A Decade of Dominance

When it comes to 10-year performance, there are few in the convenience store industry — or in Standard & Poor’s 500 index, for that matter — that could match Casey’s General Stores Inc., which has seen its stock price increase more than fivefold over the past decade.

At the helm during this entire time, steering the Ankeny, Iowa-based convenience store chain’s continuous growth, has been Robert J. Myers, the company’s chairman and CEO, who will retire on April 30 at the age of 69. He will leave behind quite a legacy for incoming Casey’s CEO and current President and Chief Operating Officer Terry Handley to follow.

In a recent interview with Convenience Store News, Myers reflected on how Casey’s has evolved over the course of his time as chief executive. Same-store sales at the chain have been tremendous across the board, and Myers pointed to the retailer’s foodservice operations, high fuel margins and strong pizza-delivery sales as just some of the things the 1,900-plus convenience store operator is doing well.

Store conversions to 24-hour locations has been yet another home run.

“It wasn’t that long ago when we only operated from 6 [a.m.] to 11 [p.m.],” Myers recalled. “We learned through our acquisitions that a lot was going on after 11 at night. For the vast majority of our stores, 24-hour operations made sense. You also don’t have a lot of capital investment when you convert to a 24-hour location, so it was a pretty easy thing for us to do. There’s still runway left for us to expand these kinds of programs.”

Along with extending store hours, Casey’s is extending the products and services it offers its customers in 14 states throughout the Midwest. One new service Myers is particularly excited about is online food ordering, which became available at all Casey’s stores as of Dec. 31. Through the new Casey’s App, customers are able to order pizza, made-to-order sub sandwiches and appetizers quickly and easily using their mobile devices.

“Now that we have online ordering at all of our stores, we are looking at the data. We are very pleased with what we are seeing,” Myers said of the chain’s latest innovation.

At the same time, Casey’s is continuing its rigorous store remodel program, which has proven to be another strong contributor to earnings, Myers noted. These major remodels enable the retailer to add its popular made-to-order sub sandwich program to more stores. Casey’s has found this menu item to be a perfect complement to its well-established pizza menu. The remodels also include considerable enhancements to the stores’ coffee and fountain offerings.

While top-notch in-store operations has been a key driver in the retailer’s success, so too has constant portfolio growth. As of late January, Casey’s operated 1911 c-stores, and the chain just opened its second distribution center on Feb. 6 in Terre Haute, Ind., which will allow for further geographic expansion of the Casey’s brand, including into new states.

Myers called the Terre Haute distribution center a “beautiful facility” and said the company expects to see plenty of future expansion occurring within a 500-mile radius of this locale.

In recent times, Casey’s has focused more on organic growth than acquisitions because of the higher multiples being sought by sellers in this highly profitable c-store environment.

“The acquisition environment peaks and falls based upon the profitability of our industry,” said Myers. “Right now, convenience stores are a profitable business, and gasoline prices are down but margins remain strong. Given that, our reliance will be on organic growth rather than acquisitions. But [our philosophy] truly is a combination of both.”

As he prepares to leave his post, Myers agrees that it’s a good time to be Casey’s — and a good time to be a convenience store operator overall.

“I won’t say we are immune to a downturn in the economy, but people still need gasoline and their milk and bread,” he explained. “For us, selling a slice of pizza has been very important. As an industry, I think we’ve weathered the downturn in the economy during the past eight years quite well. I think this is a good business to be in.”

A COLLECTIVE EFFORT

Although Myers told CSNews he certainly didn’t pick his retirement date based on the performance of the company, he says it’s nice to be able to exit when things are good.

“I also fully recognize that not one individual is responsible for the great performance of this company. This is a collective effort,” he emphasized. “There are gifted individuals here that all have the same ideology regarding where we want to take the company, what we want to do and how we want to do it. I’m fully confident our success will continue.”

Myers has viewed his chief job as CEO as creating an environment that empowers others to succeed at what they are good at doing. Success has involved getting staff — all the way down to the store managers and associates — to buy into the company’s philosophy, and enhancing the quality of leadership at every level of the company.

“That has paid back in ways that are indescribable,” he said.

Case in point: The next leader to take the helm will be Handley, a long-time Casey’s employee. Myers said he’s known Handley for many years and the two constantly talk, with the current CEO learning plenty from the COO, and vice versa.

“We often go out for a 25-minute walk every morning. In the winter months, we get a brisk walk in at our [Ankeny] complex. In the summer months, we get really busy and it can be tougher,” Myers said. “There is a great exchange of information along those walks.”

Handley told CSNews he has known Myers since he first arrived at Casey’s more than 25 years ago, and the two have worked together directly over the past 13 years.

