The Gray Cat Blog
A comprehensive collection of blogs designed to assist small business owners and multi-unit operators.
Whether this is your first industry convention or you are a seasoned pro, I am a firm believer that establishing a well-thought out plan in advance of attending an industry convention is key for optim...
Evaluating new sites for the multi-unit operator can be a daunting task.  The operator is constantly chasing a number of potential opportunities only to have a few select sites come to fruition.  Comp...
Come on, admit it. You wish you were a better networker. Fear not, it is time to unleash your inner networker.
Networking is one part art and one part discipline and while there is more than one way ...
Convenience store operators continue to plunge into foodservice with the hopes of stemming the tide of lower margins with high-margin foodservice offerings. While the degrees of foodservice can vary g...
With every passing day, month and year, better for you foodservice options continue to infiltrate the convenience store industry.  Slowly but surely, the convenience store industry is broadening its f...
In honor of “Emily the Cat” (the original gray cat from which the company name was created), Gray Cat Enterprises (along with new puppy, Bogey, in picture) makes its annual holiday donation to two non...
Raise your hand if you had the word “pandemic” in your strategic plans – and like that, the world quickly changed. While convenience stores were spared total closure during the lockdowns and volumes w...
Managing a retail store is tough work.
Between operations, merchandising, marketing and facility upkeep, retail business owners have their hands full. Managing the details of retail is the difference...
All too often, store operators – after their grand opening – sit back and wait for the phone to ring or a customer to wander into the store. Slowly, over time, their store sales begin a long erosion. ...
Your goal is to create a buzz in the community that your store is now open and ready for business. Successful grand openings attract enough new customers to your retail establishment, with the goal of...
Raise your hand if you included the word “pandemic” in your 2020 business plan. Yeah, me either. I went from traveling 200,000 miles in 2019, to not getting on a plane for 18 months. Today, my busi...
