In May British Petroleum, or BP, which owns ARCO service stations, rewarded their top 50 franchisees with a trip to Maui. One of those invited was Los Banos’ Roy Todd, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Franchisee Designee for Todd Energy Corporation.
Todd was awarded BP’s San Francisco Regional Franchisee of the Year for 2023. The two-site franchisee beat out many larger franchises in the Bay Area to attain the title. “I never thought it would happen,” Todd said in an interview with the Express.
The Todd Energy Corporation franchises two ARCO ampm gas stations in Los Banos. Their first location, on the northeast corner of Badger Flat Road and Pacheco Boulevard, was opened in 2013 and its success led to the second.
The second station is just northeast of Home Depot. With only two locations, they beat out many fellow franchisees that own “anywhere from five to 20 gas stations and convenience stores,” Todd said.
Todd attributes their success to good locations, hardworking respectful staff, reliable service, and the synergy of ARCO and ampm working together.
“It’s really important that you have good people, employees that are trustworthy, respectful, responsible, fair and caring, in short, good citizens.” Todd said. He praised his approximately 40 employees who keep the 24/7 operations running. “It is important,” Todd added, “to give your employees the proper tools, training and support to put them in a position to do a good job.”
“There is not a better synergy between a convenience store and gas station than ARCO and ampm,” Todd said, citing the advertising that the corporations put behind their brands. More advertising that competing brands do.
Todd said that “everything is available that customers would want. There is nothing worse when you’ve been traveling for a lot of miles and you haven’t gotten out of the car in a while and you say ‘Boy I’d like to get a hot chocolate right now.’ And you get into a place where the hot chocolate machine doesn’t work.”
“You don’t get a lot of chances,” Todd said. “If you don’t take care of people, they figure out a different place to go.”
The BP award was based in part on quarterly assessments made by company auditors, one of which is a secret shopper, taking into account cleanliness, convenience and reliability. Other parts that go into the award are sales figures for the gasoline and convenience store. “One of the key things they’re looking at,” Tod said, “is trying to see how engaged the franchisees are.”
Todd is open to expanding their locations, “We’re looking at opportunities, where it makes sense to,” he said. “We weren’t necessarily people who knew a lot about gas stations or convenience stores when we started.” Using experience in other industries the Todd family “learned how to learn” and became successful in Los Banos.
“It’s nice to be recognized,” he added, “especially when you figure how many other sites out there that all had the same chance for the recognition.”
