-3.png)
Ever Onward Podcast
The Ever Onward Podcast is your go-to business podcast, offering engaging discussions and diverse guests covering everything from business strategies to community issues. Join us at the executive table as we bring together industry leaders, experts, and visionaries for insightful conversations that go beyond the boardroom. Whether you're an entrepreneur or simply curious about business, our podcast provides a well-rounded experience, exploring a variety of topics that shape the business landscape and impact communities. Brought to you by Ahlquist.
Ever Onward Podcast
Jacksons Food Stores: From Single Service Station to Success Story - Cory Jackson | Ever Onward - Ep. 43
How do you turn one small gas station into a regional powerhouse with 300+ stores?
Find out as we sit down with Cory Jackson, President of Jacksons Food Stores, to uncover the explosive growth story behind his family’s empire. From humble beginnings to dominating the Western U.S. market under the Jacksons and ExtraMile brands, Cory shares the bold moves and key strategies that fueled their rapid expansion.
Dive into the story of how, in 1975, John Jackson (Cory’s father) started with a single service station in Caldwell, Idaho. What began as one location has blossomed into the nationally recognized chain of more than 300 retail stores across the western United States. Cory shares his journey of leading the company’s impressive growth while staying true to the core family values that laid the foundation for their success.
Explore how steadfast values and a strong employee culture drive the Jacksons success. We dive into their strategic vertical integration and how they've mastered the art of branding and store consistency. Despite the challenges posed by regulatory complexities and economic volatility, Cory discusses their unwavering focus on community engagement, shedding light on impactful stories of generosity, like their involvement with the Boise State's NIL program and their unique contribution of donating proceeds from hot dog sales. These initiatives underscore a deep-rooted commitment to giving back and strengthening community ties.
Finally, we address the challenges of managing growth and navigating business uncertainties in rapidly developing areas like Idaho. From infrastructure pressures to the mixed sentiments of longtime residents, we bring to light the optimistic leadership tackling these hurdles head-on. Listen as we reflect on the heartwarming acts of kindness that define the Jackson family's legacy, emphasizing the powerful impact of small gestures. This episode is a testament to the enduring spirit of community and the inspiring stories of resilience and generosity that drive business success and enrich lives.
For our Ahlquist Update, Ryan Cleverley from Ahlquist unveils exciting progress on the transformative Ten Mile project in the Treasure Valley, setting the stage for long-term community benefits!
Go listen to this episode now!
Follow Ahlquist on Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ahlquist/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ahlquistdev/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ahlquistdev
X (Twitter): https://x.com/ahlquistdev
Meta (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/ahlquistdev/
Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ahlquistdev?si=ejOXPKRqQjtsdVFE
Today on the Ever Onward podcast, we have a very special guest, corey Jackson. Corey is the president of Jackson Food Stores. It's a chain of 363 convenience stores located in six western states. He's a board member of the Jackson Company. If anyone here in the Treasure Valley or Idaho know about the Jacksons, they're a legacy family here. They have multiple businesses. All of them are integrated and vertically integrated. It's going to be great to talk about all the different service lines they have in today's podcast.
Speaker 1:Corey has been with the Jackson Companies for 22 years, first 12 years as president of capital distributing. Today, the Jackson Companies employ over 4,500 employees. He's a graduate of the University of Utah and received a BS degree in finance. He's worked for the family business for a long time and, again, one of the legacy families in Idaho. We are very pleased to have on today Corey Jackson. And before Corey Jackson we have Ryan Claverley, the COO and CFO of Alquiston, who's going to give us an update on our 10 mile project and what's been going on there over the last few weeks. Ryan, have you ever worked this hard?
Speaker 2:Probably at some point, I don't know, you ever stop. That's the challenge, like you just keep going.
Speaker 1:Really big news. This week we had a press release that went out on our project at 10 mile, known as the district. It's been very public, just got its preliminary plat approval through the city, but we're pleased to announce today I'll let you do it.
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't know if I feel guilty announcing it. It was, to your point, a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes and working closely with the Blacks family and you know we've had many meetings with them, phone calls and kind of came to a really good point this week of where they're, uh, we're going to work with them as being their developer on the site and letting them kind of carry the land, so to speak, and and be a part of the, the process of developing, which is actually really exciting, versus just saying, hey, you're out, we're buying it, you don't really have any say going forward. It's such a critical piece, I think, to their, to their legacy. I I think it's a great fit and a great partnership. We're excited to work with them. It's always interesting. I mean, I've only been in a couple of meetings with them, but the little interaction I've had with them has been really good to meet that family and get to know them and the story behind it all it's been good.
Speaker 1:So a third-generation development family yeah, brian Black and his son, cody, and then brad. Yeah, so it's great. So, yeah, we sent out a press release uh, last night actually, yeah, reporting that uh partnership, and so we're really excited for that. Um, for those who don't know that those, those projects are just big. It's probably one of the biggest ones we've ever done. Compared to the, you have the 118 next to it, 118 acres. Yeah, that's already final platted. Then we have the 104 that goes with us, so in combination it's well over 200 acres.
Speaker 2:At that interchange it's a big project it's a big project and and it's interesting because I mean, if you go get a little project done, nobody ever called you right and no one really reports negative news because it's just whatever, yeah, and now you get a lot of different opinions about it that are out there. But generally speaking, what I would say is I've had more positive phone calls and just congratulations on this because it is. It's an instrumental piece in the whole treasure valley, I mean, and it needs to be what we're going to make it become or help it become with the blacks family and and I think it's going to be something that we'll look back on our career. I mean, downtown's incredible. You go look at the buildings that we were able to do down there and you're going to see something out here. You're going to drive your grandkids by there one day and say, look at what we were able to pull off.
