A Day In The Life Foodservice Region Director Brenda Laabs

Change motivates me," said Brenda Laabs, amid the organized chaos of the grand opening of The Pantry's newest Dairy Queen franchise restaurant attached to its convenience store in Statesville, N.C., about an hour north of Charlotte.

Given all the changes underway at The Pantry, Laabs could be one of the most motivated people in c-store retailing.

Convenience Store News visited with Laabs during the grand opening of the quick-service restaurant that serves burgers, hot dogs and of course, DQ's famous frozen ice cream treats.

With police directing traffic outside the combination convenience store, gas station and Dairy Queen restaurant, Laabs sat down for a few minutes to tell CSNews about her typical day and the excitement she has for the future of foodservice at The Pantry.

Laabs is the restaurant region director for The Pantry's northern division, which consists of all stores except those in Florida, Mississippi and southern Alabama. A native of Youngstown/Warren, Ohio, Laabs came to The Pantry three years ago as a district manager in the Cary/ Apex area, before moving into operations support and finally, a year ago, into foodservice. She brings to The Pantry 25 years of experience working for a Burger King franchisee.

She spends around 80 percent of her time on the road, traveling by car and plane, to visit The Pantry's restaurants in her division. She typically leaves Monday morning and doesn't get back to her home in Willow Spring, N.C., until Saturday. Laabs has three children, aged 30, 27 and 24, and is married to a military man who is currently serving in a combat zone.

Expanding foodservice sales goes hand-in-hand with The Pantry's Fresh Initiative. As consumers begin to experience more of the new fast, friendly and clean Kangaroo Express, they will become more and more accepting of purchasing food — both fresh meals to go and more traditional sit-down foodservice.

The Pantry has 247 stores with franchised foodservice operations. Most are Subways and Dairy Queens, along with a few other fast-food brands, including Hardees and Krystal. "I have 65 Subways in the northern division and several more being built," said Laabs.

On a typical store visit, Laabs will make sure she talks to all the crew members. "I want to talk with everyone. My job is to get everyone motivated, and I always leave knowing that I have taught one person something new," she said. "You go where you need to be. But you don't want to forget to visit your top performing stores as well, because that's where you find some great ideas that can be passed on to all your other stores."

After "making sure everyone is smiling and giving great customer service," Laabs will usually go into the back room and check the two in-store computers — one is connected to Dairy Queen's system and the other is a Pantry-Dairy Queen computer. "I look at a lot of numbers: food costs, inventory counts, staffing and the schedule. I make sure the manager is working at least one night shift. We don't want managers to only work the 6 to 2 shift," she said.

Laabs is also a big believer in using internal contests to motivate performance. At the time of CSNews' visit, Laabs was overseeing a store sales manager contest in which one manager in each district could win a 42-inch color television. The competition was based on such key indicators as increased sales over the prior year, food costs to budget and the results of mystery shopper surveys.

The restaurant region director also makes sure associates understand The Pantry's fast-friendly-clean initiative and its "Kangaroo CARES" standards. She'll award a $10 gas card to an associate for accurately reciting the CARES standards, which are:

C - Customers greeted, treated as guests and thanked

A - Always in stock

R - Restroom clean and stocked

E - Exceptional store conditions

S - Speed of service

Laabs smiles broadly watching the speed of the foodservice operation as it hums along like a well-oiled machine. She and her restaurant district managers must be knowledgeable of all The Pantry's standards, as well as the policies and procedures of all the various franchise organizations with which they partner. "From a marketing perspective, each district sales manager has to know what to look for from each of the multiple brands we operate," said Laabs.

As she watches the crowd of customers coming into the doors during the lunch hour, she notes the Dairy Queen typically does even more business at the dinner hour and on weekends. The Statesville location was open a week and had already done $30,000 in sales, an outstanding figure for a soft opening, she said.

Laabs said she thinks the recession may have come at a good time for The Pantry. While other competitors may be cutting back, The Pantry has invested in training and improving its facilities.

"In a downturn, you have to take advantage of training. We did a great job expanding training during the past year and as a result we are going to come out stronger at the end of the recession," said Laabs. "We are at positive same-store sales despite the economy."

In her opinion, the biggest change at The Pantry has been the culture. "There's structure and a mission now, and we're all on the same page to achieve that mission."

"Change motivates me."