
A former Egyptian engineer found the secret to building a big gas-station chain - wallflower
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/local-business/station-master-how-an-engineer-from-egypt-built-one-of-the-biggest-gas-station-chains-in-the-northwest/
======
dmix
> Even the handles on the gas pumps get buffed down regularly so that “the
> customer does not put his hand on something dirty,” he says

This is what most UX designers do for a living. They think about the small
details which get overlooked while everyone is in a rush to build out x
feature/functionality.

It's what creates emotional connections to products and services which builds
strong customer loyalty and helps word of mouth.

Just like how they used to know your name at your local small grocery store,
those intimate details go a long way. And in commoditized situations people
are willing to spend more time/money or go out of their way to use your
product.

Dan Norman talks a lot about this in his "Emotional Design" book. It's the
design stuff that goes beyond merely functionality and most efficient problem
solving (ie, obsessing about fewest clicks to do x, instead of the wider
experience where adding a communication step might improve the emotional
experience).

But often it is a luxury for many smaller firms struggling to just get the
functionality part right, which is why this person buying up gas stations,
providing time and capital, and giving them the attention they needed is
working so well.

~~~
doodliego
This guy is putting customers first, which is the exact opposite of most UX
design philosophies I've been on the receiving end of. The entire discipline
prioritizes minimalism, copying Apple, and making random changes to the
interface just so they have "accomplished" something, which is how you get
randomly broken messes like Youtube.

If UX designers made a gas pump, it would be a featureless white pillar with a
single button and a hose and it wouldn't work.

~~~
eric-hu
Design is a broad field. I believe you're mistaking UX design for visual
design or industrial design.

~~~
dmix
UX is one of the most abused terms. So I'm not surprised he's mistaking what
it really means.

So many big firms hire mediocre "designers" out of college and they wireframe
whatever the project managers tell them to and they do what they are told.

I better term is just "product designer" but I like UX designer as the name
encompasses it perfectly... your job is to know and understand the users
experience inside and out, and make it as ideal as possible.

When done right, just like programmers who push back on stupid features
because they often have a better grasp of what "good software" compared to the
average "business person". Another bad group is the non-startup people who
come from older, bigger IT megacorps and run product development, which is a
disaster waiting to happen but I've heard of many examples of this.

I should also note I'm only talking from my experience working with startups
and SMBs. I personally don't know much about operating design within a giant
company.

------
aresant
Scaling a location based workforce that the owner is visiting once a month and
maintaining quality standards is hugely impressive.

As the article explains the owner is drawing his HR from the Egyptian
immigrant community.

As such I think the “secret” of success in this tale is the unique funnel he
has developed to find motivated, highly responsible, and respectful labor.

Which is almost impossible to find in the US at this point with employment
reaching all time highs.

Good lesson for anybody that thinks the “buy and improve” strategy is going to
come from giving a near minimum wage worker a playbook and checking in once a
month.

~~~
hogFeast
Yep, a family friend did this at a smaller scale in a similar business (not in
the US).

First-gen migrant, only employed other migrants from his community (usually
from extended family), they worked just as hard as he did (no exaggeration: he
worked 16-hour days, and worked close to 365 a year), and he provided an
absolute first-rate service (and sold out to someone else at pretty much the
top tick in the industry).

I actually think the tragedy of this is that we don't have people like this
working at a higher level. Lots of migrants end up in these businesses because
no-one else will hire them (gas stations, convenience stores, car washes,
etc.)...that is a real tragedy because they would fucking trounce any
politician/CEO/you name it.

~~~
kjs3
I'm trying to think of how working 16 hours a day, near 365 days a year _isn
't_ a "tragedy".

~~~
hogFeast
Because he enjoyed it, and he provided for his family. He came to this country
with literally nothing (his family fled Idi Amin...so the real "nothing", not
like most economic migrants today), and he sent all his kids (three) to
private school and university.

I understand this isn't appealing to the lazy, indigent middle-class person
who has everything and expects daddy to hook them up with a soft job...but he
is the kind of person that provides for your life and the real tragedy is that
we allow so many talented people to grow up without ambition, responsibility,
or even the desire to produce things for anyone besides themselves.