Speaker 1:You know, Fred says it a lot, but we're creating addresses, places for people to go, places for people to take for the next decades and it's really special.
Speaker 1:But a lot, of, a lot of great work by the city, oh, work so closely with being in the city of meridian, uh, led by mayor simpson, uh, city council there, all the way down to the staff, yeah, their planning department, uh, it's been a big effort but it was great to get through two weeks ago and now it's really announced the partnership with blacks isn't it funny that you work with the city and there's meeting after meeting after meeting get to one night or two nights of discussion.
Speaker 2:You're like it's coming down to this, but the reality is it needs to come down to that and that's great. But super thankful to the city of meridian for all the hours that they've spent in on the spent on this so far and a lot more to come. But I'm actually excited about now the next level of of press releases that'll keep coming out to tell people what we're going to do there. It's going to be great.
Speaker 1:I agree We'll need to get Brian Black on too to talk about his family's legacy as well.
Speaker 2:That'd be awesome.
Speaker 1:Thanks for the update, you bet. Well, usually we just get right started because there's probably a lot to talk about and some of the lot to talk about and some of the stuff we talk about up front is the best stuff, perfect. We're just not going to talk about gas prices going up or down.
Speaker 3:Perfect, because I don't have any answers to that.
Speaker 1:I liked your dad's answer a couple weeks ago. He was like hey, don't talk to me about them going back down.
Speaker 3:I'll talk to you about them going up all you want. He's so funny. If he knew the answer to that question, he wouldn't need to talk to anybody.
Speaker 1:Corey Jackson, thanks for coming on yeah, thank you, tommy.
Speaker 3:It's great to be here.
Speaker 1:Appreciate it hey, can we start with your dad's birthday?
Speaker 3:you bet.
Speaker 1:I missed it. I was, I was out of town, but yeah, how was it?
Speaker 3:it was a good time. Uh, you know we talked about doing that party. For about a year we've been joking about it because you know we'd have a conversation that the answer is always no, we're not going to do that. And three and a half weeks before, the party decided to do it and we threw it together real quickly. But we had a good time and it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Yes, we just turned 70. Turned 70. What a legend. I got to be with him like a week and a half ago, and can we start there? Sure, I know we'll go probably a lot of different places, but so John Jackson, born and raised in Holmdel right Correct, and his dad had a. His dad was a business guy, right Correct. Talk about your who'd be your grandpa.
Speaker 3:Well, my grandparents. They opened a gas station in Holmdel in 1950 and my cousin piper did a history project on that in high school and interviewed my grandmother and we learned that they borrowed 2,500 from her parents to lease that gas station and they ran that for a number of years and my dad started on his own with his own station in caldwell in 1975. But yeah, yeah, we've been selling fuel in Idaho for 74 years.
Speaker 1:And I've seen a picture of that. That was a Texaco station in Caldwell right.
Speaker 3:My dad's first site was a Texaco in Caldwell, correct?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I've seen the picture, the black and white picture of it. Yep, when I was with him last week I said to him I said, man, do you ever think back? Because he's only 70. That's a lot of stuff he's accomplished in a relatively short time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he got after it early and I don't think he ever expected this to happen. And somebody asked him recently you, uh, you know what was the secret to your success? And you know, like he said, I just got started early and worked hard and one thing led to another, and pretty soon you get momentum and and one day I looked up and it's hard to believe all the things that we're doing I'm gonna going to.
Speaker 1:Can I dig a little deeper? I'm going to ask you. So one of the things you hear from people that know him is, uh, how much he cares about people and how much he cares about his business thing. There's these stories of him, the care he takes for the business, the customer and then the people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean he's. He's a very grounded, individual, low ego guy and you know he can be quite demanding at times and he'll push you real hard but just about the time he thinks he pushed you over the edge he'll do something special and dust you off and throw you back in. But yeah, he cares about his employees, the business, certainly the community, and he's done numerous things that you know.
Speaker 1:I've never heard from him but I hear about from other people and you know he's he's got a passion for business in the community and people and I think that's kind of the secret to what he's been able to do he uh um, my favorite john jackson story is one of the first times I was ever ever on a panel with him and we were at Boise State and this was probably 10 years ago, maybe longer, in their business department and they had a panel of business leaders and they were going around the table and they were talking about social impact and there was a lot of ideological you've got to have a bigger meaning for life and what are you doing social impact-wise and a lot of really flowery kind of philosophical things and it's going around. And it honestly was kind of fascinating because you're talking about, hey, all this esoteric kind of business and good for the world thing. And it gets to him and I didn't really notice that he was kind of ready to go, but when he got to him he was ready to go and he said, hey, listen, he's like I don't know about all this other stuff you guys are talking about. And then he went on this impassioned soliloquy on hey, I'll tell you what I do. I create jobs for people, I provide for their families, I care about them and over the years I'm profitable. And he said that's what we're about is taking care. And it was like this drop the mic moment where he was like it brought everyone back down to earth and I got.
Speaker 1:I had chills at the time. I'm like that's the guy I want to be like right, I mean the guy that actually has done it and you know, uh, it's just talk about his business acumen, how it was growing up under someone like that. I gonna get into your where you've taken this thing, but, um sure, what'd you learn from him?
