Food-service workers are in demand

By Karen Robinson-Jacobs The Dallas Morning News DALLAS As a mariachi band belted out “Guantanamera,” attendees at 7-Eleven’s recent conference sampled piping-hot chicken empanadas, mini beef tacos and beer-infused brats. The snacks represented the newest food items being added to the menu as Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. makes a run for dollars now flowing into restaurants. As convenience stores expand their hot and fresh food offerings, they will be seeking a fresh crop of foodies to help them think and act more like restaurateurs. Many of them will be plucked from restaurant chains that are also working to hang on to top talent. “I think historically, people that were in food service stayed in food service and people who were in retail stayed in retail. But the lines are very blurred these days,” said Kelly Buckley, vice president of fresh foods innovation for 7-Eleven. The National Restaurant Association predicts that the food service industry will add 1.3 million new jobs in the next decade. That includes convenience store workers whose primary duties involve food. Across the convenience store industry, fresh and hot foods are becoming more important, as cigarettes, a longtime mainstay, become less of a profit center. Convenience stores sold $10.5 billion in fresh and hot foods in 2011, according to Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based research firm. Last week marked Buckley’s first visit to the University of 7-Eleven. The chain’s annual gathering attracted more than 2,600 U.S. and Canadian staffers, franchisees, licensees, vendors and executives. The event included sampling at more than 100 booths. Buckley, who started with 7-Eleven on Jan. 16 in the newly created position, will be adding to the new items. Her 7-Eleven post follows more than 20 years spent in the restaurant industry, including a stint as the chief food innovation officer for Plano, Texas-based Pizza Hut that ended in 2010. In the coming months, she plans to assemble a team that will include workers with culinary backgrounds, food science backgrounds and “perhaps engineering and design backgrounds,” she said. The company is committed to “bringing in people like Kelly, who have food service in their DNA,” spokeswoman Margaret Chabris said. Fresh food is the fastest-growing category at 7-Eleven, Chabris said. “We’re continuing to upgrade and to improve the quality of our food,” said Jesus Delgado-Jenkins, 48, senior vice president of merchandising for 7-Eleven. He said up to 25 percent of the space in a typical 7-Eleven is dedicated to fresh and hot foods, up from about 15 percent just 10 years ago. Increased growth feeds the need for increased expertise. Some of that will come from suppliers and vendors with extensive R&D teams, like those on hand at 7-Eleven’s conference. But much of that bench strength will have to be imported. While culinary students still gravitate largely to established restaurants, convenience stores are hoping to snag more restaurant industry veterans like Buckley. “A lot of people who came into the C-store food service side have come from the (fast-food restaurant) side or from fast-casual,” said Nancy Caldarola, 60. She is education director for the new CAFE program launched by the National Association of Convenience Stores. The three-day food service certification program, which will be held next week in Atlanta, grew out of discussions in 2008 among executives of the convenience store trade group who wanted to boost food service education. “We want to find the right people who want to come in and help us create a hospitality environment,” said Caldarola, who spent 36 years in the restaurant business and also did a stint at Pizza Hut. “We would love to see restaurant people join us.” For convenience stores to gain wider consumer acceptance for its meal-time offerings, more kitchen savvy is crucial. Recently, at the 7-Eleven on Dallas’s Gaston Avenue, pepperoni pizza slices, taquitos and freshly made chicken salad sandwiches sat ready for the lunch crowd. On this afternoon, however, there were few takers. Some shoppers, who left with sodas and chips, wondered aloud if a convenience retailer had the prowess to pull off a restaurant-quality meal. “We have not gotten a very good image,” said Jeff Lenard, vice president of industry advocacy for the convenience store association. He said politicians routinely refer to neighborhoods with only convenience stores as “food deserts.” Chains like 7-Eleven are aiming to shake that image, with company executives saying they want their food to be “better than restaurant quality.” To accomplish that, they’ll need restaurant-quality workers.