Summer road trips are an American staple and the key to success is to provide convenience, familiarity, and rewards to win customers.
I have been in sales and customer service for most of my life and traveling to visit new and future customers is a large part of my job.
But, during the summer, I love the bonus time with family and am pleased to share some of our summer adventures! My wife and teen daughter are accustomed to touring convenience stores as part of every journey and I am excited that I was able also to share our quirky exploits with my father-in-law visiting from India.
Shuffling Off to Summer in Buffalo
Our first destination was to visit the 8th wonder of the world, Niagara Falls. On our way, we experienced the winding country roads through Pennsylvania from our home in Northern Virginia.
Our first refueling pit stop was a Nittany Energy MinitMart. A well-designed store welcomed us with fresh food and superbly friendly staff!
A trip through Pennsylvania wouldn’t be complete without stopping at a Sheetz. Since we’ve lived in Virginia, we’ve fit in well with the Sheetz Freakz and love to stop anywhere on our northeast travels for familiar (fantastic!) food and earn rewards for our next trip.
While the Falls was a once-in-a-lifetime must-do, second on that list is to eat at the world-famous Anchor Bar, “Home of the Original Buffalo Chicken Wings!” While I devote my life to promoting customer loyalty, these guys do the same, but all by word of mouth. If you ask any Buffaloian (or anyone who has been there) whether Duff’s or Anchor Bar has the best wings in the town, it might be best just to agree as the natives can be a pretty tough crowd to debate with. I won’t say which is my favorite.
Heading Home Through Amish Summer Country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Despite passing dozens of great stores, including the Pennsylvania big three (Sheetz, Wawa, and Rutter’s), we stumbled upon United Food Mart, a true hidden gem! Masquerading as a gas station, this convenience store was filled with wonderful people. True customer service is a key differentiator in my must-have list for convenience stores. And, while on a road trip in the winding countryside, United Food Mart exceeded all of my expectations.
We treated Dad to a trip on the Strasburg Railroad in Lancaster. This historic steam train is “the oldest continuously operating railroad in the nation” covering 2,500 acres of Lancaster County’s famous Amish Country.
Big City Lights!
A short, but relatively painful ride full of traffic and superhighways is between Virginia and New York City.
But, when you need to stop on the highway, the Sunshine Market in the Baltimore Travel Plaza on Interstate 95 is a must-do! This massive recently-remodeled travel center features several QSRs and restrooms, and this hidden gem, Sunshine Market, offers travelers food, snacks, and the finest Maryland souvenirs in case you were in the market for cute plush crabs or a magnet for the fridge collection.
Swinging back through Philadelphia, we stopped in King of Prussia and a Global Partners store. In the smallest of small-world coincidences, the store manager was from my small hometown in India!
The Most Magical Summer Place on Earth!
Later in the summer, we flew to Orlando to bring dad down to Disney World, but the happiest place for me was to visit with our newest Liquid Barcodes customer, Rebel (Anabi Oil). Rebel stores are sleek and technologically advanced. With stores throughout Florida and the Western U.S., I was excited to have the opportunity to visit. I look forward to sharing case studies of Rebel in the near future!
St. Lake City With a Spanish Colleague
The last stop on my summer trip was Salt Lake City. While my actual family didn’t join me on this trip, I was excited to meet up with , a member of the Liquid Barcodes family!
We toured Holiday stores, Maverik, and Pilot Flying J – all of which are phenomenal operators in their own markets. Alvaro is part of the LB Customer Success team based in Malaga, Spain but works with our American customers on a daily basis. It is always wonderful to see stores through that team’s perspective as they work tirelessly with retailers nearly 24/7.
Next Stop, Las Vegas!
As summer comes to a close and my daughter returns to school, I look forward to meeting with more and more potential customers between now and at the October NACS Show in Las Vegas.
Please plan to visit the Liquid Barcodes NACS Show booth in the Technology area. I am fortunate to work with a great team and I would love for you to meet them!
About Liquid Barcodes
Liquid Barcodes is a leading global loyalty and digital marketing technology partner specializing in the convenience and foodservice industries. The proprietary, cloud-based technology platform allows retailers to create and manage their digital marketing campaigns with the “customer connection cycle” process to engage, promote, and reward customers’ activities in real time across digital and media channels.
Liquid Barcodes loyalty platform is powering loyalty programs for industry partners across several global markets, by offering unique subscription and mobile payment programs, machine learning, personalization, gamification, loyalty, and other capabilities.
Learn more about Liquid Barcodes at LiquidBarcodes.com.
About the Author
Saurabh Swarup is the General Manager of North America for Liquid Barcodes. Swarup is based in Northern Virginia and leads the Liquid Barcodes U.S. team.