Speaker 3:well, a lot. I mean, you know he, he had an accounting background. He's always been about the numbers and uh, so you know the numbers don't lie and he usually starts with the numbers and finishes with the numbers. And he, he doesn't like, um, he likes to keep it simple. He's generally, you know, likes few words and you know we're in a meetings, he I've heard him say things like you know, just tell me what time it is, don't build a clock for me. Or if you use words like as far as I know, he'll look at you and say how far do you know? And uh, or if you use you know adjectives to describe numbers like it, it, you know it's, it's a big project or there's a lot of money involved. And you see, you know I don't like adjectives when, when there's numbers, just tell me the number. But you know, keeping it simple, not trying to hit a home run.
Speaker 3:He's always said business is fundamentally simple and if it's too complicated it's probably not meant to be. He says things like the sexier the business, the less money there is in it. So he likes to under-promise and over-deliver in everything we do and certainly that all comes back to people. He never embellishes and he never lies, and oftentimes those conversations are tough and he can be tough on people, but at the end of the day people have a lot of respect for the fact that they always know where you stand with him at all times, as painful as that could be sometimes, because he certainly doesn't sugarcoat anything and there's been times when he probably could have toned it down just a little bit, but it's not in his nature to really think about how he's given the message, just as long as the message is short, clear and concise and, um, you know, sometimes that's painful, but at least you know where you stand.
Speaker 1:It's awesome man, the amount of wisdom that was just in that last two minutes, uh, is crazy. Um, he reminds me a lot of my dad actually there, my dad's older than him, but um, he, uh, he does like like it's just kind of cut from a different cloth, kind of a. This is the way we just blue collar, it's the way we do it and I love it. I just love being around him. How was it being his son? Because that's different. Right, you're his business partner and we'll talk about that, but how was it being his son?
Speaker 3:Well, it's certainly different and you know we've talked about that at times. But I mean, being his son was great. I mean he always, you know, took time to be involved in the things that we were doing. He always took time to make us feel like we were part of the business. And you know, I was born the year that he opened that first site. So I was there the full step of the way and you know, early in my career sometimes I felt like it almost was my business because I was there the whole time. But as I got a little older I certainly understood that it wasn't entirely like I thought it was at one point in time. But you know he was a great father and certainly been a great boss. You know a he was a great father and, uh, certainly been a great boss. You know a lot of hard lessons. But you know there are times when you know, there we're having conversations and I say things like well, as your son, I would say this, but as your employee, this is what I think.
Speaker 3:And sometimes we have to draw a distinction there, just to make sure we're okay.
Speaker 1:Wow had to be incredible. And so, as the business grew, talk a little bit about the different service lines you have and how you kind of divvied that up because it's become it's a big organization now, corey. I mean you think about Jackson Jet Center and the fuel business and your distribution facility and all of the acquisitions and stations you have everywhere well, you know it started with one location in 1975 and it was a service station.
Speaker 3:So you know, my dad was a mechanic. He was selling tires and doing oil changes and full service fuel. And in the late 70s, you know, he acquired a few different locations, saw what 7-eleven was doing. Mechanics were hard to hire so we started converting the sites to to convenience stores. I believe it was 1980, texaco pulled out of the market so you had an opportunity to purchase. I think they had one truck at the time that was selling wholesale fuels to what we call dealers.
Speaker 3:So it really started with, you know, our company operated sites that became convenience stores, our dealer network, that we, you know, we supply wholesale fuels to a number of dealers throughout the West.
Speaker 3:And then in 1984, we started capital distributing with a couple of gentlemen that worked for a company home I think it was Herman and H& m, and they had closed. So we started capital distributing with them to supply, um, you know, the stores with groceries and those needs and and similar to the fuels business, we sold groceries to our own stores and anybody, and so that company's grown over the years. Um, you know, the jet center came along. I, in the early 2000s we did the Extra Mile joint venture with Chevron about five years ago. We have a small partnership and a software company that runs the software at our warehouse and yeah, that's grown into a lot of things. You know real estate holdings. We have a decent real estate portfolio of you know mostly. You know sites that had, you know, at one time been a convenience store it was part of a convenience store package but you know fast food restaurants and we had an office building in downtown Boise at one time.
Speaker 3:But you know a lot of things that going on and we just keep grinding.
Speaker 1:I'm going to drill down on a few of those things. So talk a little bit about the vertical integration that you do, Cause I think that I mean you get around smart business people. You'll see this path where they're growing and then all of a sudden they vertically integrate and it really, really takes off. But capital distributing your new facility is unbelievable. I got the privilege of coming down and touring it with you and it's, it's automated, it's.
Speaker 3:It's really cool to see how many square feet is it and tell us a little bit about it yeah, capital's growing into a nice company and we have a food manufacturing plant out there as well, but we are currently, uh, right around 350 000 square feet in that building. It's on 52 acres, so we have plenty of room to grow. But you know, the vertical integration, I mean it really started with the wholesale fuels and kind of morphed into capital distributing. And you know we've tried other things that didn't work. I mean one thing you know we didn't john's not going out trying to do these things just for the sake of doing them.
Speaker 3:He says I don't mind losing money, but I hate to go to work to do it. So if it doesn't work, we're going to get out of it. And we've certainly got out of a number of things. And you know there's more things that we're looking at right now that we'll probably not be doing in the near future either. So you know other companies in our industry have done some similar things not a lot. You know quick trip in Wisconsin. Casey's is big publicly traded company that does similar things that we that we do, even Circle K to some extent. They have a warehouse in in Arizona, but so it, you know other other folks in our industry have found that these similar things work, so you know why not. It's awesome.
