Dive Brief:
- 7-Eleven has hired Richard Guidry as senior director of fresh foods for its convenience stores in the U.S. and Canada, Guidry announced via LinkedIn on Wednesday.
- Guidry brings about two decades worth of c-store operations and foodservice leadership experience to 7-Eleven. His most recent role with a convenience retailer was senior vice president of foodservice for GPM Investments, where he helped launch the company’s Fas Craves food program last year, according to his LinkedIn bio.
- Guidry joins 7-Eleven as the retailer continues its years-long investment in building food-focused c-stores to improve its foodservice reputation and profits in North America.
Dive Insight:
Neither Guidry nor a 7-Eleven spokesperson responded by press time to comment on his hiring and responsibilities. In his post, he said that in addition to 7-Eleven’s foodservice team, he’ll collaborate with the company’s store support center, franchisees and corporate store teams.
Guidry steps into his new role about a month after Benjamin Lucky was dismissed as 7-Eleven’s senior director of fresh food development after about 14 months in the position. At the time of his departure, Lucky told C-Store Dive that his termination was part of 7-Eleven taking “a different direction.”
“It is an incredible opportunity to help shape the future of convenience across a massive footprint of approximately 13,000 stores and with the #1 C-store chain worldwide,” Guidry said in his announcement.
Guidry was with GPM from October 2023 until last July, when he stepped away from the company. As the retailer’s SVP of foodservice, he led all kitchen development and execution across GPM’s more than 1,300 company-operated convenience stores, as well as its QSRs, according to his LinkedIn bio.
The Fas Craves program he helped launch features hot and cold grab-and-go items, such as crispy chicken biscuits, potato wedges, mozzarella sticks, jumbo chicken wings, chicken sandwiches and burgers. GPM also recently rolled out a bean-to-cup coffee program.
Earlier in his career, Guidry spent over 15 years in various operations and marketing roles at RaceTrac. He then spent another four years with Casey’s General Stores, where he began working in prepared foods, according to his LinkedIn bio.
