A Day In The Life Of Maverik Inc.

CSNews editors journey west to uncover the secrets of Adventure's First Stop

The culture at Maverik Inc. can be summed up in three words: "Adventure's First Stop." This phrase is not just the company's tagline. It's a way of life at the Salt Lake City-based convenience store chain, touching every part of the organization from headquarters to its 250 stores.

"We've created a company that thinks strategically, not functionally," said Brad Call, a member of Maverik's executive team. "That's why we're so funky in so many ways. That's why I'm vice president of adventure culture; I'm not the marketing guy. And Mike [Call] is not the president; he's our chief adventure guide. We believe strongly in a strategically aligned organization."

Editors from Convenience Store News, for this year's installment of our exclusive "A Day in the Life" series, had the opportunity to take an exciting and enlightening journey with Maverik, seeing through the eyes of nine employees how it lives up to being Adventure's First Stop.

Now in its seventh year,CSNews' A Day in the Life series provides readers with a look into the everyday challenges and successes of c-store industry people. These revealing reports show the dedication, hard work, smarts and skills needed to be successful in convenience retailing.

For Maverik, its success lies in the incredibly disciplined focus it maintains on its "adventure lens." Everything consumed by the public goes through that lens — even down to the company's dress code, which Call characterizes as "adventure wear." While this does not mean tennis shoes, jeans, Bermuda shorts or T-shirts, the clothing that is proscribed includes shirts with buttons, zippers or collars, adventure shoes that one would get at REI, hiking shorts, etc.

"We're not Nordstrom's first stop, we're Adventure's First Stop. Adventure wear means that it looks like you are going on a super cool adventure, like mountain climbing; not like you have just returned from that adventure," Call explained, noting that it all stems back to the adventure lens. "I don't care how good an idea is, if it doesn't fit through that adventure lens, it will bounce off that lens and die."

Whether it's reaching the next summit of becoming a 300-store operator, or pursuing its quest to be the preeminent marketer when it comes to mobile technologies, Call said every member of the Maverik team possesses "the heart of an adventurer." His hope is that each one would say that working at Maverik is an "awesomely fun adventure."