------
redis_mlc
1) If you want to see an example of that in the Bay Area, the Mile 8
convenience store/gas station at 19th Ave. and Irving is pretty amazing -
great selection, two clean, inside restrooms. Closes at 8 pm though. Cheapest
sandwiches, snacks and coffee in the area.

2) The article has a good explanation of how an immigrant community works
together to dominate a niche using a favorable banking tie and a labor stream.
A similar story is that most Bay Area motels are operated by Gujaratis
(fixed), and in Canada minimarts by Koreans. Both have strong banking ties for
pre-approved loans based on sufficient family labor and the community track
record.

3) The Albanian resistance movement in the last Serbian war was funded by a
small construction firm in New York. The owner fed back enough weapons and
snipers to ground the UN helicopters (!) persecuting them, as well as lobby in
DC. There's a very impressive video online.

~~~
vageli
> 3) The Albanian resistance movement in the last Serbian war was funded by a
> small construction firm in New York. The owner fed back enough weapons and
> snipers to ground the UN helicopters (!) persecuting them, as well as lobby
> in DC. There's a very impressive video online.

Would you happen to have a link or know what to search? This sounds
interesting but my searches have yielded nothing so far.

~~~
lionsdan
This was the closest I could find for a starting point: "Shefki Mati, 44, an
Albanian American businessman, is training volunteers for the Kosovo
Liberation Army at camps in Albania."

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/05/10/a...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/05/10/albanians-
worldwide-answer-rebels-call/10a9154a-75d8-4b57-8965-c86742657ef6/)

------
rossdavidh
Here's a thought: if the percentage of cars on the road which are electric
rises significantly over the next decade or so, will the corner gas-station
have a problem? I have heard that the gas is not really the source of profits,
but it is the source of the traffic. If fewer drivers need to fill up (or they
have to do it less often, in the case of a hybrid), will the convenience store
business model be threatened? Or, perhaps, it will just more or less
seamlessly morph into the corner grocery store.

~~~
Andrew_nenakhov
If things remain the same, business will likely flourish: such station can
install charging equipment as well, and since recharging takes more time than
refilling gas tank, customers will spend more time (and money) on site.

~~~
leeoniya
i always wondered why the battery cannot simply be swapped for a charged one.
like going through a carwash. would be even faster than filling a tank of gas.

once there's enough EV, it seems justified to democratize the consumable
batteries.

~~~
reportingsjr
This has been tried, in fact the original Tesla Model s had a swappable
batteries[1], but it has never worked for a variety of reasons.

[1]:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlaQuKk9bFg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlaQuKk9bFg)

~~~
HALtheWise
From what I gather, it worked fine technically, but very few customers
actually decided to use it. Lots of Tesla owners tried it once, but most
realized that it wasn't worth paying the cost associated with additional
complexity (it wasn't free) especially since it's actually really nice to have
a 20 minute break after driving for five hours.

------
appleshore
Most gas stations seem offensive and predatory in the items they offer
customers. I understand freedom of choice and business models but the entire
system is plagued by unhealthy and potentially dangerous products (eg random
herbal supplements, synthetic cannabinoids etc). And more than half of gas
stations in major cities don’t have bathrooms (people abuse them obviously).
And the workers are often underpaid.

Verse a system that offers fair pricing, healthy options, positive re-
enforcement, incentivizes public facing employees to learn CPR and first aid,
paying higher wages to help upward mobility and savings, creating a place for
community interaction.

Nope, it’s just sugar, cigarettes, “rhino” pills, alcohol, mistreated
underpaid employees living a fraction of their potential, dirtiness and no
bathrooms.

~~~
driverdan
> Most gas stations seem offensive and predatory in the items they offer
> customers.

Convenience stores sell what customers want. If those items didn't sell or
customers had a preference for something else then they'd change.

> And the workers are often underpaid.

No such thing. So long as someone is willing to work for a certain wage
they're getting paid exactly what they should be.

~~~
atonse
Found our Robber Baron mentality right here.