Speaker 1:Tell us the story behind the bananas the bananas uh well, by the way, I'm probably like I'm like the, I'm like the diet coke guy. I get my free banana like I'm one of your. I mean, if you look at the stats, I'm sure I'm in the top 10 percent. There you go. I always feel better about it too when I get my banana with my diet hey, bananas, good, healthy treat.
Speaker 3:You know, um, I've been fortunate. I've been in a couple share groups, one of them for about 20 years and, uh, quick trip is a company that's in that group and they've been very, very successful selling bananas for a long time. And I don don't know if you're aware, but at one time the statistics were, you know, bananas the number one selling item in a grocery store. You know, a high frequency purchase. We're able to, you know, offer them at a fair price through our distribution network. We made the investment to have banana ripening rooms, so we buy them in full containers, green, they're in a ripening process that we get new bananas every day.
Speaker 3:It's it's not an easy fruit to to do correctly every day and every week's different and and sometimes our quality is not what we'd like it to be. But we made that commitment. You know we're always trying to find something that we're known for and bananas is becoming something that we're known for and you know it's a healthy treat that you know people can eat more than once per day and it gives us the ability to diversify in a product that not all convenience stores can sell. Well, and not all convenience stores can sell for 39 cents or give away free with multiple promos.
Speaker 1:I love it, I think it's been great. I think when you think of your stores who was I talking to? I was talking to someone who's not from here and they're like, oh, jackson stores I love when I go in them, they all feel the same Right, and I think that's probably part of your deal. Is you want to have that, that feeling, and it's always cleanliness, you know, service, the banana thing.
Speaker 3:I mean you do a lot to brand yourself, right correct and you know we, we try, and you know again, trying to keep it simple. You know we've grown through acquisition so it's tough for us to have the same footprint in every location, but we kind of try and break it down into areas of the store that are same, like a consistent check stand or consistent coffee bar or consistent hot foods bar. Our schematics are very consistent and broken down in pieces. Not all stores carry the exact same items. Some are larger than others, but a lot of it comes down to, you know, making it easy to execute.
Speaker 3:You know these running these stores is not easy and you know communicating what needs to be done to all of our employees is not easy. So you know we try and focus on few things and do few things well and not try and be everything to everybody. You know, and that really speaks to the heart of our company. You know it all starts with the employee and we try and do things for our employees that most people won't. And if our employees are happy they'll take care of our customers and our customers will be happy and keep coming back. So try and keep things consistent so they can consistently execute. I love it.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about the labor market. How many employees do you?
Speaker 3:guys have Just over 5,000 in all companies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 5,000 employees. What are some of the constraints and how have you seen that over the last few years? How's that going?
Speaker 3:Well, it's always a challenging piece of our business. You know, our turnover relative to the industry is we always perform better than the industry. So we generally feel like when it's tough on us it's tougher for the competition. So we almost look at it as an advantage. Bring on the problems. Most people don't like to work that hard. But you know, currently, currently, you know every market's different, but we, the last couple years, have been pretty pretty good. Knock on wood that you know we'll see what the future brings.
Speaker 3:But through covet it was. You know it was a tremendous challenge. I mean, everything through covet was tough in our business. Um, you know, and historically it's it's. It's certainly not easy. But, and you know, and historically it's certainly not easy.
Speaker 3:But you know, one thing you get with scale is you know, we have a lot of strong employees, we have a strong HR department. I mean we've got plenty of things to work on but we've got nice benefits and we have a foundation that we use for employees in need for hardship programs, whether they have a health issue or a dental program or different things. And you know John signs off on all those. Personally, I've just at one time I told him I go, you. You want me to approve those emails. I mean, I know you get a lot of emails. I can, I can handle those. He goes no, I like to see those. You know there's probably you know, depending on the month, five to ten folks a month that are getting money from that foundation to take care of a hardship program that's specific to them and their family.
Speaker 1:That's great. So it was interesting. Yesterday I got to be part of a panel. The president and CEO of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank was in town and there was a small group of us. You should have been there, actually, because it would have been great, but one of the things that they talked about was labor and as they went around the table talking to people, some of the people were having tremendous turnover. Like there was someone there from the daycare industry. There was someone there from the daycare industry. There was someone there from well, the hayden beverage guy was there and talking about all the different employees turnover. What are, what are some secrets you've had some of it's taken care of them, some of it's a benefits package. How do you keep culture? Because the one thing about your stores is you know that the the larger it gets, the harder it gets. You're at 5 000 employees. What are, what are some of the things you would suggest that help culture?
Speaker 3:well, you know it's no one thing. I mean it's a lot of things added up to be something great, but I mean it really starts with this being genuine, being true, setting clear standards. We have really good training programs, computer-based learning modules that help. You know we have a lot of recognition programs for our employees Christmas parties, summer picnics you know, monthly picnics in the office, but we do a trip every year for the top 10% of our employees. Trip every year for the top 10% of our employees.
Speaker 3:Um, but the people that you know, that know, you know myself or my dad, you know they and and others in our company. I mean, you know, we try and be genuine, we try and listen to them. I mean, and that's one of the things that is tougher, as you get larger, um, you know, 20 years ago, you know, john probably knew everybody in the company and knew him well. I mean that's virtually impossible with 5,000 people. So the larger we get, we want to try and maintain that family business mentality. We make decisions fast and we're long-term players. I mean we're not making decisions for the next quarter, to make a month. Some of those decisions aren't easy, but we want, you know, we want to be here long-term and we want to do the right things for those employees long-term and I think they feel that and they respect us for it and I love what you said there because it came up yesterday.
