APRIL 2018

Come to the FOAC General Meeting

and See How Lucky You Are!THURSDAY, APRIL 26TH

The Grand Victoria Casino250 S. Grove Avenue, Elgin2:30PM : Registration, Appetizersand Table Top Trade ShowSpecial pricing on current and new products.Take advantage of amazing deals!

3:30PM : Meeting BeginsVendor Presentations | Guest SpeakerImmigration Compliance Attorney George Katsivalis,will help ensure that your store is protected.

5:30PM : Cocktails and Table Top Trade ShowStep into the Illinois Lottery Cash Machinefor a chance to win BIG BUCKS!

6:30PM : Dinner at the Indulge Buffet!

Don’t “Roll the Dice” on Your Future. Be a WINNER and Join Us on Thursday, April 26th!

AFTER DINNER :Gamble on us!

Every FOACmember will receive

$50 IN CHIPS!

Please email us at admin@foachicago.com Spouses and store managers are invited to attend.QUESTIONS?

The 2019 contract is on the minds of all franchisees. But, how much do you really know about what’s going on? Are you current on all of the latest happenings and

discussions between franchisees and SEI?

And, what about new vendors and their products?Do you know what’s hot and what’s not?

One of the very best ways to stay “in the know” and be aware of all that is happening within your FOAC and the 7-Eleven organization is to attend FOAC Board Meetings.

LOOKING AHEAD…Plans are in the works for two of the FOAC’s biggest events of the year!

Be sure to add these very important dates to your calendars:

Please take note of the following dates for upcoming FOAC Board Meetings,and please plan to join us. There is no cost to attend and lunch is on us! For more information,please contact Renee Carr at admin@foachicago.com. Meeting locations vary.

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU!Thursday, May 31st • Thursday, July 19th

Thursday, August 30th • Thursday, September 27th

The FOAC would like to congratulate Vishal Patel on

opening his first 7-Eleven store!

A ribbon cutting and Grand Opening event took place last month at the store in Willow Springs (8700 S. Archer Avenue). If you’re in

the neighborhood, please stop by and welcome Vishal to the FOAC and to

the 7-Eleven family.

Congrats Vishal Patel

Wednesday, June 27thFOAC Charity Golf OutingSt. Andrew’s Golf Course & Country ClubWest Chicago, Illinois

Thursday, June 28thFOAC Annual Trade ShowOdeum Expo CenterVilla Park, Illinois

Details will be coming your way in future issues of the FOAC newsletter.

7-Eleven is testing Scientific Games Corp.'s new SCiQ lottery instant game retail technology in select convenience stores. The SCiQ dispensers are currently live in pilot tests at participating 7-Eleven stores and other major national retailer locations in Arizona, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas, and are scheduled for pilots in Georgia, New York and Pennsylvania. Chicagoland may be coming soon!

The United States convenience-store industry experienced its 15th straight year of record in-store sales and its fourth straight year of more than $10 billion in pretax profits, according to newly released data from the NACS State of the

Industry. These impressive numbers were announced this month during the NACS State of the Industry Summit, which took place April 10-12 at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Rosemont. See the chart to the right for more specific details.

He’s our General Meeting guest speaker, and you won’t want to miss hearing what he has to say! Want to know more about George, who will be providing tips on how to ensure that your store is protected? Keep reading!

George Katsivalis has over twenty-eight years of experience practicing almost entirely as an immigration lawyer. He currently concentrates his practice in immigration litigation involving deportation defense, administrative practice before United States Immigration and Citizenship Services, federal court litigation, and appellate practice before the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Prior to entering into private practice, George served as an attorney and administrative law judge with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He was appointed as a United States Immigration Judge in February 2005 and presided over the Chicago detained docket until his retirement from the bench in 2010.

Be sure to attend the General Meeting on April 26th to learn more about the very important and timely topic of immigration compliance.

If you’re on Facebook, please take a moment to LIKE the FOAC Facebook page. You’ll find our page by searching FOA Chicago. So far, 368 of you have liked our page, but we want to keep growing and reaching more of you with our news, photos and information. So, please, stop what you’re doing, log on to Facebook,

and LIKE the FOA Chicago page. Thank you!

15TH STRAIGHT YEAR OF Industry Snapshot 2017 Total % Change

Inside Sales $237.0 billion 1.7%

Fuel Sales $364.1 billion 14.9%

Total Sales $601.1 billion 9.3%

Pretax Profit $10.4 billion 1.6%

U.S. Store Count 154,958 Flat

Sources: NACS State of the Industry Report® of 2017 Data;2018 NACS/Nielsen Convenience Industry Store Count

RECORD SALESFOR CONVENIENCE STORES

7-Eleven Testing New Lottery Instant Game Technology

7-Eleven Testing New Lottery Instant Game Technology

Who’sGeorge P. Katsivalis?

