Pat Lewis, Rutter's to be Honored With CSNews Technology Awards

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Pat Lewis, co-founder and partner of Oasis Stop ‘N Go Convenience Stores, and Rutter's Farm Stores have been chosen as the 2011 CSNews Technology Award winners.

The Technology Leadership Awards recognize industry excellence in technology and promote the industry's continued advancement and use of technology tools and applications to further business success.

Lewis is the recipient for the Top Technology Executive award. As co-founder and Partner of Oasis Stop 'N Go Convenience Stores in 1995, he started with one c-store/carwash and now has 13 Twin Falls-area Shell and Chevron branded locations that feature Wendy's, Taco Time, Quizno's and Sir Daniel's Smoke Shop.

In 1999, he also co-founded KickBack Points, an internal loyalty program that eventually spun off as an independent software development company specializing in integrated loyalty programs and associated marketing.

Lewis is also very active in the convenience store industry, serving on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Convenience and Petroleum Retailing (NACS), and as the Vice Chair of Technology. He is also a member of the organization's Executive Committee, and served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards (PCATS). Also a PCATS, Lewis chairs the Retailer Business Requirements Committee and is on the Retail Financial Transactions Committee, where he also serves on the Loyalty/POS Standard Integration working group. Receiving the Top Technology Implementation Award is Rutter's Farm Stores for its mobile app and integration with OpenStore by Gasbuddy. The OpenStore platform allows Rutter's to offer gas price listings by store and grade; integrate the Rutter's Rewards card into its mobile app; market to customers through the mobile app, e-mail, text and social media; gauge customer feedback with built in tools; and offer individual stores a custom Web site.

Rutter's was the first c-store to provide mobile apps, post real-time gas prices on an app; provide a loyalty card via the app; and offer customized Web sites per store location. Results of the offering include thousands of users on the mobile app who are using the mobile card scan and interacting in SMS contests and e-mail marketing campaigns; an increased number of fans on Facebook and Twitter; and increased mobile coupon redemption. The company is also working on a mobile gaming application.

"Rutter's is celebrating 90 years in business and our goal is to constantly reinvent and keep adapting to our ever-changing customer needs and wants. We recognized the importance of adopting new technologies that our customers prefer to use and interact with us," said Scott E. Hartman, CEO of Rutter’s Farm Stores. "We are convinced that these mobile applications someday will be commonplace in our industry and it is a blast being first at creating new customer touch points."

This year, the awards will be presented at the PCATS/CSNews 1st Annual Technology Leadership Awards Reception on Tuesday evening, May 17, 2011, at NACStech in Las Vegas. The reception will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Mirage, Poolside/Dolphin Bar. Additionally, PCATS/CSNews Technology Hall of Fame Awards will debut at the reception and Teri Richman and John Hervey will be the 2011 inaugural inductees.