Speaker 1:But you know, any company can have words on a wall or hey, these are our mottos, here's our things. But employees just see right through that immediately. If it's not genuine, it's not authentic, and it usually comes from the top right. It's like what's the standard, what's our ethos, where are we, where are we coming from? And I think, I think people see through those. Anything that's not real or authentic. I think you're in trouble. That's probably why you're so successful. As you look at your industries, there's a whole bunch of them and as you're going through these times we're in. What are the challenges you guys have?
Speaker 3:Well, there's a lot of challenges out there. The business is more complex than it used to be and it's changing more rapidly than it used to be. So, you know, keeping up to date with all the IT technologies that are out there because there's a lot of them you know where do you invest your dollars and when are you cautious. You know competition is growing rapidly as well, so there's a lot of competition and you know it costs more. You know a convenience store 20 years ago was a fraction of what one costs today. And the land is expensive, you know, and one road project can change traffic patterns and ruin an entire investment. So the stakes are high and you know it's much more complex than it used to be. And you know, fortunately we do have some scale, so that does give us advantage relative to a lot of players out there, but it's just more challenging and more complex and changing more quickly than ever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I keep going back to yesterday, because that came up a bunch yesterday just how complicated everything seems to be and at the same time, there seems to be more uncertainty, like just predictability. Most business folks just want a predictable economy. Like just predictability. Most business folks just want a predictable economy. They want predictable politics. They don't want division, they want it's just. And the times we're in right now are just so crazy that everyone around the table was saying if we could just get stability and leadership and you know that's not a Republican or Democrat statement, it's just like it just seems so at each other and so much just stuff right now that, um, in fact, the one guy yesterday I love what he said. He's like I just want to go back to where I ran my business, yeah, and I worried about my employees and my business, but now I'm having to worry about all this, this, this stuff that this wasn't ever part of it. Um, you see that too, absolutely. I mean, you know that too absolutely.
Speaker 3:I mean, you know every legislative season, you know it used to be something that we, you know we just paid attention to, but we didn't get too involved in it, uh.
Speaker 3:But you know, and not so much in idaho, but you know we do business in california and oregon and washington and so there's a lot of states to keep track of and you know, in a lot of change in those environments.
Speaker 3:And, yeah, it is unnerving with some of the bills that you see and that have, you know, potentially some very dramatic impacts to your business. And you know inflation is something that you know we've the world's been talking about for the last few years and we would all like it to cool down just a little bit. But you know all this uncertainty that we feel and I don't want to call it government regulation, but I don't want to get too political. But you know some of these things create the inflation that we all want to prevent. Things create the inflation that we all want to prevent and I think sometimes, you know, some of the government officials don't necessarily recognize all that, and I'm not necessarily saying just in Idaho, but you know there's a lot of things in our industry that are yet to be determined and that's going to have a big impact.
Speaker 1:And you probably see, because you're in so many different states, different state legislation, and it always one of the things that I just don't understand. I don't understand how how states don't learn from other states that you can't regulate yourself into anything. You regulate yourself into higher process, uh prices and you regulate. You regulate businesses out of existence is what you do, and that's probably pretty good to be in idaho, right?
Speaker 3:because it's good to be in idaho, um, and and, and yeah, I mean it's different states have different programs going on, but you know, you know now we're seeing more you know municipalities doing different things, so it's it's uh, it's hard to keep track of all of it and um, and we don't keep track of all of we. Just the other day ran into an issue in arizona and we're like, well, we didn't know that that law was passed, so apologize, but we'll clear that up. But you know, you didn't, they didn't send us a letter. I didn't read about it.
Speaker 1:The newspaper, yeah, hey, I didn't have this on my list but, being a frequenter of your shops a lot, give us a breakdown on what you're most popular. If you just do fuel and then you go inside the convenience store, what are kind of the top categories that generate revenue for you?
Speaker 3:Well, top categories and units. I mean bananas is right there. Top categories and units, I mean bananas is right there. You know all the beverages. You know whether it be water and Gatorade and integer drinks, those things I mean in our industry I typically tell people if you can't eat it or drink it, between the time you're at the register to your car it's probably not going to sell very well. I mean there are other items that don't fit in that mold. I mean we do.
Speaker 3:We do well locally with you know gallons of milk, um, even eggs. We're selling more eggs than we used to and that's not true at all stores but in treasure valley we, we, we do pretty well in those grocery items. But you know it's beverages. And you know lunchtime snacks. And you know breakfasts we do well with. You know when people don't have time. You know when people in the morning they don't have time to stop for breakfast so they can stop at a Jackson's and get something quick and still be at work on time. You know, so we do well. Monday through friday breakfast, saturday and sundays probably don't really even make much for breakfast.
Speaker 1:How does the lottery stuff work?
Speaker 3:the lottery. Um well, that you know, we certainly sell a lot of lottery, and very low margin.
Speaker 1:The only reason it makes I'll be in a hurry, that I'll have. I swear I get behind someone who wants to turn in like five or six or seven things every time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you got the self-checkout now, but we do and we're installing more lottery kiosks. But yeah, that lottery can. It's uh, you know it's. It's been a great program for idaho and idaho schools but it's a pretty low margin. It's very low. It's the lowest margin item in the store. But you know it is a traffic driver but it does slow down those check lanes once in a while, which is something we always contend with.
Speaker 1:Self-checkout is going to be a hit right.
Speaker 3:It's, you know, yes and no. I mean the industry is still kind of trying to figure that out. I'd say we've got about 15, 20 locations that have it and you know the top third of those are doing pretty well, but some of the others are not so much. But I like it. It works better in some of the busier locations that are in a good neighborhood. Some of the locations that give you know too many buy one get one frees when there's not a buy one get one free on that item. So that's something that we're trying to pay attention to.
