Betting On The Franchise

Convenience Store Decisions:

7-Eleven’s President and CEO Joe DePinto is reinventing the chain’s convenience concept and industry observers are watching closely.

There was a time not long ago at 7-Eleven Inc. when a Wall St. photo op was considered a good day at the office. Not so much anymore. Since taking command at 7-Eleven 2 years ago, Joe DePinto, a straight-shooting convenience industry veteran with a firm West Point military education, has brought a no-nonsense management approach to the Dallas-based convenience store chain. While affable and committed to learning from franchisees and customers, his goal is clear: to turn the entire organization into a franchisee-based business.

This involves 2 fundamental challenges: executing the plan by franchising company-operated stores to new and existing franchisees and growing the network by attracting new operators to convert to its branded retail network. The changes began in earnest 2 years ago, but industry observes have already noticed the strides the chain is making.

Last month, 7-Eleven was recognized as the No. 1 franchise opportunity in Entrepreneur magazine’s ‘Annual Franchise 500′ rankings for 2008. This is an enormous honor for a variety of reasons. For starters, it validates the hard work 7-Eleven has been doing under the leadership of DePinto.

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