Preserving the Brand for Franchisees
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November/December 2017 T H E V O ICE OF 7-ELEVEN FRANCHISEES Preserving The Brand For Franchisees Franchisee SEI Did It Unity To Itself Who Is Out Autonomous Of Touch? Future 7-Eleven By Workers’Comp The Numbers Claims Handling Protecting Our BUILDING Brand Or Our FRANCHISEE UNITY: Numbers? JOIN YOUR SEI’s Town Hall LOCAL FOA Meetings 43rd Annual Convention Page 21 GAYLORD PALMS ORLANDO JULY 23-26, 2018 PERMIT No. 85 No. PERMIT Page 14 Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, U.S. POSTAGE PAID POSTAGE U.S. NCASEF Board Votes PRSRT STD STD PRSRT Not To Attend SEE T H E V O I C E O F 7 -ELEVEN FRANCHISEES November/December 2017 Contents 31 Franchisee Unity 55 The Need For A Balanced By Jay Singh, Chairman, NCASEF, Business Relationship In President, San Antonio FOA The Autonomous Future 35 Who Is Out Of Touch? By Yousaf Naseer, President, United Franchise Owners Of Long Island and New York By Michael Jorgensen, NCASEF Executive Vice Chairman, President, Central Florida FOA 57 SEI Did It To Itself 43 7-Eleven By The Numbers By Hashim Syed, Franchisee, Chicagoland FOA By Eric H. Karp, Esq., General Counsel, NCASEF 61 Workers’ Compensation 47 SEI’s Town Hall Meeting Claims Handling Process By Rehan Hashmi, NCASEF Vice Chairman, Vice President, & Cost Control Alliance of 7-Eleven Franchisees By John Harp, CSP, ARM, Risk Engineering Consultant, MSIG 53 Protecting Our Brand Versus Protecting Our Numbers By Romy Singh, NCASEF Vice Chairman, President, Eastern Virginia FOA Member News............................14 Features Bits & Pieces ......................................16 26 Metro NJ FOA Trade Show Unites Franchisees & Vendors DEPARTMENTSLegislative Update....................................20 64 Only The National Coalition Can Represent Franchisees SEI News..........83 64 The New Central FOA Officers Vendor Focus...89 78 74 Midwest FOA Store Sells Winning Mega Millions Ticket 76 Alliance of 7-Eleven Franchisees & Midwest FOAs’ Holiday Showcase 79 Joy & Fun At The Midwest FOA Holiday Party Franchisee 81 Texas FOA Donates $25,000 To SAA Calendars...............94 AVANTI is published by the National Coalition of Associations of 7-Eleven Franchisees for all independent franchisees, corporate store managers and Ad Index.......91 interested parties. National Coalition offices are located at 1001 Pat Booker Road, Suite 206, Universal City, TX 78148. For membership information, call 702-249-3301 or e-mail [email protected]. AVANTI Offices are located at 116 Bellevue Ave., Suite 304, Langhorne, Pennsylvania 19047.For advertising information, call Sheldon Smith at 215 750-0178 or fax to 215 750-0399; on-line, send messages to [email protected]. AVANTI NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2017 11 NATIONAL COALITION OF ASSOCIATIONS OF 7-ELEVEN FRANCHISEES NATIONAL OFFICERS the fourth-largest U.S. city, and Jatinder Singh a strong presence in Corpus NATIONAL CHAIRMAN 7-Eleven’s Plans 702-249-3301 • [email protected] Christi and across South For Sunoco Texas, reported Convenience Michael Jorgensen EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRMAN SEI’s recent acquisition of 1,100 con- Store News. The deal is expected to close 347-251-1828 • [email protected] venience stores in 18 states from Sunoco in January 2018, and includes the associ- LP will support the company’s growth Nick Bhullar ated trademarks and intellectual property VICE CHAIRMAN strategy in key geographic areas—includ- of Sunoco's Laredo Taco Co. and Stripes 626-255-8555 • [email protected] ing Florida, the Mid-Atlantic states, brands, which Sunoco acquired through Rehan Hashmi Northeast states, and Central Texas—and its purchase of Susser Holdings Corp. and VICE CHAIRMAN will also give 7-Eleven entry into Houston, Stripes in July 2015. Also as part of the 847-845-8477 • [email protected] transaction, Sunoco is Romy Singh “e Sunoco acquisition supports SEI’s entering into a 15-year VICE CHAIRMAN 757-506-5926 • [email protected] growth in Florida, the Mid-Atlantic states, take-or-pay fuel supply CONVENTION CHAIRPERSON agreement with a 7- 520-577-8711 [email protected] Northeast states, Central Texas, Houston, Eleven subsidiary, under Jaspreet Dhillon which Sunoco will sup- TREASURER Corpus Christi and South Texas.” 