The Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) revealed the industry’s 2023 Convenience and Petroleum Award winners at a Gala Dinner held at the Hyatt Regency, Sydney.
The AACS Industry Awards are now in their 14th year, well and truly established as the petrol and convenience industry’s leading awards program, recognising excellence for suppliers and retailers of all sizes.
Held in front of 700 of the industry’s leading lights, the AACS awards are a celebration of excellence within the convenience industry and showcase the very best in terms of performance for both suppliers and retailers throughout the industry.
The Retailer and Supplier awards are evaluated through the CMA Convenience Pulse program, which benchmarks supplier and retailer performance over the entire 12-month period, a very detailed and exhaustive process.
The Store of the Year awards and Excellence awards are judged by a selected panel of six industry leaders, which recognises best in class retail operations.
Taking out Overall Store of the Year was APCO 24/7 Café Alfredton, which opened in March 2023. APCO says that its Café 24/7 brand is the real point of differentiation, which features freshly made hot and cold, on-the-go, ready-to-eat food for snacking, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all at great value prices.
Robert and Peter Anderson, APCO Directors, said they’ve achieved these awards because of their people and what they all do. They said they are incredibly grateful for everyone’s efforts.
“Alfredton’s achievement is a testament to the outstanding contribution our teams make to the business. Ideas are nothing without the cooperation of passionate people willing to go the extra yards to achieve great results,” said Robert Anderson.
Overall Supplier of the Year was Suntory Oceania, which picked up the award for the second year running. A testament to their commitment to the P&C industry.
Deborah Cooper, Head of P&C at Suntory Oceania, said winning Overall Supplier of the Year for the second-year running is an absolute monumental achievement for everyone at Suntory Oceania.
“There is a whole team behind this accolade and every individual from across our broader business has played an indispensable role in supporting our retailer partnerships to continue to drive growth for the beverage category.
“Customer Centricity sits at the heart of everything we do, and this achievement is testament to that dedication and commitment put in from the team day in day out. We look forward to continuing to drive growth with all our retail partners well into the future.”
Overall Retail Group of the Year was New Sunrise Group, also taking out this coveted award for the second year in a row. This award is not an easy award to win once, let alone twice. This is a testament to the great work that all Independent Retailers continue to deliver across the industry.
The Peter Jowett Award winners were Keirice Farley from 7-Eleven and Olivia Mercer from Frucor Suntory Oceania, who delivered presentations on the topic – Envisioning the Future: How will AI revolutionise convenience retailers to enhance customer convenience and operational efficiency.
The full list of award winners is below:
| RETAILER AWARDS | |
| Category | Winner |
| Overall Store of the Year | APCO 24/7 Café Alfredton |
| Retail Group of the Year | New Sunrise |
| Corporate Store of the Year | Ampol Foodary Pheasants Nest North |
| Independent Store of the Year | APCO 24/7 Café Alfredton |
| Multi Site Operator of the Year Award: 2 – 10 Stores | NPG Retail – Urbanista Café & Convenience |
| Multi Site Operator of the Year Award: 11 – 20 Stores | Bennett’s Petroleum |
| Multi Site Operator of the Year Award: 21 – 70 Stores | Bowser Bean (Vantage Fuels) |
| Excellence in Food & Coffee Offer Development | APCO 24/7 Café |
| SUPPLIER AWARDS | |
| Supplier of the Year | Winner |
| Overall Supplier of the Year | Suntory Oceania |
| General Merchandise & Grocery | Pacific Optics |
| Snacking | PepsiCo |
| Telecommunications | Sim Connect / Telstra |
| Tobacco | Philip Morris Limited |
| Food on the Go | Patties |
| Beverages | Frucor Suntory |
| Confectionery | Mars Wrigley |
| Distributors | The Distributors |
| New Product Launch of the Year | Monster Energy Peachy Keen – CCEP |