Nobody is "willing" to work at an un-livable wage. Forced is probably a better
term. Not forced by their employer, but by circumstance.

~~~
strathmeyer
Gee if the wage is un-livable how are they surviving?

~~~
mschuster91
Working two or more jobs and/or being subsidized by government assistance
(food stamps, or in Germany Hartz IV).

------
kyrieeschaton
The _actual_ secret is low cost of capital and low labor costs, probably both
in violation of various labor / tax / finance laws and regulations. This
supposedly gave him free cash flow to invest in capital improvements.

"in 1998, he scraped together the $75,000 down payment, much of it from family
and others in the local Egyptian community"

"One key factor: Said staffed his new location with fellow immigrants from his
church, Saint Mary Coptic Orthodox Church in Lynnwood"

"with the help of a broker — another member of the local Egyptian community —
Said got a loan and closed the deal"

"Mainly, Said checks in with his managers and staff, many of whom are Egyptian
immigrants looking for their own start in America. Many are referred to Said
through his church or the local Egyptian American community; some hear of Said
even before they leave Egypt."

~~~
darksaints
None of those examples are illegal, and the presumption of criminality based
on circumstantial evidence, especially in the case of a minority immigrant,
looks far worse for you than it does for him.

~~~
kyrieeschaton
We have copious experience with this _exact business model_ going back decades
over several economic sectors and it's not hard to see where the structural
cost advantages come from. If you are, eg, properly accounting for below-
market loans as income (on either side), or rigorously following overtime
requirements, or equal opportunity laws, your cost advantages rapidly go away.
"Maybe we make the stores nice" is not some groundbreaking innovation.

~~~
darksaints
There isn't proof of any of those things happening here.

------
scarejunba
The magic here is he leaned on his community to everyone's benefit. This is a
thing immigrants easily do in America and it's a massive competitive
advantage.

It works even for non-business. Immigrants will lend each other money for
mortgage down payments, cars, exercising options, investments, cover expenses
until long term cap gains, etc. in amounts most Americans would balk at. Easy
six figure sums with no real collateral. If the investment pays off or
whatever, the person loaning doesn't get a percentage or anything like that.
All they get is what they already have: continued access to the accelerator
net.

I honestly think there is a cultural silliness in America about soloing it.
Everyone who really makes it in America does so in a team, or because their
parents boosted them, or whatever. Very few solo. But the dream in America is
you do things yourself. The cultural bias towards "paid my way through
college", "moved out at 18", "built it on my own with no help from anyone" is
a powerful meme but does not confer benefit on the organism holding it.

~~~
lotsofpulp
> I honestly think there is a cultural silliness in America about soloing it.

All tribes that have high trust between them eventually lose it as they
economically advance. The high trust between tribe members is required while
the tribe members need each other, but once a sufficient number of tribe
members become self sufficient, the tribe starts changing into different
groups, usually along socioeconomic lines.

Rich people lend and invest with each other all the time. See all the
companies where a kid gets funding from his parents friends. But they no
longer identify with the immigrant tribe.

I have watched this play out in my lifetime. When everyone in my parents’
immigrant group was poor, everyone was there for everyone. As the decades went
on, some families became very successful. Their children no longer associate
with the less economically successful families, but they do with those like
them. They go on vacations together, golf, invest in businesses together. But
the new members of the tribe still immigrating will not get any support from
them.

~~~
scarejunba
Yeah, the crucial loss is that poor and middle class Americans just generally
have no tribe. They also worship this as a source of strength when it's
clearly a source of weakness.

------
llrando
If you know anything about Seattle it can be pretty easily implied what his
business actually is doing. He buys gas stations in "up and coming" parts of
town with high traffic and makes them safe by driving out the undesirables
thereby increasing traffic from the wealthier residents who don't want to be
hassled. Seattle has become big and increasingly unsafe so businesses that can
provide a sense of security for their customers provide an increasingly better
value proposition.

------
KoftaBob
As a fellow Coptic Egyptian, I can tell you that his ability to directly
source talent from Coptic Churches in the area is a huge advantage for him.

Just like how warm intros in the VC world signal that the person making the
intro can vouch for them as trustworthy, a similar benefit is had when
sourcing employees from a tight knit ethno-religious community.

If he hires them to manage a gas station and they steal, cause problems, or
anything like that, the community will know about it and their reputation will
suffer.

