16 / 65
[ 16 ]
TOBACCO BUSINESS
[
MARCH
/
APRIL
|
17 ]
previously, they would honk a lot. It was like the Wild,
Wild West out there.”
Then the smartphone presence became universal and
it “gave Millennials a downtime opportunity to play on
their phones,” he says, remarking on how patient cus-
tomers seem to be now, with heads down on their phones
while waiting in the queue.
TOBACCO STORE WITH MORALS
Besides setting itself apart from competition with the
drive-thru concept, Smoke ’N Go prides itself on being
“a tobacco store with morals,” says Hoyt. This is per-
haps most apparently recognized in employees, who are
expected to be “ambassadors of responsible tobacco re-
tailing,” he adds.
“On the one hand, we give them full-time work, a
401k, and paid time off; on the other hand, we provide
them with uniforms, we drug test them, and we enforce
a strict code. I tell them in the interview process that we
are like the Disney World of tobacco: there are no visible
tattoos allowed, no piercings other than one in each ear.
We are very strict in employee appearance. We try to
run with the highest integrity, and we try to mimic the
best policies of the Fortune 500 companies. I don’t know
of anyone else in our area that holds store employees
accountable like we do.”
Competitively speaking, Hoyt reasons that with a
primarily combustible tobacco business, “the fight I’m
fighting with category management is the same fight ev-
eryone else is facing. But when it comes to employees,
that’s where we go rogue.”
These high standards naturally trickle into customer
service as well, with the idea that people who look the
part and are treated well for it become the company’s
biggest advocates.
“We take care of the people who take care of our cus-
tomers,” says Hoyt. “I was the only retailer at a recent
trade show saying that I don’t have trouble finding good
people. Our tenure is maybe 13 years. We embrace our
employees; they find a home here. So many of them
“Evolve or die,” they say. With fresh family blood in its
veins since the early 2000s, a Top 50 tobacco outlet chain
chose the former, incorporating drive-thrus as a compet-
itive advantage and, more recently, changing its name to
Smoke ’N Go. Now, at a time when continued evolution
may be more important than ever in the channel, the
chain is contemplating where to go from here, possibly
into an alternative side business—a move that would rep-
resent a serious departure from its current culture.
Back when it was launched in 1991, this Southern
Louisiana business founded by Fred Hoyt consisted of
one store known as Cheap-O-Depot—the second tobac-
co store in the whole state of Louisiana. By 2000, there
were seven stores in the chain. Next, in 2003, a totally
new concept was introduced when Hoyt’s son, Richard,
joined the business and initiated a drive-thru era and a
new name.
The concept was this: “Get your smokes on the go at
Smoke ’N Go,” Richard Hoyt, vice president, tells
Tobac-
co Business
(
TB
).
Not only did the name fit the drive-thru idea, but store
employees, after being polled, admitted they liked working
for a business by the name of Smoke ’N Go a lot better
than Cheap-O-Depot. They voted unanimously for the
change, which was made, along with the incorporation of
a drive-thru in every store company-wide by 2014.
DRIVE-THRU RESURGENCE
The concept certainly caught on with area smokers,
who favor not having to be seen shopping for cigarettes.
Across today’s 21 Smoke ’N Go stores, 87 percent of
customers opt to do business through the drive-thru ver-
sus shopping in-store (stores are quite compact, resem-
bling outdoor “huts” or kiosks, ranging from 200 to 700
square feet, conducive to being serviced from a drive-th-
ru window).
What’s more, consumer technology has smoothed a
resurgence; the drive-thru concept “got reinvented by
the smartphone,” explains Hoyt. “Our drive-thru cus-
tomers like the immediate gratification we provide, but
We try to run
with the highest
integrity, and
we try tomimic
the best policies
of the Fortune
500 companies.
I don’t know of
anyone else in
our area that
holds store
employees
accountable
like we do.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF RICHARD HOYT