Posts by theo@aacs.org.au

Dan Armes, Founder of ServoPro, recently caught up with Wayne Miller from HenCo Group, which now owns both U-Haul Australia and Move Yourself Trailer Hire, to talk about the HenCo merger and what it really means for independent service stations. If you have been in the industry for a while, you will know Wayne. He has worked across fuel and convenience for more than four decades and has spent the past 14 years with U-Haul Australia, building the network largely through independent service stations. One of the first questions was simple. Has anything changed for agents? Wayne did not hesitate. “Nothing’s changed. Nothing’s changed other than some of the improvements happening in the background.” That probably sums it up best. Move Yourself Trailer Hire and U-Haul Australia merged under the HenCo Group structure, and agents were told it would be business as usual. The brands remain. The contacts remain. The…

Bp has announced that Lucy Nation, Country President for Australia, will leave the company at the end of March after a 28-year career. Paul Augé, senior vice president, mobility, convenience and midstream, Asia Pacific, has been appointed Country President for Australia, effective 1 March. He will continue in his current role in addition to the new portfolio. Augé brings experience across strategy, business development, mobility, convenience and aviation. He has held senior leadership roles for bp in Australia, Asia Pacific, Mexico, the UK and Europe. Prior to returning to Australia in 2023, he was vice president for mobility and convenience in Mexico, where he was responsible for bp’s downstream fuel business. Over nearly three decades, Nation worked across regions including the UK, US and Singapore. She held senior leadership roles spanning refining, trading, terminals, midstream and supply, finance, and most recently in gas and low carbon energy. View article source…

The Australian Government will seek to raise a proposal at next week’s Food Ministers Meeting to mandate Health Star Ratings on food products across Australia. In 2020, Food Ministers agreed to consider mandatory labelling should the existing voluntary scheme fail to reach 70 per cent of products by 2025. Recent data released by Food Standards Australia New Zealand shows just 37 per cent of products display a Health Star Rating. We are committed to ensuring Australians have the information they need to make healthy choices and this is a sensible next step in the evolution of Health Star Ratings. Since 2014, Health Star Ratings have provided consumers with a quick and simple way to compare the nutritional value of similar types of products they find on supermarket shelves. Ensuring Health Star Ratings appear on all products will enhance consumer choice and establish a level playing field for all food producers. Recognising that Health Star Ratings are intended only as a basic guide, we will also continue to monitor the effectiveness of the methodology used to determine Health Star Ratings and will make updates as required.  A final decision on mandating Health Star Ratings will be made after the Food…

New national research shows Australians strongly support the targeted use of facial recognition technology (FRT) to protect retail workers and customers from serious and repeat criminal behaviour. Independent polling commissioned by the Australian Retail Council (ARC) and conducted by RedBridge found clear majority support for facial recognition technology where there are serious risks to safety. The RedBridge Retail Crime Prevention Survey found: 81 per cent support the use of FRT to identify people who have previously threatened retail staff with a weapon 80 per cent support its use to identify people who have physically assaulted staff or customers Around three in four (75 per cent) Australians support its use to identify repeat serious offenders, including those responsible for significant theft or ongoing disturbances 72 per cent of Australians supported the use of FRT to identify people who had been subject to intervention orders. The research also shows Australians believe the…

The Cook Government will introduce tough new laws to stamp out the dangerous illicit tobacco and vape trade, on the first sitting day of Parliament. Cook Government introducing priority amendments to WA tobacco laws Changes will ensure Western Australia has some of the strongest penalties in Australia Businesses caught selling illicit tobacco or vapes will face closure orders Legislation designed to help keep Western Australians safe The Cook Government will introduce tough new laws to stamp out the dangerous illicit tobacco and vape trade, on the first sitting day of Parliament. Amendments to the Tobacco Products Control Act 2006 will see WA have some of the strongest penalties in Australia. The changes will significantly strengthen compliance and enforcement options and ensure Western Australia’s laws are robust and responsive to the evolving illegal tobacco and vape trade. Under the proposed legislation changes, the maximum penalty for possession of a large commercial…

‘We’re seeing a lot more baked goods being sold, baked fish, baked chicken versus the fried option,’ says Michelle Weckstein, director of food and beverage brands at the SunStop convenience-store chain. In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Michelle Weckstein, director of food and beverage brands for Southwest Georgia Oil Co., Bainbridge, Georgia, which operates the SunStop convenience-store chain. They discuss how GLP-1 drugs used for weight loss are affecting the demand for items with protein at convenience stores. On this podcast, Weckstein also talks about how SunStop recognized the GLP-1 diet phenomenon early on—and how her company feels that this is a trend that’s going to be around for a while. “At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts together with CSP editors to discuss the latest in c-store news and trends. From mergers and acquisitions to foodservice and technology, the podcast delivers the story straight to listeners in short-format…