winner

Shell

Go Home Well

Staff research gave Shell a real understanding of just how ’health and safety’ was being perceived on its forecourts, and the negative connotations that came along with it. The company recognised that the phrase health and safety had become synonymous with red tape, strict rules and rigid regulations, yet was absolutely critical when frontline staff can face high-risk situations every single day, from aggressive and violent customers, to drive-offs, fuel spills and robberies especially for the night-shift teams.

It launched Go Home Well, three little words which sum up Shell’s mission. The thinking behind it is that all of us work to live, not live to work, because at the centre of our lives are the people and things we hold closest to our hearts, and they’re waiting for us to come home safely.

The campaign was a call to action, making health and safety matter to every single individual in the business by putting them and their loved ones into the picture. They encouraged staff to share video clips on Go Home Well boards, post messages and photographs on social media, and held Safety Nights, prompting greater focus and awareness of health and safety.

Shell says it has only just scratched the surface with the scope of this campaign and has launched a Safety and Me SAM character to give a face to the campaign, with more initiatives planned.

highly commended

Maxol

Christmas coffee cup campaign

To help shine a light on mental health and wellbeing, Maxol teamed up with its charity partner, Aware, to raise money for them with a Christmas coffee cup campaign. It was based on the fact that having a cup of tea, a nice coffee or a hot chocolate can be a comforting occasion, a moment for yourself that can have a great effect on your mental health. In order to bring the campaign to life, Maxol also created exclusive special-edition Santa beard and snowman coffee cups to encourage customers to not only purchase a hot beverage from Maxol but also take a selfie with their cup and share it on their social media channels using the hashtag #changinglives.

To encourage staff to get involved, Maxol gave away a 50 one4all voucher to the three best selfies submitted. The launch was further supported by a media partnership with Q Radio, one of NI’s most popular radio stations. Information on the donation and the selfie challenge featured on the back of every cup. The originality of the cups’ design helped Maxol share its message even after the product had been bought.

The illusion of the cups themselves was a playful way of differentiating Maxol from its competitors and contributed to a 19% sales uplift in NI. Maxol donated 10c/10p from every hot beverage purchased to Aware. It raised £16,196 in NI and 55,272.30 in ROI.

motorway services

Sanj Kular

Shell Cobham

Shell Cobham is the largest petrol filling station in the UK and the biggest success story for the brand. No suprise then that this is Shell’s flagship site.

It first opened in August 2012, and continues to deliver exceptional standards and a great customer experience forall its visitors.

Indeed when it was visited by Forecourt Trader’s Shop Doctor unannounced, it was awarded an exceptional score of 10/10. Further it was a proud moment when the site was named as runner-up in this category of the Forecourt Awards in 2017. In 2018, the store went even further winning the Best Motorway Services award and also achieving countless accreditations by the Food Service Centre and Company Branding audit scores of 100%. Over the past year, this service station has out-performed all other motorway sites in customer feedback ratings.

From a lowly 40% ’Treated Like A Guest’ score in 2017, it achieved 80% last year, which is quite an achievement ona site which serves 3,000 customers a day, with almost all of them transient.

The team is key to this success, and most members started here when the site first opened back in 2012. Shell says they work really hardand are truly proud of delivering the best customer experience atthe busiest petrol station in the UK.

special recognition

David Penny

Penny Petroleum

David Penny was extremely happy and grateful to win the Special Recognition Award which is decided using an online vote by Forecourt Trader readers. He has had a long career in the fuel retailing industry which started with BP in the 1980s. He then moved back to Northumberland and purchased Powburn in 1997, which was the start of his impressive building of the Penny Petroleum empire. Currently the Penny Petroleum portfolio encompasses 48 sites across the North of England and Scotland.

David’s skill as an inspirational leader and innovative thinker has led to many of the sites in the Penny Petroleum portfolio increasing shop turnover by huge amounts and in their wake, increasing fuel sales. The team he has built over the past 10years mostly comes from staff first employed as forecourt assistants.

He trades with all the major fuel brands, and has recently added the Spar brand to his portfolio of mainly Londis and Premier fascias.

Initiatives such as the company’s valeting concept and ’Spend a Penny’ customer toilets have continued to be rolled out, and new additions such as the Revolution washing machines, Auld’s and Browns bakery’s, £1 stores and vape stations are all having a positive impact on sales. As well as developing sites, the company is also developing its team and procedures.

best site manager

Chris Hamilton

Spar Ravenhill Road, Belfast

Chris Hamilton, as manager of Spar Ravenhill Road in Belfast, believes his role is to ensure the store has a happy and motivated workforce, and he feels he has achieved this through his approach.

Chris explains: "I firmly believe in a leadership style whereby I lead by example. I train and coach my staffso that they have the knowledge and confidence to use their initiative in carrying out their role; and build the relationship between myself and my staff."

And it seems his approach is working as he walked away with the prestigious Best Site Manager category at the Awards.

In addition, his store has a good track record for people development. Over the past year or so, his assistant manager has progressed to store manager in Henderson’s Banbridge, one of his team leaders joined a graduate programme and is now an assistant manager, and three customer advisors have progressed to team leader, two at Ravenhill Road and one at another store.

best soft drinks outlet

Ziheed Mohammed

Woodman Service Station, Leeds

Woodman Services has a superb range of soft drinks and the category accounts for a major percentage of the store’s sales, with between 400 and 500 units sold every day.

Soft drinks occupy a full wall of neat glass-door chillers, a chill island and are also merchandised in ambient stacks around the store to maximise sales opportunities.

Multipacks and products on promotion are also sited near the door to provide further up-selling opportunities and a Red Bull chiller highlights the energy drinks in a prominent position.

Products are multi-faced and there is a strong mix of energy and functional drinks, water, fizzy drinks (including low/no-sugar variants) milk drinks and juices. A separate chiller houses American drinks and includes nine different variants of Fanta and Dr Pepper which are very competitively priced.

The soft drinks category is merchandised using planograms and regular support from Coca-Cola European Partners.

best valeting facilities

Sarah Ibbetson

Skyway Filling Station, Newcastle

The valeting facilities are a key part of the customer proposition at the Skyway site. They are provided within a landscaped, well laid out, dedicated area of the forecourt.

Services include a roll-over car wash with multiple wash programmes, backed up by a permanent mid-week, half-price promotion on all wash programmes.There are two jet wash bays with ’buy time’ facility so customers can tailor their wash to their specific vehicle. And there are two air, water, vacuum and screenwash services.

All equipment is meticulously maintained and diligently checked for quality of service.

The roll-over is equipped with remote monitoring direct to the service provider so that any issues can be quickly identified and resolved minimising any customer impact.

Staff are trained to use all of the equipment at the site and are happy to lend a helping hand to any customer who may require a little assistance or advice with any of the facilities.

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