Bobby & Steve’s Has Reason to Celebrate

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- It's party time at Bobby and Steve’s Auto World.

Bobby Williams, founder of the convenience store, car wash and auto repair chain based in Eden Prairie, is celebrating 60 years in the convenience store and fuel industry this year, while his business is celebrating its 16th anniversary.

From tires, quick lubes and auto repair, to convenience stores, gas stations and car washes, the eight-location Bobby and Steve’s chain aims to be a one-stop shop for its customers.

“The convenience store and gas side of the business brings in the most foot traffic, but the auto repair leads in terms of profit,” Madalena Ferreira, director of convenience store operations for Bobby and Steve’s, told CSNews Online.

Throughout 2014, the company is celebrating the anniversaries at one location per month with a party and a week of games and promotions. Also, one Saturday during the month, customers can take advantage of a one-hour promotional offer of 60 cents off each gallon of gasoline. They will even find Williams pumping the gas for customers himself, noted Ferreira. Six of the retailer's locations are Mobil branded and two offer BP fuel.

Even while celebrating, though, the Bobby and Steve’s team is not taking a break from enhancing its one-stop offering, particularly in regards to food and beverages.

Its Eat Well program, focused on offering all-natural and gluten-free packaged foods, continues to do well. Some locations have the products scattered throughout, while others group them all together on one end-cap.

“We love to hear people say ‘You can actually eat healthy here,’ when they walk in,” Ferreira said.

In terms of fresh food, the chain is focused mainly on breakfast and lunch, but its offerings are available through dinner time, and include made-to-order sandwiches, wraps, fresh fruit, salads, burgers and more. There are five different salad varieties and five wrap options.

“Lunch is pretty busy for us,” Ferreira said. “We expanded our breakfast options in the beginning of the year, and we are seeing that do well. We added more selections and focused on creating a better image and packaging. We renamed our sandwiches and created a brand name — Great Big Café — which is our proprietary brand.”

Three breakfast options are now available: The King, made with eggs, a choice of meat and cheddar cheese on a sourdough bun; The Warmup, made with eggs, sausage, pepper jack cheese, and "mean green" sauce on wheatberry bread; and The Ultimate, made with eggs, sausage, bacon, American cheese and cheddar cheese on a sourdough bun.

Bobby and Steve’s serves up Great Day coffee and plans to expand the rest of its foodservice options with the same image and name over the next year, said Ferreira.

For more on Bobby and Steve’s, look in the July issue of Convenience Store News.