QuickChek Celebrates 50 Years With New Stores, New Hires & Promotions

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J.— QuickChek Corp., the 148-store chain based here, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with the opening of three new stores, the hiring of a new senior executive and several internal promotions.

Last month, the family-owned fresh convenience store chain opened new 5,496-square-foot stores in North Brunswick and Cedar Knolls, N.J., and will be opening its first store in Nassau County on Long Island in April. The three stores create 135 new local jobs including 24 management positions. Each new store generates approximately $1 million in tax revenue, according to the company.

Since 2007, QuickChek has opened 40 new stores and hired an additional 1,400 people. 

QuickChek has also announced several internal promotions. Don Leech, who has been with the company for 31 years, including the last 14 as a director of operations, has been promoted to vice president of real estate and development. Leech began his career at the company's Middletown, N.J., store in 1985 and has held positions of assistant store leader, district leader and as a director of operations.

Robert Porcelli has been promoted to director of operations for Region 2. He began his career as an assistant store leader in Franklin, N.J., in 2005 and has been promoted several times during his career as a store leader, district leader in New Jersey, and most recently as a district leader in New York.

The company has also announced the internal promotions of Matt Murphy, Jennifer Quiles and Kevin Woodring as district leaders.

John Schaninger, vice president of sales and marketing, has left the company after a 38-year career to pursue other interests. He joined the company in 1978 as an assistant manager and grew into a number of positions of increased responsibility including district leader and Region 1 vice president of operations. In 2004 was named vice president of sales and marketing.

"John has played a vital role in the growth of QuickChek," said QuickChek CEO Dean Durling. "He felt the time was right to pursue other opportunities. We thank him for his many years of service and all the contributions he has made."

Stepping in is Rob Easley, who joined the company in February in the newly created position of senior vice president of merchandising and marketing. He possesses nearly 25 years of retail experience in marketing, strategy and operations, including 16 years with H-E-B, one of the largest independent food retailers in the nation; as well as chief operating officer at Rite-Aid, Westlake Ace Hardware and Earth Fare, one of the leading natural and organic food retailers in the United States.

"We are very pleased to have Rob Easley join our senior management team. While we are celebrating our first 50 years, Rob's strong background in marketing, strategic planning and operations will help us grow to the next level as we look to our future," commented Durling.

"We are committed to being a great place to work, a great place to shop, and a great place to invest," Durling added. The company was recently named one of the "Best Places to Work in New Jersey" and one of the "Best Companies to Work for in New York State." This marks the seventh time in the past eight years that the convenience store chain has been named to the New Jersey list, as CSNews Online previously reported.

The privately held company employs more than 4,000 team members throughout New Jersey, New York's Hudson Valley and Long Island. It was named Convenience Store News 2016 Foodservice Innovator of the Year.