During a recent interview, Greg Parker wrote off the idea of penning a biography as “a bit self-serving.” His 50-year journey as CEO and Founder of Parker’s Kitchen did not originate from a plan he laid out many years ago. In fact, in 2011, he told the Savannah Morning News his law school dreams did not materialize, which led him to explore another route.
“I’ve gotten smarter over the years,” he said. The lessons he has learned reveal themselves in the stories of his path toward becoming the head of a successful corporation with nearly 100 locations throughout Georgia and South Carolina.
Some of his stories reflect on educators who inspired him (and thus his organization’s education philanthropy); the decision to open “Fancy” Parker’s Market, 222 Drayton St., in 1999 against the advice of almost everyone he knew; chairing convenience store industry committees; and taking on the state of Georgia to save customers money through Parker’s Rewards program.
His wealth of knowledge and experience have helped him tailor key points of advice for young (or old) entrepreneurs, but they are useful for life as well.
More on Parker’s journey from 2011:Ambitious, innovative leadership fuels Parker’s success (from the archives)
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Build a board of advisors
He recommended a collaborative approach to leadership and life by advising people to surround themselves “with the best minds” whose knowledge and influence improve one’s decision-making.
He suggested that even children should be taught to identify people who can influence their development and learning. For entrepreneurs he believes this practice should be done both internally as well as externally. He cited his 15 years having worked with Allison Hersch of Capricorn Communications as one example of an outside advisor whose specialties have informed him.
He attributed his collaborative nature to his time as a second negative on his Vidalia High School debate team, which won the state championship in 1971. The second negative is the last person to speak after others have made their arguments. Parker has since become adept at first absorbing others’ points of view.
Invest in your team
Part of the work to build an internal team of advisors for Parker means creating opportunities for his employees, through training and promotions.
“Get them educated, get them peers that they can be talking to,” he said.
To that point, he noted Brandon Hofmann, Parker’s president and successor to Parker as the next CEO. Parker hired Hofmann at the age of 19. He had gone right from high school to the military and then started as a nighttime clerk at Parker’s store number 17 in Hinesville, Georgia. “And there are a lot of Brandons,” said Parker of longtime employees, many who have risen the ranks to leadership positions over 30 or more years in his organization. Some of whom were there at his first store in Midway, Georgia, such as Senior Vice President of Special Projects Amy Lane.
Become the best at what you do
“I think you need to know more about what you do than anybody else does,” Parker said. He advises people to become experts in their chosen fields. In 2008, he became the National Association of Convenience Stores’ vice chairman of research. A fortuitous role that allowed him to see the full scope of metrics from “the CEOs of the companies, the marketing guys of the companies, the bankers, mergers and acquisition people, the insurance companies and all that.”
With all that information, he realized major credit card companies like MasterCard and Visa were pulling in more revenue from convenience stores by processing credit transactions “than we made in our stores as an entire industry.” Parker said the discovery made him “nuts.” Rather than stew in anger, he armed himself with the new knowledge and created his Parker’s PumpPal debit rewards program. Other convenience store chains later adopted similar store-specific debit card offers.
Persevere
While the input of advisors has been key to his success, there have been times where he went against advice. Early on with his rewards program, Parker advertised the PumpPal prices alongside typical gas prices, showing the discount for the customers’ benefit. Initially, he was allowed to do this. Then the Georgia Agriculture Commission, which oversees gasoline fuel licensing and inspections, blocked his ability to do so. He later sued and won. The program now has over 300,000 members.
He also countered the advice of others when deciding to purchase “Fancy” Parker’s Market, which was an abandoned automobile center at the time. Parker said homeless people were living in the building, which was dilapidated. He bought it and restored it. While one of the more popular Parker’s locations, it took time for him to find out what worked. “I had fresh meat, fish you could buy here. Then I started doing food that was partially cooked that you could go bake at home,” he said. Customers didn’t buy it. He even explored making his own ice cream at the store. Customers didn’t take to it, either.
Much of his and the stores’ success has been built on trial and error. With each failing, he pushed on.
PumpPal lawsuit from 2011:Parker defends PumpPal savings (from the archives)
Give back
Lastly, Parker wholeheartedly advocates for giving back through charitable donations. He recently presented a $100,000 check to the Savannah-Chatham County Public School system through his Fueling the Community Campaign. The Parker’s Community Fund gives regularly to Union Mission, America’s Second Harvest of Georgia, Lowcountry Food Bank of South Carolina and the Wounded Warrior project.
His top reason for philanthropic giving is to build a stronger community. He and his organizations do so by empowering people through education, addressing fundamental challenges like hunger, mental illness and homelessness, as well as retaining talented people.
Parker ended the interview with this insight about himself: “I’m really not exceptional. I wasn’t the smartest person, the most strategic person, but what I had was a lot of perseverance…and I think that I’ve been very lucky because I’ve surrounded myself with incredible people.”
Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@gannett.com and @jschwartstory84 on X.com.