310-892-2106 • [email protected] continued on page 16 Eric H. Karp, Esq. GENERAL COUNSEL 617-423-7250 • [email protected] NCASEF BOARD VOTES NOT TO John Riggio MEETING/TRADE SHOW COORDINATOR ATTEND 7-ELEVEN EXPERIENCE 262-275-3086 • [email protected] The presidents of all 43 Franchise Owners Associations (FOAs), Sheldon Smith which represent the interests of nearly 7,000 franchised locations in the AVANTI PUBLISHER ADVERTISING MANAGER U.S., voted unanimously to skip the 7-Eleven Experience during a recent 215-750-0178 • [email protected] NCASEF Board meeting. Every year, SEI holds a giant convention and trade show, which it says is a “chance to recognize and celebrate our franchisees.” But, franchisee leaders say they will not be attending the next event, to be held February 14-15 in Las Vegas. They’re skipping it to send a clear message that SEI was wrong to cut off communications Sheldon Smith with its franchisees. PUBLISHER&ADVERTISING SALES 215 750-0178 “Our FOA representatives spoke loud and clear and the Coalition lis- [email protected] tened. They voted to urge members stay away from the 7-Eleven Expe- John Santiago rience and now the Coalition wants to deliver that message to all,” said ASSISTANT EDITOR 215 750-0178 Rehan Hashmi, vice chairman of the National Coalition. “The relation- [email protected] ship between SEI and its franchisees is no longer evenhanded and that Tricia Kessler is hurting our members and their livelihood.” According to Hashmi, SEI GRAPHIC DESIGN closed its regular channels of communication after franchisees in Cali- KESSLER DIGITAL DESIGN fornia filed a federal lawsuit against SEI in October. “If SEI truly wants to recognize and celebrate its franchisees as the The Voice of 7-Eleven Franchisees marketers of the 7-Eleven Experience claim, it shouldn’t cut off commu- November/December 2017 ©2017 National Coalition of nications. Franchise owners have invested their lives in this brand and Associations of 7-Eleven Franchisees we want to prosper, but we can’t if our relationship with SEI remains so Avanti Magazine is the registered trademark of The National Coalition controlling and one-sided,” he said. of Associations of 7-Eleven Franchisees. 14 AVANTI NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2017 Visit the NCASEF Website www.ncasef.com continued from page 14 ply approximately 2.2 billion gal- will immedi- lons of fuel annually. ately appear SEI President and CEO Joe in their online DePinto told Convenience Store Amazon ac- News that he views the Sunoco ac- count and be quisition more as two separate en- available for tities: the first one being the Susser use. Between PepsiCo has reserved 100 of Tesla’s new Holdings business in South Texas, and the $15 and $500 can be loaded in a single electric semi trucks, the largest-known order other being the Sunoco stores in the transaction, with no fees charged. of the big rig, as the company seeks to reduce Northeast and Florida. “Susser built an in- fuel costs and emissions, according to Reuters. Anheuser-Busch recently placed an order for credible business and we are really excited 40 of the electric semi-trucks as part of its about that part of the business. The South FDA Smoking Cessation strategy to reduce its carbon emissions by 30 Texas customer is heavily Mexican-Amer- Ads In C-Stores percent by 2025, reported CNN Money. Ac- ican, so we can learn a lot about how to cording to Bloomberg, Walmart has pre- The U.S. Food and Drug Adminis- cater to that consumer,” he said. The stores ordered five of the electric trucks for its U.S. tration recently announced an adult in the Northeast and Florida are more tra- operations and 10 for its Canada units. • Uber smoking cessation education campaign ditional convenience stores, so 7-Eleven has agreed to buy thousands of cars from that will be displayed in and around gas will be looking to bring its best practices Volvo to prepare a fleet of fully driverless on- stations and convenience stores—retail to them, including private label, DePinto demand vehicles, reported the Financial Times. locations where “smokers face a multitude The deal will see Uber purchase up to 24,000 said. It’s also expected that these stores will of triggers and that typically feature ciga- XC90 vehicles between 2019 and 2021 for be put into its franchise system. rette advertisements,” the agency said. $1.4 billion. • Constellation Brands—the The “Every Try Counts” campaign targets third-largest beer company in the U.S.— smokers ages 25-54 who have attempted has acquired a 9.9 percent stake in the Cana- Amazon Cash Service dian cannabis holding company Canopy to quit smoking in the last year but were Online shoppers who don't have a Growth, reported Business Insider.The beer credit card, or prefer not to use one for unsuccessful. Ads will be placed in vari- giant paid $191 million for its stake in the purchases, can now use Amazon Cash to ous locations at the point-of-sale, includ- largest legal marijuana producer in the world add funds to their Amazon.com Balance ing at the gas pump and other places because it believes marijuana will eventually at almost 8,000 7-Eleven stores in the U.S., around the retail environment such as the be legalized nationally in the United States. • SEI has announced. The process is simple. front door, cash register and shelves. The Target recently opened 12 small-format To load money into their Amazon ac- two-year campaign launches in January urban stores in high-profile cities including Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia and Los count, customers present their personal- in 35 U.S.