If you have driven past Statesboro's newest Enmark station at the corner of Northside Drive East and North Main over the past few weeks, you have witnessed the transformation from Enmark to "enmarket."
This branding change reflects a commitment to fresher and healthier foods, a company executive said.
"Enmark has always been recognized as a brand of friendly employees and as the market leader in competitively priced premium quality, double-filtered, fuel, and none of that will change," said Houstoun Demere, vice president for enmarket. "But with the simple addition of two letters, we've included the word ‘market' within our name, and that is more indicative of the type of stores we operate. The name was sitting there in front of us the whole time. When we realized it, it didn't take us long to embrace the idea to make the change. It seemed like a natural progression for our brand."
Enmarket will continue to offer the same core products Enmark has always carried with additional product lines IN several areas. The company has added a whole new line of healthy snacks with more all-natural, organic, gluten free, and non-GMO options for customers.
Demere said, "We've increased our delivery frequencies for products like fresh salads, sandwiches, and produce so that we are able to keep the freshest possible products on our shelves all week long. We've also added take home casseroles from Miss Sophie's, rotisserie chickens and other take home meal solutions for the customer on the go.
"Moving forward, look for us to expand new offerings to more of our stores and look for us to continue to find ways to make it more convenient for our customers to make healthy lifestyle choices," Demere said. "When people are healthy, they are generally happier, less likely to become ill, more productive at work and eager to grow and learn. So we've simply tried to make it easier for consumers to make healthier choices at our stores while still giving them the option to make a more indulgent purchase if they choose."
To back up the company's commitment to this new brand they are investing more than $500,000 per year to increase the starting salaries of its convenience store employees and have raised their senior general manager earnings potential to a minimum of $55,000, with a profit sharing bonus. To me, the decision underscores the company's commitment to building a good workplace in the retail industry.
"We want to offer the freshest experience for our customers, and we're starting with how we better support our store-level team to lead the industry," said Ryan Chandler, vice president of Business Development at Colonial Group Inc., the parent company of enmarket.
"To get there, we have to set ourselves up to develop, retain and attract the best people. That's precisely why we have established an industry-leading career path, compensation program and benefits structure. Training, development and recruiting are key priorities. At the same time, we will have industry leading responsibility and accountability."
The Savannah-based company is offering starting salaries well above the national federal minimum wage rate of $7.25. The strategy is expected to attract new talent to the company and aligns with "enmarket's" "Enriching Life" campaign.
"It's more than a campaign; it's our mission," Chandler said.
The campaign strives to foster the personal and professional growth of team members, now called Chief Enrichment Officers, or "CEOs." According to Chandler, "Enriching life starts with our team because we know that investment leads to the highest levels of customer satisfaction."
"There's so much happening to enrich the lives of our customers and employees," said Matt Clements, director of marketing. "Enmarket" is recognized as a brand of friendly employees, fresh offerings and quality fuels. We're now pleased to be leading the way again by making a substantial investment in building the greatest retail team in the industry."
Please email DeWayne at dgrice@statesboroherald.com or call at (912) 489-9499.