M-PACT 2025 Highlights the Power of Strong Leadership

"This is where empowerment of your people comes in, to make great successes," he said. At the time, Weigel's was "marginal" on pizza. "But she was [selling] three times what everybody else was because it was out there, it looked fresh, it looked appetizing."

Following the manager's lead and applying this approach to other stores, pizza became Weigel's No. 2 item.

Yawberry noted that the retailer's culture of heavily investing in people has long been supported by Bill Weigel, company chairman and son of company cofounder William Weigel, who still comes to the office every day at age 87. 

"He has built a culture that with the history of what we've done over the years and how we've moved the company forward ... people hold that in very high regard. They're very loyal and that gets us through a lot of things."

Making the Right Investments

Pizza also played a key role in how Casey's forged its identity as both a leading convenience retailer and the fifth-largest U.S. pizza chain.

"We realize that pizza is not everything, but it's certainly our lead-selling product," said Spuzello. "Limited-time offer items as well — we're big on promoting that throughout the year and changing up the recipes, so there's always something new to try. But for us, it's the foodservice followed by distribution. When you control the supply chain, you control your own destiny."

[Read more: Casey's Celebrates Four Decades of Its Pizza Program]

A quality menu is one component of the brand's success. Another is how it takes steps to listen to its customers, whether that's through social media, its website or other means.

"We want to hear what our guests are saying — good, bad, indifferent. We need to absorb all that feedback," Spuzello said, explaining that Casey's dedicated guest relations team is constantly fielding and answering calls and emails, identifying any problems. "We make it a priority to solve these issues, to listen to the guests and the customers, and try to fix what we can immediately and then have a roadmap for the longer-term."

Making customers happy has a fundamentally simple foundation, according to Yawberry. "We can overcomplicate things at times. Sometimes, it's the simple stuff," he said. "Customer service begins with having the right smiling faces at that front counter."

He recommends that operators take the time to identify and hire the right people, even for entry-level positions — and perhaps equally important, identify who not to hire.

"If you hire Mr. Grumpy and you think that tomorrow he's going to come in ... smile and greet everybody that comes in the door, he's not going to do it," Yawberry said. "So, we really try to push to hire the right folks."

An increased emphasis on training in recent years and a revamped pay and bonus structure that leverages strength in customer interactions has paid dividends at Weigel's. Teams that meet certain criteria and KPIs receive extra quarterly pay, which incentivizes the whole team to maintain standards and pass their mystery shopper visits. 

"It creates that feeling that we're all in it," Yawberry said. "We manage by taking care of the people and trying to have the right processes and hold folks accountable. I truly believe as you hold people accountable, they become responsible."

M-PACT, the Midwest's biggest regional tradeshow, welcomed participants from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and others across the Midwest to the Indiana Convention Center on April 1-3. The show featured more than 300 exhibitors showing off the latest products, services and technologies, plus a lineup of educational sessions led by industry experts.