Nothing symbolizes the steady growth of Family Express more than its new 30,000-square-foot corporate headquarters just a few miles south of Valparaiso. Even with a full-scale store mockup inside and high-tech meeting rooms that some small colleges would envy, the building is more function than flash.
And that's how president and CEO Gus Olympidis wants it. He has presided over the company since its founding nearly 40 years ago.
At first glance there doesn't seem to be a whole lot anyone could do differently in a crowded convenience store market, but Olympidis disagrees with that assessment. He is proud of the fact that the company is one of the leaders in high technology, right down to the Family Express app allowing iPhone users to get the latest gas prices, photos of the store and maps to each of the company's 52 locations. The app also will display a bar code that can be scanned at the register to collect points for the company's F.E. Perks card that offers gasoline discounts.
“This place is very unique,” says Olympidis. “The essence of the uniqueness is the reality that every day when we get out of bed and go to market, we're competing with people in the same business who have their own refineries and are backed by multibillion-dollar conglomerates.
“Our answer is that we're doing a lot of things right that large companies cannot do,” Olympidis says, adding that Family Express in 2010 had its most profitable year ever, even with unemployment near 10 percent in Indiana.
Olympidis says what sets Family Express apart from other convenience stores is its focus on logistics and creating its own brands. By doing that, he says, it helps each store zero in on what's really important in the convenience store business – the customer.
“Instead of the doughnut guy, the bread company, the milk man and the frozen pizza guy each making two or three deliveries a week, at Family Express we take all of these and turn them into one daily delivery for our stores,” says Olympidis. “Can you imagine how crowded our parking lots would be every day with all those delivery trucks delivering products? Instead, everything is delivered to our warehouse here and then everything needed for each store is put together.”
In addition to being a warehouse, the massive building is also a bakery where muffins, cupcakes, cookies and Family Express' square doughnuts are made each night.
The new headquarters building, designed by Design Organization of Valparaiso and built by Larson-Danielson of LaPorte, opened in September. It has five times the space as the original headquarters building on U.S. 30 at the west edge of Valparaiso.
At the end of the business day, the sales for each store are reviewed and a computer printout compiles a list of items that need to be restocked. Workers collect the items from the warehouse and package them for each store. Olympidis says that by rethinking how the company stocks its stores it has been able cut the number of deliveries to individual stores from more than 30 a day from individual suppliers to just one from Family Express' fleet of trucks.
Everything from cigarettes to candy, from potato chips to ice, is packaged for delivery for individual stores.
“This has been a game-changer for us,” says Olympidis. “It's a matter of efficient vs. inefficient delivery. With this is a windfall which wasn't anticipated – freshness. Typically you don't go to the convenience store for freshness, but by doing it this way we make sure our products are fresh.”
At the same time, Olympidis says the company's marketing team has created a series of brands exclusive to Family Express, which has helped create a unique identity for the company. From its Java brand coffee to its Cravens Fresh Food and Squeeze Freeze to its square doughnuts, Olympidis says the brands that are found only at Family Express have helped create customer loyalty.
And there also is the living brand, says Olympidis. “The living brand of Family Express is a powerful competitive advantage for us.” The living brand, Olympidis says, is the individual store staff greeting customers as friends.
“We screen 50 prospects to get one person to work here,” says Olympidis. “We're organized around a certain kind of human inclination. The difficulty in employment is devising an efficient screening process to identify a friendly person.
“A disgruntled, unhappy person cannot be molded into a happy salesperson no matter what you do,” says Olympidis. “By using advanced industrial psychology we find people inclined to accept our business model. You don't even know you're doing friendly because you just are friendly. If you were unfriendly and we tried to make you friendly, all we'd do is probably make your life miserable.”
The carefully crafted plan to uniquely position Family Express stands in stark contrast to the almost impetuous way in which Olympidis started the company. “I was 21 years old. I call it youthful indiscretion,” says Olympidis. “Essentially, I dropped out of college. I don't recommend that.”
At the time, the native of Athens, Greece, was attending Indiana University in Bloomington and he decided to franchise a 7/Eleven store. Olympidis says he plunged into the convenience store business simply because he was intent on running his own business. He describes the 7/Eleven venture as “a moment of youthful defiance.”
Ultimately, Olympidis moved to Northwest Indiana because his sister was living in Merrillville. The itch to operate his own business never disappeared, and Family Express was born.
“No, I never imagined I'd be where I am today,” says Olympidis. “I'm too preoccupied with what we're building today to think about when I knew things were going to be a success. I don't misinterpret the success we've had; I don't take it for granted.”
According to the company's website, the first Family Express opened in 1975. By growing at just more than one store a year – a rate Olympidis claims is easy for the company to manage – today there are 52 Family Express stores across Northwest Indiana. Lebanon is the farthest south in the chain and Plymouth is the farthest east. Family Express has more than 500 employees with gross annual revenue of $300 million.
The company's vision statement states clearly what the goal is for Family Express: to be the finest small chain of convenience stores and fueling centers in the world.
It is a lofty goal, but one that Olympidis says is entirely possible.
“We want to lead. We're in the forefront of technology. It's not easy for a company this size,” says Olympidis. “Innovation is an absolute must for us. ”
But all of the innovation at Family Express is based on customer needs. In the store mockup just outside Olympidis' office the latest generation of self-serve coffee machines and new ideas in product placement are on display. The store is not open to the public and is used by the company to train new employees on how to use the cash register, how to operate the fuel pumps and where products are placed in the store.
The store mockup also is where new products are tested. Besides the latest generation of new Java Wave coffee machines, there's also a self-serve oatmeal machine which dispenses three flavors. If the machine tests well, Olympidis hopes to start installing it in his stores soon.
Also a part of the new headquarters is a fitness center for employees. Olympidis says he hopes it's a place employees will regularly visit.
“I think to conceptualize is one thing, but to manifest it into useful action is very hard,” says Olympidis. “It's like expecting to become wiser by driving around the library.”
By any measure, Olympidis has been a success. He's created a thriving company from an idea, but he downplays any talk of individual success on his part. “It's important not to lose sight of your goal. Success is interpreted as financial success, but what if you're not happy?”
Olympidis is happy and he makes sure the credit for his growing company goes to his employees. He describes them as a team on which everyone is pulling in the same direction.
“Look, people who gravitate toward Family Express don't thrive celebrating my success. They thrive by celebrating the company's success. It would turn me off to work for a company that revolved around a single person. People wouldn't react well to Guy Olympidis equals Family Express.”