MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Industry thought leaders gathered in Miami yesterday for start of the sixth annual NACS Leadership Forum. For the next two days these leaders will be inspired and engage with the event’s theme of Visions of the Future.

NACS Chairman Brad Call, vice president of adventure culture at Maverik, welcomed the more than 140 invitation-only retail leaders as well as the higher-ups at supportive Hunter Club and supplier companies. “We would not be here without our supplier partners; you walk hand in hand with us to make our industry second to none. Thank for you all that you do for NACS,” Call said to applause.

He then welcomed Peter Tedeschi, president and CEO of Tedeschi Food Shops, to the stage who called out the reasons why folks were in attendance: “We’re reinventing ourselves and you are leading the charge and you get it. The investment of your time at this event makes you a better leader and your operations better performing.”

CST Brands President & CEO Kim Bowers was first to take the stage. “It’s great to be here and tell the CST story,” she said acknowledging the youth of the newly formed U.S./Canadian company, which is geographically diverse and has a highly attractive store footprint. She talked about the brand challenges of separating the CST Corner Store convenience brand from the Valero gas brand — the focus is on food, food and food.

One way, CST has done that is by jumping into the food truck business with whoopee pies and (1.5 million in 2013) as well as sweet and savory kolaches (more than 4.5 million in 2013). The company is also growing its immediate consumables and proprietary food programs (breakfast and lunch), especially with the Millennials. In addition, its private-label offer boasts of 185 SKUs, helped out by its efficient supply chain, which serves 60% of its network with three-time-a-week deliveries.

In addition to a focus on brands and key categories, CST is working on new store formats to meet the growing needs of evolving convenience consumers and to emphasize higher margin items. Forty percent of the new stores are dedicated to foodservice. And these new stores are modern, open and inviting with large parking lots to accommodate more guests. The target for CST is to open 38 stores in 2014 — the most ever in company history.

With a stated focus of “delighting more customers every day” CST has invested more in its people. Bonuses are tied to what they call “Corner Store time,” where executive leadership has to work at least five days per year in a store — giving them a great taste of what store-level employees experience every day and has led to many good changes in the stores.

Demographics shifts are fueling growth for CST, namely Hispanics and Millennials. Hispanics are a dominant shopper and growing at 3% in the United States. “It is a consumer to take notice of,” Bowers said, noting the importance of having bilingual clerks on staff. Millennials are another demographic to watch. “They shop at different hours, mostly evenings, and are very value focused, which is where a private-label program can really help out.” Thirty percent of shoppers in c-stores these days are this demographic.

“Our goal is to delight more than 600 million customers by 2019,” Bowers concluded. “So come on down to Texas and see for yourself.”

RaceTrac Petroleum CEO Alison Moran next took the stage and started by talking about her customers: RaceTrac serves a guest every 10 seconds and the average shopper shops the company’s stores three times a week.

Moran also shared the humble beginnings of her family’s company, which started as a trackside station in 1934 with 12 stores that has now grown to 680 stores. “By focusing on our people and our guests, we’ve strengthened our brand, increased loyalty and increased revenues,” said Moran. Revenue has grown 80% per store in five years.

Moran reminisced a little: Many years ago, RaceTrac “screamed lowest price with our big yellow signs.” But this is what you didn’t see, she said, “employees who worked 12 hour shifts, often alone, and if the cash/balance sheet didn’t match they were fired.” Back then the focus was on low price and efficiency. Turnover was not a priority, much less a thought, leading to a whopping 286% turnover. The average store manager stayed a measly 38 days. But business was still successful and happy employees didn’t matter, she said, “until we decided to be something else.”

The marketplace is your teacher, Moran said her dad, Carl Bolsch, often told her. And around 2000 RaceTrac noticed a shift in the industry. Transaction-based shoppers who craved cigarettes and beer now wanted an experience and more choices for a quick snack. A savvier version of the convenience store gave people a reason to come inside and engage with the brand. These were all great changes for the industry, Moran admitted, but RaceTrac’s simple model was different. “So we asked ourselves, who did we want to be? How will we compete? Low price alone was not good enough. We wanted RaceTrac fanatics. We discovered the missing element to propel the company forward: our people.”

So in 2001, RaceTrac put its core values to paper. “Our values defined who we are and how we work: honestly, efficient, positive attitude, respect, teamwork.” But Moran knew there was a better way, the RaceTrac way: putting people first, a culture of strong performers, warrior’s passion, humble attitude, and live for fun every day. These core values are posted everywhere and referenced in every meeting and every decision made at the company.

The company invested in training and set a vision of what it believed it could be. RaceTrac went from 95 hours in training back in 2000, with a focus on inventory and a goal of selling more gas, to today’s 570 hours of training with a focus on people and guests, and with the goal of being the convenience store of choice. A business re-alignment, from a traditional model to a more collaborative model, helped enhance the vision.

Moran said that by “investing in our people, our people began to invest in us.” As a result, that tenure number of 38 days for the store manager has now become an impressive 1,915 days.

Tedeschi joined Moran and Bowers on stage at the conclusion of the presentations for a lively Q&A session. Day two of the Leadership Forum will focus on next generation customer engagement, dependable loyalty and the future of fuels.