Speaker 1:Do you have a lot of theft? I didn't even think about that.
Speaker 3:Unfortunately there's. You know theft is something that we contend with in this industry. We've performed well in that regard too, and a lot of that. We have less theft in Boise than we do in some of the urban markets that we're in, and Boise is actually, unfortunately, not as good as it used to be. But you look at towns like Holmdel and wilder that you know there's very little theft, and some of our stores in downtown boise unfortunately, um, it's going a little bit the other way, but that's something that we contend with and you know that's part of what part of the business can we talk about boise state and your, your stuff?
Speaker 1:you're doing absolutely your cards, yeah first of all huge supporters. Uh, name the arena and basketball Well before we get there. Talk about the Extra Mile acquisition. That was a big deal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was a big deal. You know, extra Mile was a brand that Chevron created. I believe it was maybe 1990. And they they use that brand in their own company operated stores. And then they had a franchise that they went to market with and they had grown that to about 850 locations and chevron decided that wasn't necessarily core to their business and they wanted a, an operating partner to help them with that brand. So we did that deal with chevron. We're 50 50 joint venture partners and it's a board managed company. We have an office in Pleasanton California and guy that runs that business. So that's kind of how that started and this is where where we're at with that today.
Speaker 1:But so that's why in town you'll see converted Chevron. Well, the Chevron stores are all extra mile, correct? So you might have an extra mile on the Jacksons, but it's because of the agreement that they're dual branded, correct? I mean Chevron. Well, the Chevron stores are all Extra Mile now, correct? So you might have an Extra Mile and a Jackson's, but it's because of the agreement that they're dual branded, correct.
Speaker 3:I mean, chevron felt that you know, if we were going to own part of that Extra Mile brand, we ought to use it, and you know that was. You know we agreed with them and so you know, most of our Chevron locations are branded Extra Mile. There's a few that aren't, for various reasons, but yeah, that's our go-to-market strategy with Chevron.
Speaker 1:Some background before we get to Extra Mile Arena. So was Taco Bell for a long, long time, and then you guys took it over, probably three years ago, four years ago.
Speaker 3:Yeah, four or five years ago I mean when we did that deal with Chevron converted our sites I mean part of that franchise program. There's marketing funds that are part of that program and we thought it was a perfect opportunity to do something big in this community. At the same time, we branded our stores and you know John went to Boise State been a longtime Boise State fan and you know it was hard to resist that opportunity and it's been a lot of fun. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. Yeah, it's been great.
Speaker 1:And then, uh, now let's get to the cards, because I know you guys, you guys are huge supporters and the nil thing has been an opportunity, but first ones in the nation, right, no one else had done this yeah, that's what.
Speaker 3:That's what I've been told. I mean, I can't um confirm that, but uh, that's what we've been told and it's a local company that that we actually did that with and it all. You know, we did the bobbleheads years ago.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you remember the bobbleheads.
Speaker 3:They were a huge, huge hit. But you know bobbleheads take time, they're on the slow boat from China and by the time they get here in today's world that player may not be here anymore. And they were expensive. And you know, john still wants us to bring the bobbleheads back and maybe one day we will. But the trading cards seemed a little simpler and Boise State was agreeable and interested in that and it's been a fun program.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I think for the players it's really cool, and then the way it works with NIL and the excitement amongst fans, and I even think of my grandson. I mean we stopped by to get cards and it's a big deal, so it's been a huge hit. How has it been working with the current Boise State administration and their team down there? They seem like they're making every right decision.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, it's been great. And Todd Michael in our office runs our marketing department. He handles most of that for us and he's a big sports fan, played basketball in college and and played basketball locally in high school, here in Boise Capital High School, but so Todd has been instrumental in making that thing work. We did the first NIL deal last year. Boise State was great to work with. It was kind of interesting.
Speaker 3:I mean, most of the things that we deal with there's a lot of regulation, there's a lot of rules. You know Boise State didn't really know exactly how NIL was going to work. We certainly didn't know how it was going to work and so we pretty much just did whatever we wanted to. And it's still a little bit of the wild wild west with all that NIL stuff, but we had fun with it last year and having fun with it this year. And we're doing in the Horseshoe Collective. We're donating 25 cents to every hot dog sold in NIL Collective. So that has been a big boost. So if you're a Boise State fan and buy a hot dog at Jackson's, you're supporting your team 25 cents at a time.
Speaker 1:And every dollar. I mean it's like I can't imagine going through that right now, competing with these other bigger schools and the amount of dollars that are flowing. So every little bit helps because it's. I mean you think that Jenty's still here for what he was paid and what he could have been paid? Did you see the thing that Chris Peterson did the interview with him last week? I did.
Speaker 2:It was really good.
Speaker 1:It made me proud because I think a lot of that is. He loves this place and loved the administration and the coaches and stayed here, but what he could have been paid anywhere else. Can you imagine a gentee bobblehead right now?
Speaker 3:I'm with John, we didn't. If we would have done it, we wouldn't have bought enough of them, because they'd have been sold out by now.
Speaker 1:I hope he wins the Heisman. It's this we're talking about this morning with our guys because, you know, can you imagine if he played more than a half on some of these things? But then the flip side of that is, can you imagine him getting hurt in the third quarter of a 40-point blowout? Yeah, everyone would lose their jobs. So I get it. But I think he's going to play a lot here. Well, I don't know they're playing so well. It's just all these blowouts, it's been fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's been a long time since I've been this excited to be a Bronco fan. It's as good as it's ever been, if not better. It's going to be a great season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think Jeremiah is like, that guy is legit. I mean, you look at what he does, how hard he works, the way he leads and rallies. I'm really glad they signed him to an extension. I was worried about that. It seemed like it took a while. Anyway, I just think the world of him.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's, he's done a great job and, um, you know, we're fortunate to have him here and and, uh, yeah, the program's doing great.