“Bob has always been a strong advocate of leadership and recognizing within people those qualities necessary to be an effective leader. Bob promotes the empowerment of leaders taking responsibility for their decisions in the best interest of the company,” Handley said. “His enthusiasm and pride for Casey’s is genuine and he shares that energy with everyone.”

Handley believes one of the keys to the c-store retailer’s success during Myers’ tenure as CEO has been the commitment to a strong five-year strategic plan.

“A five-year strategic plan is shared with our board of directors every year and has proven quite beneficial as witnessed by the company’s growth and the current stock price,” Handley said. “We are on the right path and everyone associated with the company is excited about the future. I fully intend to maintain our present course into the near future.”

As for the legacy he hopes to leave, Handley responded: “I will leave that for others to decide once my career is complete. I am blessed to be a part of this great organization and to have worked beside so many wonderful people. I only wish to be a good steward during my tenure as CEO and continue the good work already accomplished. While Casey’s is recognized as being one of the best in our industry, we will continue to strive toward innovation and improvement.”

SECOND TIME’S A CHARM

Myers already knows something about retirement because this is not his first time retiring from an organization. He previously retired in 1988 after serving as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army for 22 years. Through that experience, he got to see the world while serving his country in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Kuwait.

“I look back on my life and I’ve been immensely blessed,” Myers said. “I was drafted out of high school and was very fortunate. It was a matter of timing. There was a six-month window in 1966 when they allowed kids to go to OCS [Officer Candidate School] without having gone to college. I was one of those. When I was 20 years old, I was commissioned and sent to jump school and then on to join the great 101st Airborne Division of Fort Campbell, [Ky.]. I was there six months before being deployed to Vietnam and then Saudi Arabia, Germany and Kuwait. I was able to get all of my education along the way. I was very lucky and very blessed to have the opportunity.”

After retiring from the Army at age 41, Myers found himself joining Casey’s on Jan. 1, 1989 as corporate headquarters facility manager. He knew the convenience store chain well as he grew up in the same Iowa neighborhood as Don Lamberti, who founded Casey’s in 1968.

“I was quite familiar with the old family store [Lamberti] had, which was a forerunner to a convenience store. It was three blocks from my home. Don had three friends when he was growing up, and I happened to work for one of those through my high school years,” recalled Myers. “I knew Don and I knew I just couldn’t retire [at 41 years old]. My goal was to simply make enough money to offset my military retired pay vs. the active duty pay.”

When Myers found out that Casey’s was about to build a new corporate headquarters, a friend encouraged him to apply for a job there. “I was very fortunate to be interviewed by and hired by Ron Lamb (Casey’s CEO from 1998 to 2006). I am certainly forever thankful to Ron and Don Lamberti for the opportunity to come in and be part of this great organization.”

From that initial facility manager position, Myers began rising through the ranks. He was promoted to vice president of property support in 1992; senior vice president/chief operating officer in 2003 with a promotion to president/chief operating officer soon after that. Finally, in September 2006, he assumed the top position of president and CEO.

“I never expected to be CEO. I wanted to be low key,” revealed Myers. “But as time went on, I took on more and more. I also had the organizational background and skills that I acquired in the military that allowed me to do a bunch of different things.”

But it’s the people at Casey’s, according to Myers, that he will miss the most when he retires. “Honestly, if I had the ability to know something about everyone at this company regarding their family and background, I would,” he said. “That’s not possible [with more than 33,000 employees], but I certainly know as many people as possible.”

When asked to share his all-time best Casey’s moment, Myers told CSNews there have been so many great moments in his 27-plus-year career that he can’t narrow it down to just one.

“This has been a great company for such a long time. My task was to make it even a little bit better, which I think we have,” he said. “We are a company that cares about the communities that we are in. It is important for us to give back to those communities. We do so in many ways.”

Casey’s is also a company that maintains high standards for its level of performance, and Myers is confident the full potential of the company will be reached.

“I think our shareholders have to be pleased with what we are doing and how we are doing it. Likewise, I believe all of our many customers are satisfied with how we are doing our work as well,” he said. “If we can take care of the employees, they will take care of customers and shareholders.”

Despite his retirement, Myers plans to remain active. For starters, he will stay on as chairman of Casey’s. He also intends to keep busy with his many civic responsibilities. “Some people [at these civic organizations] are happy I am retiring as they want me to work harder on those projects,” he joked.

In his free time, he looks forward to enjoying his two favorite activities: bass fishing and golf.

“I have a lot of hobbies,” he said. “I want to get my golf game back in shape. I used to be decent golfer and I want to be a competitive golfer once more.”