BIGGER is great, but may not always be BETTER…. nor affordable.
We often see the convenience and travel center industry moving toward larger stores and forecourts, adding additional lanes and dispensers to new and existing builds, especially for peak sales periods. For those well-capitalized companies, this is a great initiative. Unfortunately, for smaller regional operators, the cost of forecourt upgrades can be daunting.
However, running FASTER and more-efficient forecourts and, for that matter, FASTER compliance, supply, and maintenance teams, is easily achievable for fuel operators, large or small.
Here are just a few ways to improve your forecourt without major capital investment:
Improve your dispenser fuel flow to the optimum range. The target goal should 10 gallons per minute for gasoline-based grades and 35-45 gallons per minute for truck diesel-based grades. Underperforming dispensers can drastically reduce your gallon throughput from 25 to 50%, slowing down your lanes and causing backups during peak demand. Innovative software is readily available to help track your transactions and flow rates and make recommendations regarding dispensing positions that are under-performing. Providers may also offer troubleshooting support to help maintenance teams diagnose the true cause of the slowdowns versus trial and error. As you speed up your fuel flow, customers can quickly fuel their vehicles, visit inside of the store, and move on with their day.
Quickly identify when a dispenser position is no longer transacting and could be out-of-service. Often, throughput can be dramatically diminished when a dispenser is out-of-order and repairs have not been performed. Innovative software is available to notify companies when a dispensing position has not generated sales transactions over a short period of time. This could help identify dispensers in need of investigation and repair. Some software suppliers can also estimate the impact of the downed fueling positions, […]