Speaker 1:Hey, um, let's go to you guys, uh, kind of shifting gears from business to community. Um, when I think of your dad and your family and and legacy and kind of legacy families here in Idaho, it's Jackson's like there's not a, there's not a community cause, that it's not, you're not at the table. What are some challenges you're you're worried about here in the Treasure Valley or for Idaho as we kind of kind of experience all this growth? Any thoughts?
Speaker 3:well, I mean for me it's affordable housing. I mean we hear that from our employees and you know you read about it and that's certainly going to be an issue ongoing. You know I worry about what traffic is going to be like long term and, and you know, as we grow, all the other pitfalls that a lot of large cities have to deal with, whether it be crime or whatnot, which you know Boise still feels very much like Boise to me. I mean it's changed a lot and you know there's a few corridors where the traffic in the last two or three years has just exploded and you just wonder what the next three to five years are going to look like. And and you just wonder what the next three to five years are going to look like.
Speaker 3:And you know I lived in Phoenix in the late 90s and I'll never forget two statistics and I probably 97. I think there were 60 or 70,000 people that moved to Phoenix that year or in metro area and they built 60 some miles of freeway out of the desert in that year. And you know ITD and ACHD, I mean you know they're great and they're looking at this.
Speaker 3:I don't know if they have the money to do what they need to do and I'm not an expert on you know how the government is addressing that in Idaho, but it feels like you know there there's gonna be some real issues to contend with and you know there's very few north-south routes. I mean, the highway 16 extension is gonna change the valley dramatically and you know that's gonna be great. But you know Hill Road and Chinden and highway 44 and you know it's gonna be interesting to see how they contend with all that traffic. I mean state street uh, boise's not the easiest place to get in and out of from from eagle yeah, and I think, uh, well, and with micron, what they're doing there?
Speaker 1:I think we've got a little group together with garrett lofto that we're trying to help government, but it's there's only room for one more lane on this freeway and that's it. I mean there's right away for one more, but even with that, because it's another lane, it only increases capacity by by it's less than 20. And then once you're there, you're like, okay, what's the next? What's the next pop-off, because it's already tough at some times of the day, and now you think 10 years, like 10 years will go by like that. And then what's the plan? I don't know, that's a tough one, but we better get to not just plans, but plans for funding, right?
Speaker 3:Correct. Yeah, I mean, idaho has a history of being frugal with their money and I love that about Idaho and that's the Idaho way and that's why we're successful and able to enjoy the lifestyle that we have. But I don't know that. You know, with all the growth that they have, that you know they may need to think about that a little differently and borrow a little bit more money up front and spend $10 million instead of waiting and paying cash for it when it's a hundred million dollars.
Speaker 1:That's a very conservative principle, right? I mean, I've argued that forever, like, if you underwrite it correctly, just like a business would, and there's one more layer to it. It's also a very conservative principle to have the people that are going to be using it pay for it. So if they were able to get these bondings bonds because our bonding rating is so phenomenal here because of the job that government does done here paying for that over time with the people that are actually using it is a very conservative principle. We just got to get ahead of it and I think, like the garvey bonds, they were a wild success.
Speaker 1:I think you know I remember about 15 years ago and how some of the legislators in canyon county were really against using any more of those bonds to improve the freeway, and I thought it was hilarious because as soon as the traffic got bad enough, it sailed through that legislature as quick as anything else. But I think they they proved themselves out too. I think they're being paid off and it was a great way to grow and otherwise you couldn't have done it with cash. So I agree with you a hundred percent. I hope we do that. Housing any thoughts? What do you think the solution is there?
Speaker 3:You know, I wish I knew I mean it. Uh, that's a tough, a tough scenario. I mean, um, you know it's, it's unfortunate to see. You know, if you haven't been in the housing market for the last 10, 20, 30 years, it's, it's tough to be able to afford that down payment. And I know, when I moved back here in 2001, I you know you could buy a lot of house for $175,000. I mean, that's not in the cards anymore and I don't know what the solution is. I mean, you've got a lot of folks from moving in from out of state that have a lot of equity and they can afford five, six hundred thousand dollars on a house and that's cheap to them. And then you have the younger generation and other Idahoans that haven't owned a home. That you know that looks like, you know, an unachievable goal and that's unfortunate. I don't really know what the solution is. You know. I know.
Speaker 3:You know development is always a challenge and you know we all want a city that looks good and functions well. But you know, as you know, I mean building anything is is very difficult and very expensive and you know, if there are a way to to try and streamline that a little bit in certain pockets of the state or the valley, which I know they've done. But I mean it's unbelievable how many apartments that we've built in the last few years, but it done. But I mean it's unbelievable how many apartments that we've built in the last few years but it doesn't feel like it's been enough. Yeah, um, and you know, same with homes, but, um, I don't know. I wish I had a solution for that. I really don't. But um, I know there's a lot of good people thinking about it and I'm sure idahoans will figure that out yeah, ultimately it's gonna be supply and demand right and demand's not going anywhere, so we've got to figure that out.
