Parker’s Kitchen, and its Founder Greg Parker, were recently awarded the goBeyondProfit Champion Award for prioritizing people and community— illustrating how genuine care translates into a company culture of loyalty and generosity. 

In our latest CEO interview with Greg Parker, we see how his journey from a one-man operation in 1976 to a company processing over a million weekly transactions was made possible by his hands-on leadership and commitment to generosity. This philosophy permeates every aspect of Parker’s Kitchen – from brand identity to employee benefits and customer service.

From One Employee to a Million Weekly Transactions

To think back to January 1st, 1976, and see where we are today is hard to believe. I was the only employee, and I worked for three and a half years without a day off. Being the person who opened and closed the store, who was in charge of maintenance, mowing the grass, planting, cleaning bathrooms, and cooking the food, I gained incredible knowledge about what convenience truly means.

Convenience defines America. Half of America shops in a convenience store every single day. At Parker’s Companies, we have a million transactions occur in our stores every week. We’re the first to open, the last to close, and we are ubiquitous. There are more convenience stores than any other retail entity.

I’ve worn every hat: accountant, bookkeeper, head of marketing, head of display, head of operations. I’ve done everything in our industry, and it gives me a knowledge that others don’t have. But I’ve always had a profound fear of failure, and I think that fear of failure is what pushed me forward. That, and insecurity. I think many CEOs, if they were truly honest, would say they had a huge fear of failure and were very insecure in what they were doing.

Defining Yourself Through Crisis: Reflections from 2020

No CEO can say they had everything figured out. We certainly didn’t. I sat in our conference room and said, “This is going to be a defining time in our company’s history. We’re going to do the best job of handling our business, taking care of our customers, and ensuring the safety of our employees, better than anyone in the industry. Let’s use this time to define ourselves.”

I remember at the time my chief of staff, asked if people would be able to work from home during the pandemic. I decided to answer that question in writing to all our employees.

I told them I’ve always led from the front, and my intention was to visit every single store and talk to every manager and kitchen manager to let them know we were concerned. We were going to do whatever it took to provide for their safety. I was going to be a good listener and understand their concerns. But we’re an essential business; we had to stay open. Imagine America shutting down, with every convenience store closing. So, we had to remain open.

I went on to say that I wouldn’t tell my white-collar workers they could work from home while the frontline, blue-collar workers, those serving our customers every day, had to be at work. No, this office was going to stay open. As a 71-year-old leader of this company, I was going to be here at work every single day, leading from the front. It was a time for us to define ourselves.

Our customers appreciated what we did. Our workers appreciated what we did. We had whole teams from the office go into stores to help clean up, bag ice, or help with cooking. Our team members understood that we cared deeply about their safety and were there to help them. That created a real sense of camaraderie, proving we could overcome whatever we faced. Over time, we gained market share in every single market where we did business.

How Working Mothers Guide Superior Brand Decisions

We asked ourselves, “Who is our brand customer? Who is the filter through which we’re going to look at everything we do in our company?” The convenience store industry has traditionally been defined by what we call the “Bubba”: a guy who drives a pickup truck, drinks beer, chews tobacco, or smokes cigarettes, and likes buying Frito-Lays, meat snacks, and fried chicken.

But that’s not who we landed on. We decided our brand filter had to be the working mother. She is the most discriminating, time-starved, and demanding customer we have. She demands safety, cleanliness, great architecture, good lighting, low aisles for visibility, and windows for safety. Many of our store employees are working mothers, and many are single working mothers. If you satisfy the needs of the working mother, you please everyone.

People would say, “Greg, I think you’re spending too much money on your stores, on landscaping, on architecture. Sometimes good enough is good enough.” But in our company, we’ve never thought good enough was good enough. Having the working mother as our brand filter was one of the best things we ever did.

Building a Company Culture That Earns Loyalty

We understand that if we want to be the best place to work, we must look after our people. Providing childcare is something that makes us different, distinctive, and makes people want to come work with us. We feel privileged and honored that we can do this. It was a way to differentiate ourselves. We want to earn the loyalty of our people so they would say, “I want my sister, mother, or friend to come work here too, because we love it so much.”

The high cost of low wages doesn’t work overtime. You have to invest in your people, get them training. I want people to live the best versions of themselves that they can be.