The FOAC is on Facebook

Don’t take a chance on getting fined! Register today for this month’s Sanitation Class, which takes place on Saturday, April 28th from 7am to 5pm at the Holiday Inn North Shore in Skokie. Your FOAC offers these classes at a subsidized, reduced fee of only $99 (plus license fee) for members, so take advantage of this affordable price and avoid problems and fines in the future. For your convenience, the test is on the same day as your class!

Register today by visiting www.foachicago.com. If you have questions, please email admin@foachicago.com or call Renee Carr, Executive Administrator at (847) 975-0514. This special discounted offer is for FOAC members only.

ARE YOU CERTIFIED?

Register Today forthe Sanitation Class

7-Eleven Sweetens Private Brandswith Authentic Mexican Baked Goods

953 N. Plum Grove Road Suite B Schaumburg, IL 60173FRANCHISE OWNERS ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGOLAND

• FOAC Newsletter Editorial Contacts •

Editor: Alisa Bay 847-337-5970 • alisagbay@yahoo.com

Planner/Art Director: Hashim Syed 847-293-8551 • hj.syed@gmail.com

The FOAC newsletter is designed and printed by Semper Fi Printing & Promotions, LLC located in Arlington Heights, IL

www.foachicago.com • Telephone: 847-353-9999 • Fax Number: 877-387-FOAC (3622) • Email: admin@foachicago.comPlease call the FOAC Hotline at 847-293-8551 with any problems that require immediate assistance.

The opinions expressed in bylined articles within our newsletter don't reflect, in any way, the opinions or observations of the 7-Eleven FOAC.

DON'T GAMBLE ON YOUR SUCCESS!Be a WINNER by attending the FOAC General

Meeting on April 26th. We hope to see you there!

Here’s some good news! 7-Eleven Inc. made the cut of the top retailers delivering quality customer experience.

7-Eleven achieved a rating of 73% in the 2018 Temkin Experience Ratings, which is an annual customer experience benchmark of companies based on a survey of 10,000 consumers in the United States.

To generate the ratings, Temkin Group asked the consumers to evaluate their recent experiences with a company across three dimensions: Success (can you do what you want to do?), Effort (how easy is it to work with the company?), and Emotion (how do you feel about the interactions?). These three scores were then averaged to produce each company's rating. A score of 70% or above is considered "good" and a score of 80% or above is considered "excellent."

The retail industry overall averaged a 74% percent rating in the 2018 Temkin Experience Ratings, placing retail in third place out of the 20 industries rated.

Leading the retailers were Ace Hardware and Dollar Tree, which tied for first place with a rating of 82%. Rounding out the top five were Family Dollar (81%), BJ's Wholesale Club (80%), and Amazon.com (79 %).

If you’re interested in learning more, the full 2018 Temkin Experience Ratings can be viewed at www.TemkinRatings.com.

Did you know that 7-Eleven has expanded its offerings of Hispanic packaged bakery items and is introducing its new 7-Select private brand line after months of testing in Mexico and Texas? Appealing to a variety of taste preferences, three traditional Mexican sweet bread options are being offered at participating 7-Eleven stores including: Panquecitos (golden, soft and sweet vanilla mini loaf cakes), Roles de Canela (cinnamon rolls with raisins) and Panque con Nuez (sliced pound cake with chopped pecans).

The United States is home to almost 58 million Hispanics, representing 18 percent of the country's population with significant spending power. Hispanics are a dominant 7-Eleven demographic and a majority of them fall in 7-Eleven's sweet spot – millennial-aged and younger.

"Like the U.S., Hispanics make up a significant and important part of 7-Eleven's clientele," said Jack Stout, 7-Eleven senior vice president over private brands. "More than half live in the three states where 7-Eleven has a very strong and growing store presence: California, Florida and Texas. 7-Eleven tries to ensure that we offer products that our customers want to see on our shelves, conveniently and priced competitively."

Extensively tested in Mexico for flavor, texture, aroma and appearance, the goal was to meet or exceed consumers' expectations. So far, it looks like they have!

"As an organization, we continuously look for innovative ways to bring products to market that reflect the ethnic diversity that mirrors the communities in which we operate," Stout said. "Quality and value are always part of the equation. We want to offer products our customers may already be looking for in a grocery store, but conveniently and with better value while they fill up with gas or grab coffee."

7-Eleven Sweetens Private Brandswith Authentic Mexican Baked Goods

7-Eleven Named AmongTop Retailers

in CustomerExperience

Ratings