Sheetz Inc., the Altoona, Pa.-based operator of more than 350 convenience stores, has begun training employees for its units in West Virginia, and it’s doing so at a new recruitment, hiring and training center at the Huntington Mall.
The center has a classroom area and foodservice area to train employees on how to make Sheetz specialty coffees and foods, such as muffins, burgers, sandwiches and more, according to the West Virgina Herald-Dispatch. It also has computers that demonstrate the touch-screen ordering that customers will find when they visit Sheetz restaurants inside the service station.
“We try to give the flavor of a Sheetz store,” Earl Springer, manager of employee relations for Sheetz, told the Herald-Dispatch. “We’re in the process of hiring Marshall students to be greeters there. We’re going to try to educate customers on how to do touch-screen ordering, and they’ll answer questions about Sheetz as a place to shop or work.”
Because this is Sheetz’s first venture into this part of West Virginia, “We had to be bold with something in that area that would give us a presence and allow us to hire and train people,” Springer said. Twelve supervisors and assistant managers have been hired for the local stores, now under construction. They’ll get hands-on training at a new Sheetz in Bridgeport, W.Va., he added.
Sheetz is targeting West Virginia as one if its new growth markets and plans to open stores West Huntington, Barboursville, Milton and Hurricane. To introduce the brand to customers, a Sheetz truck is making the rounds handing out samples of coffee, smoothies and food items at locations like baseball games, manufacturing plants, fairs and shopping plazas.
Often the samples will be free, and sometimes they’ll be sold with proceeds going to a charity, Springer said. “It’s a good way to get name recognition out there,” he said. “That’s the only thing we’re going to be lacking a little bit.”