~~~
vageli
> If he hires them to manage a gas station and they steal, cause problems, or
> anything like that, the community will know about it and their reputation
> will suffer.

Further, the family's image becomes tarnished to an extent in the eyes of the
community, and family is often a powerfully reinforced social structure in
immigrant households (my own included) with the ability to compel action.

------
brenden2
I don't think it's a secret if you're publishing it in the news. Just sayin'.

Also I think this whole article can be summed up as "providing a better
experience for customers can increase sales".

~~~
listenallyall
But you're missing the nuance that exemplifies the risk. Will sales (on a low-
margin product) improve enough to cover the renovation's cost (hundreds of
thousands, to million+)? And the additional ongoing costs of running a
"spotless" store? Gas station pumps don't wipe themselves down. And can a guy
who owns a few dozen stores compete with chains that own hundreds?

~~~
dunmalg
> can a guy who owns a few dozen stores compete with chains that own hundreds?

With the exception of places like Costco and large truck stops, the vast
overwhelming majority of gas stations are franchises where the owner is just
some local guy selling under the Chevron or Shell or whatever name. This has
some promotional value, of course, but the owner sets the prices just like any
other station operator. Ultimately, they all buy fuel from the same local
refineries or wholesalers, regardless of the name on the fuel truck that
delivers it.

Standard Oil encountered some legal issues back in 1911 by using its size and
vertical integration to undercut competitors at the retail level. As a result
the petroleum production industry is now intentionally very much NOT involved
in retail fuel sales.

~~~
TylerE
There are plenty of exceptions. WaWa has already been mentioned.

Sheetz has 600+ locations and does $8b a year. All corporate owned and
operated.

~~~
dunmalg
>Sheetz has 600+ locations and does $8b a year. All corporate owned and
operated

600+ seems like a big number until you consider that there are 168,000 gas
stations in the US. Large chains have a LONG way to go until they are more
than a statistical blip, and this doesn't even take into account the fact that
the federal government has, for over a century, cast a very jaundiced eye at
any single entity using its market presence to drive competitors out of the
retail gasoline business via undercutting on prices. Looking at the FTC ruling
on the acquisition of Sunoco's fuel retail locations by 7-11, they monitor
competition in fuel retailing VERY closely, to the point of mandating a
certain degree of competition in specific markets.

[https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-
releases/2018/03/ftc-a...](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-
releases/2018/03/ftc-approves-final-order-imposing-conditions-7-elevens)

~~~
listenallyall
Undercutting on gas prices is hardly the point. Most well-known chains charge
more for gas -- and get away with it because their stores are cleaner, more
convenient, have more pumps (so less waiting), and a far better C-store
experience.

The store side is primarily where chains threaten independent operators
because they can have a lower cost structure overall -- much more purchasing
power on food/snacks/soda, more ability to offer fresh food (Wawa sandwiches,
Racetrac frozen yogurt, etc), better stocking, and far more labor efficiency.

Your own number of 168k gas stations proves the point -- that number is from
2004, and is 40,000 less than a decade earlier. While there are many reasons
why gas stations are closing, surely increased competition from brand-name
mega-stores with 16, 24+ pumps each -- is one of those reasons.

[https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/quizzes/answerQuiz16.shtml](https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/quizzes/answerQuiz16.shtml)

------
jeffdavis
"With oil prices then near historic lows, oil refiners were desperate for
dealers who could move more volume."

Isn't this zero sum? If one station doesn't sell the gasoline, another will,
right? Why does the refiner care who sells it?

~~~
taftster
Somewhat. Shell is probably trying to position themselves against their
competition. Yes, it's probably near zero-sum game, but there's still
competition between the various oil companies, etc.

So by having Said take on more stores (due to the quality and volume he
proved) means that Shell could take a bigger piece of the pie.