Speaker 1:I do think the apartment thing it came up in our thing yesterday too. The one thing that's going to be really interesting is I think there was a lot of them and then that model for how they were being built, at the rate they were being built, the cap rate. They've all kind of stopped If you weren't under construction. There's been now a period of probably 12 to 18 months where there's been nothing new and I don't know when that loosens up again. I think rates probably still need to come down a bit, but I think we're going to have this thing where there was some rent compression for a short time and then I think we're really in for it, because then, when Micron is online and then catching up because it's regulation, how do we free up and let the free market do what they do, which is help on the supply side? Because with as gorgeous as this place is and with all the things we have here, we're discovered like the idea that we're not going to be having more people come here is probably not going to happen. Talk that makes me think of our time to a faster.
Speaker 1:But Idaho, I know you're a, you're a big time Idaho, idaho fan. What does the state mean to you and your family?
Speaker 3:well, it means everything. I mean I was, I was born here, most of my grandparents were born here. So you know I joke with my wife. She moved here when she was 12, so she likes to call herself an Idaho and I'm like you're not really an Idaho and you got to be here more than one generation for that to happen. She's like 30 years is enough. I'm like, ok, I agree, but I mean it's a great place.
Speaker 3:You know I went to college in Utah, first job was in Seattle and then was transferred to Phoenix. So I've been in the state for my entire life, with the exception of nine years, and I did an internship in Washington DC for a few months. So of all the places I've lived, I mean there's nothing quite like it. I mean the people here are friendly. You know the recreational opportunities are outstanding. You know it's just a great place. So Idaho means the world to me and you know I want to do whatever I can to make sure that you know this lifestyle is protected for future generations.
Speaker 3:And you know I think we've grown, done a great job managing growth thus far, although I think it's going to get tougher. I mean the things you just mentioned, I mean those are the complicated issues that we see in our business. That just feels like it's more complicated than it used to be and it's changing faster. I mean, you know, the difference between 3% growth in one year and 8% growth in one year is huge. Yeah, and that could have you know. Nobody knows what idaho is going to grow in the next two, three years. I mean they have projections, but it feels like those projections I'm not even exactly sure what they are, but if anything, they might not be strong enough I.
Speaker 1:I had it yesterday or monday. I was with rebecca hup, who runs our airport, and she had a line that I'm going to use over and over again. I was talking to her about just how things were going and and she said, well, we had a 20-year master plan. That became our five-year work plan. And I said, tell me and she's like, we had a 20-year master plan and we basically completed it in five years because of growth.
Speaker 1:So think about when I don't think anyone saw this coming. In fact, go you, go back 10 or 15 years ago. We were talking about um talent pipeline and how do we get wages up and how do we do all this? And then what happened was we were discovered and I think a lot of that had to do with the coast and messes there and then COVID and then people go oh, this is a great place to live and it's just not stopping now and it's tough to get out in front of that once it starts. But I'm betting on us too. I think you think of the companies that are here and our government here. You know there's a lot of stress and strain on our cities, but we've got great leadership, we've got great city councils. We've got some of the problems that other places have we don't have, so I'm betting on us places have.
Speaker 3:We don't have. So I'm betting on us, but it's not going to be easy. No, it's not, but I'm betting on us as well, and all the folks you just mentioned are, are their hearts in the right place and and they're, they're looking at it the right way and I'm confident we'll we'll, uh, continue to grow this straight at a state, at a pace that everybody's happy with. And you know I'm sure you know there's a lot of people out there that don't want to see it grow. I mean, I've met a lot of them, you know. Actually, you know, probably most of the old school Idahoans do not want growth, and I think most of them recognize that it's here and there's nothing they can do about it, and some of them are trying to figure out where they're going to move next. But you know, so I think that's something that needs to be contended with as well. I mean, you know, improving our infrastructure is only going to help us grow faster and you know, maybe that's maybe. We don't want to go full bore with that either.
Speaker 1:I don't know, that is an important question. But think about this If you don't really do anything for demand, you just drive up prices by doing that.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So, although I get it, I'm I'm like, okay, but you have kids that want to be here. I mean like there's, you know, I guess you'd have to get to a point where people would just say, oh, I am not going there because traffic is an hour long and I don't think we're going to see that. I think I think we better.
Speaker 3:I agree, I, I do travel a fair amount in my job and you know wherever I go and people ask me where I'm from and you know you don't meet anybody that just doesn't come back with you know, oh, I've heard great things about Boise and you know, know somebody that's been there. I want to check it out. I mean, it is all across this state, country, and it only feels like the momentum's growing.
Speaker 1:So you're right, I mean it's, it's happening well, hey, this was great, thank you, and and uh, tell john thanks for us too. I mean, what a what a legend. And thanks for coming on. Uh, your name's everywhere and it's nice that people get to hear about your family and we really appreciate coming on today and learning a little bit more about the Jacksons and for all you do, corey. I'm going to tell one more story. Sure, so about three or four years ago, we heard about a family that needed a bunch of stuff done. I won't go into all the details, but part of it involved taking this family and moving them into a hotel for a few months while we, uh, while we remodeled their house and they had a bunch of kids and, um, we had. We made one call to you and you delivered food to them every day for two months.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I remember that. I think our food plant got behind that a little bit and yeah, I mean, it wasn't, just it wasn't.
Speaker 1:Hey, I'm gonna do a little donation. You guys actually delivered food for two months and I I think if any, if any small story can tell a larger story about you and your family. Uh, it was, it was really cool and I think that's the jacksons, that's the legacy. It's like where's the need point us in the direction and we take care of things. But anyway, appreciate you guys, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 3:No, thank you. Thank you, tommy, it's been a pleasure and and thanks again, thanks everybody.