Awards-judging is my favourite time of the work calendar, where I really get to see our industry up close and personal. Over a flurry of early summer days, my colleagues and I get in our cars and drop in on over 80 of the country’s foremost forecourts, from Cornwall to the Cairngorms via Norfolk and Northern Ireland. Our job is to verify whether a shortlisted finalist’s claims on paper hold true.
Are their washrooms as spotless and inviting as they insist? Do staff greet every customer with a smile? Does their supposedly state-of-the-art soft drinks fixture lack fizz? Most importantly, we ask ourselves before settling on our eventual winners: would Forecourt Trader readers truly be inspired if they showed up or shuffle off with a seen-it-all-before shrug?
The facilities vary from bustling motorway service stations catering to hundreds of motorists daily to village petrol stations serving as community hubs. Plotted on our route maps are futuristic urban all-electric forecourts still smelling of fresh paint and edge-of-wilderness oases that have for decades provided fuel and sustenance to hikers, bikers and campers.
Because the provisionally shortlisted sites are among the nation’s best, it is not quite a microcosm of the sector. The bar is set high. However, not everything is exemplary – something I learned again doing my second tour of duty visting two of our awards regions, and which is why this mystery shopper element is so important to the integrity of our judging process.
There was certainly lots to praise in the 22 facilities I visited. I loved the environmental commitment of the retailer offering a free water dispenser, even though it might have meant lost sales of chilled bottles. I was impressed by how an on-site indoor launderette had become a true community amenity. And tempting in-store hot food counters – including one offering their signature macaroni pie – kept me sustained throughout the trips.
Time and again, innovation and devotion to the customer shone, whether it was in-store butcher’s counters packed with fresh cuts, the office pods for drivers charging their EVs, the ice-cube machine next to on-pump carbonates, or the tiny forecourt serving a full Tebay-style farm shop experience. I sampled for the first time a takeaway concept offering branded Indian dishes, microwaved from frozen on site.
Other features badly let businesses down – and in some cases caused them to be penalised in the judging. There was the broken Tango Blast machine that the assistant confessed had not worked for months, chillers with their light bulbs blown, freezers long due a defrost, overflowing litter bins, and, in one case, detritus from a next-door McDonald’s drive-thru strewn across a forecourt.
Most disappointing of all were the disgusting loos – sometimes the one black mark against an otherwise excellent business. Why, we wonder, does a forecourt owner or manager allow toilets to run out of paper or soap, have wobbly or grimy sinks or taps, smell of stale urine or worse? Is operating hygienic restrooms really that difficult?
Clearly not, because the best ones we sampled would not be out of place in an upmarket hotel or office suite. One of our favourites had an aroma of lavender, and even a bottle of hand lotion. It was clearly deep cleaned on a regular basis, and had pleasant, piped music to help pass the time. You did not have to do the necessary while holding your nose and shutting your eyes.
I appreciate that our visits come out of the blue and even the top forecourts can have an off-day. But attention to detail is key to any well-run forecourt. Unpleasant toilets, unemptied bins, boxes stored untidly on the shopfloor, and untended units are invariably a symptom not of bad luck but a management culture that has lost its way.
That culture can, of course, be repaired. In some cases, we hope for the sake of the motorist and the reputation of our industry it is. But neglecting some of the basics means that business will not be a Forecourt Trader winner, this time at least.
But I would like to end my thoughts about my latest on the road judging experience on a high. The standards this year have been incredible and are giving the judges a very difficult job in choosing the winners, the ambassadors of a dynamic and thriving forecourt community.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our shortlisted finalists the very best of luck. And I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our awards in October – my other favourite time in my work calendar.
