in-store app, which will include loyalty rewards. And, further down the line, it’s eyeing other technologies like self-checkout to stay competitive and reduce labor costs.

“We like to stay agile and be able to change with the times and the technology,” Cal Jamal noted. “Self-checkouts are all over the tri-state area — in supermarkets, pharmacies, QSRs and now even in some of our c-store competitors.”

The COVID-19 pandemic served as an accelerator of consumer expectations, particularly surrounding new technology.

“We learned a lot in the past two years since COVID hit the country,” confirmed Mickey Jamal. “We need to rethink how we do business, we need to rethink how we distribute and deliver products. And I think the new generation will do a better job than we are by providing all these services and changing the landscape of how we do business.”

Ultimately, CPD, and now the Chestnut Market brand, “is a big family involvement,” Sam Jamal said.

“We have people across every channel within our company. We have some family members who strictly work in the wholesale business, some family members who strictly work on the company operations, and then some who work in between.”

The biggest challenge, said AJ Jamal, northeast director of wholesale fuels, “is we are always talking about business whenever we are together — weddings, birthdays, sporting events or dinners with our families.”

“Overall,” he said, “we all have one goal: to make the company better. Everybody’s always striving to make it better.” CSD

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for MAXIMIZING Tobacco Sales

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Thomas Mulloy • Senior Editor