Jack & Co, the 10-store Australian convenience chain, is dialling up its challenger brand status with a compelling and award-winning proposition.
Launched in 2012, the New South Wales business, has always focused on challenging the status quo with attitude and a bit of a kick, says founder Wade Death.
As a former Caltex executive with 15 years’ experience under his belt, Wade was frustrated with the mediocrity of the convenience store, which he felt was bland in comparison to the forecourt. “That was the genesis of the idea – to create a market-led proposition with an attitudinal personality. Previously, all convenience stores were branded the same as the forecourt ie BP, Shell and Caltex. It was a proposition that needed challenging – the store had to be the hero,” he maintains.
But it wasn’t just about branding. Consumer habits and tastes had also changed a lot, he adds.
Customers were no longer satisfied with a generic ham and cheese sandwich, push button coffee that was charged at the same price as a barista-served cup or overpriced milk and bread.
Wade himself would bypass service stations and head to a bakery to fulfil his needs. Jack & Co was created to disrupt this prevailing convenience store model and fill a gap in the Australian market.
While there are currently 10 stores sitting under the Jack & Co brand, there are a further 10 sites in the portfolio, which are operated under different formats. However, these will be migrated to the Jack & Co brand in the next 12-24 months, Wade reports.
The proposition has won good traction with customers. “It’s grown a life of its own with followers and lovers of the business,” Wade says. “As a challenger, we make no secret of the fact it isn’t a corporate business or listed entity and on days off I will post photos of my children in stores and things like that – it’s pretty grass roots.”
Awards success
Jack & Co has attracted industry recognition too, winning the AACS Independent Store of the Year three times since the launch of the first store in 2012 and Overall Australian Store of the Year for its Northwood branch in 2026.
Stores including Northwood, which was refitted 12 months ago, evolve over time but are tailored to the local market, Wade says.
This enables Jack & Co to remain relevant across locations be they highway stores, stores in blue collar suburbs or white collar affluent areas. “We shape the offer towards the clientele but make sure there’s a common thread of ‘‘don’t take us too seriously and we won’t take you too seriously”, which cuts through multiple demographics,” he says. “We curate around the local market but always focus on high quality fresh food and coffee,” he adds.
It was this bold all-round offer, which impressed judges in the AACS awards. “We have a comprehensive offer in not a huge store, a loyalty program for food and fuel, an instant consumption offer, a take home offer, food and coffee and somehow we seemed to stitch it all together. In that particular store you will see high vis traders in steel cap boots next to high end parents with kids in school uniform – it’s no secret that everyone is welcome.”
Prepared to fail
Innovation and risk taking is in Jack & Co’s DNA, Wade maintains.
While the company had the benefit of starting the business from a blank canvas, it’s has an appetite for above the waterline failure, Wade reports.
“There a lots of things along the way that have not worked and we make sure we have some failures to prove that we are pushing our limits. This is a little tongue in cheek but, if the corporates did it great, we would not have a job,” Wade smiles.
The business is also prepared to push the envelope and persevere. Sandwiches are a case in point.
According to Wade, Jack & Co was vehemently opposed to triangle sandwiches in a box, favouring serve over, made to order sandwiches from its deli. However, it recognised this model was pretty inefficient and labour intensive, especially at peak trading times. After much trial and effort, the company found a machine, which perfectly sealed the triangle sandwich boxes and presented the sandwich in the right way, regardless of fillings. Now, the boxed sandwich offer is at the front of the store and outsells the serve over offer by two to one. It’s a great example of consumer-led innovation and is cleverly marketed on the packaging with a handmade sandwich guarantee, product information and a QR code, which consumers can scan for further details.
Sparks and shocks
With a combined 30 years’ industry experience with Caltex and Jack & Co, as well as working on the family forecourt as a child, Wade remains highly motivated. “If I’m having a hard day, I’ll go to a busy store and see the customers coming in and out – that motivates me,” he says.
“We serve three times the industry average – customers who are devoted to us and what the business stands for. But we are also a commercial outfit, with mouths to feed and bills to pay, so we need a commercially motivated offer and it’s our aim to grow the business in time under our own steam.”
Only external factors seem to keep him awake at night and there’s been a catalogue in recent years – extreme weather events in Australia, Covid and now energy crisis 2.0, he says. “Those are the things that keep me awake, external forces. We pivoted in covid pretty well but as the business gets bigger, the pivot gets harder and harder,” Wade concedes.
Differentiated offer and local links
From the get go, Jack & Co has differentiated around food and coffee. “We do all our own food and we are hard on ourselves to get the quality right,” he says.
“If people can’t tell us apart, they are not coming in. Our offer is better than anyone else – high quality fresh food and coffee. We also make a huge investment in training on our offer, particularly in barista coffee,” Wade says. “It’s challenging but equally we find that’s what makes us who we are.”
Local community involvement is another point of difference.
“It’s not our thing to get into big chain charities. We have nothing against them but we find we want to be part of stuff that comes back to our communities, where our customers get the benefit. That’s our genesis,” he says.
Loyalty piece
Jack & Co is going against the grain on conventional loyalty programs with its Cracker Jack Club scheme. It has 25,000 members across its branded stores.
“We started it because we felt we had a lot of loyalty to shop but not to fuel,” Wade says. While the company partners with BP and Caltex, it still operates the fuel offer. Rather than being a vehicle for data collection and customer insights, the scheme gives valued customers discounted offers and rewards and aims to compete with independent operators who have moved towards a discounted, inferior offer but good pricing. “We are targeting consumers that want a better offer but give them a discount for being a member,” Wade says.
The program covers fuel, forecourt goods, food and coffee plus pantry staples and enjoys good repeat business, he says.
Future trends and outlook
While the business has broad appeal to a lot of target markets, Jack & Co aims to strengthen its appeal to Gen Z. Wade concedes the business is not keeping pace with the times – scoring it five out of 10 – and that it needs to reinvent for the younger generations.
Meanwhile, a staggering 50% of store sales are hot or cold drinks and the food offer is evolving, working closely with suppliers for the best insights.
Wade also values his AACS and ACAPMA memberships for inspiration and ideas, suggesting competitive tensions are left at the door. “As an industry we are stronger together,” he says. “We rely heavily on industry associations for data and research etc. I also win ideas from going overseas to London and New York – I walk the streets and look at operators in our industry and outside. It’s part of the genesis and fabric of our business and we apply new ideas where we can.”
In terms of new technology, Wade says it’s more relevant at the back end of the business versus the front end, especially with current energy shocks. “The biggest challenge as a small retailer is that the supply chain is very fragmented – we have a huge number of deliveries and a huge number of invoices etc. While we have different payments solutions for customers ie self checkout, order from home and click and collect, at the end of the day, consumers have a digital mind but an analogue heart. So, for all the movements in tech it’s around the back end but the front end is still about staff giving customers fantastic service,” Wade explains.
Jack & Co’s foodservice proposition will continue to evolve. While Australia is a food bowl producer, energy impacts are likely. “Foodservice is in growth and we expect to innovate and develop but we have headwinds with that.”
Those energy shocks are impacting consumer sentiment too, Wade adds.
“Consumers are very ill informed about fuel pricing – there is an increase in cost to them but an increase in costs to ourselves with higher fuel and energy prices. It’s a challenge for us. Consumers are getting more and more savvy so you have to have a value proposition. That’s not a right to serve up crap food and stuff that’s inferior. You choose your own adventure for value. If we choose to go for value we need to offer that but we have no intention of changing the high quality of the offer,” he concludes.
Subscribe to our free mailing list and always be the first to receive the latest news and updates.