------
kyleblarson
His is certainly an impressive story, but you also have to account for the
fact that a lot of the neighborhoods in which he owns gas stations have seen
massive inflows of money from Seattle's insane growth in the last 25 years.

------
616c
It is so random the Egyptian-related posts that come up here!

The irony here is that most of these principles Sami Said uses are not applied
in Egypt and I doubt they would work quite the same. Most gas stations for
normal, working class people are dirty and IIRC many do not have convenience
stores at all. Kiosks are on almost every street corner, so the gas stations
would be wasting their employee time as everyone else, car or not, can find
those way more easily.

The one exception in upper class neighborhoods and the ring roads that lead
between Cairo and major cities, and the gas station rest stops, which have
been cleaned up/modernized a lot since my first entry into Egypt in the middle
of the last decade. The new cleaner gas stations started showing up then, but
now I see many more of them when traveling between cities or the rich/expat-
accommodating neighborhoods of Cairo proper (Zamalek, the fancy parts of
Ma'adi, et cetera) all of them with On the Run convenience stores. After
reading this I Googled, only to discover that is the import of an
international chain, Exxon!

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Run_(convenience_store)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Run_\(convenience_store\))

So beyond hiring other Egyptians (this is not surprising for Americans who see
this with many different immigrant communities, a lot have pointed this out
already), not sure why his being Egyptian is an important detail. It sounds
like a common American immigrant story to me. This is usually where I make a
joke about Neo-Orientalism (perhaps double funny since it is an Egyptian
person with gas stations), but the article is pretty germane so what can we
really say? lol

------
ossworkerrights
This seems like a recipe for success that can be applied in some east european
countries still lagging behind the rest of the eu: take old and run down shop
in areas with a good potential, provide kick ass services and improve the look
and feel of things.

~~~
mschuster91
> in areas with a good potential

You won't have much of these in (South) Eastern Europe. There is a massive
brain drain towards Western Europe... every shop needs customers with spare
money to go shopping and that's hard for anything that's not absolute
necessities when all working-age people from the area went off to greener
grasses.

Originally that was the reason why the EU introduced various funds to improve
life/economy in the poorer regions... while for some regions it worked out
decently, many others had all the money sucked off to corruption. Between 2013
and 2017, for example, at least 1.5 billion € in development funds were wasted
([https://kurier.at/politik/ausland/betrug-mit-eu-
foerdergelde...](https://kurier.at/politik/ausland/betrug-mit-eu-
foerdergeldern-die-aufdecker-haben-kaum-eine-chance/400496758)).

~~~
ossworkerrights
Yeah having been back to Romania for a while now I think the article is a
gross understatement of the amount of fraud and poor investment choices
surrounding EU funding. However, the country is undergoing a massive bubble at
the moment, and most areas appear to be undeserved or served by low quality
services. By following the example of this Egyptian guy, one could really make
a difference and turn a nice, clean, profit in here.

------
CalChris
I drive an EV so I haven't been to a gas station in years, maybe a decade.
However, I think gas stations, maybe this guy, could better serve EVs.

First, we're going to be at a charging station for about a half an hour. In
fact, limit us to half an hour. Provide an L3 QC so we can charge. Air so we
can top off our tires. Wiper fluid. WIFI. Got a Tesla, CHAdeMO or SAE? Great,
we have an adaptor for that. Brownie points for a vac, garbage and recycling.

Charge a flat rate, $20 (?). Got a Tesla? It goes on your account.

------
adventured
The secret to a great gas station business, is being not primarily in the gas
station business, but in the higher margin food business.

The Sheetz gas station chain along the US east coast for example has a wildly
thriving business and is demolishing every other gas station in its path. ~25
years ago they started doing things quite different than all the other
competition and it has led to them building out hundreds of locations. They're
up to $7.5 billion in annual sales now. It's all built around great locations
(of course) and the margins in their food making business. They did touch
screen ordering kiosks as early as any other major food-related chain in the
US, and 20+ years before McDonald's deployed them widely. The gas merely draws
traffic, there's no serious money in that part of the business.

------
rmason
It's remarkable how unfriendly large gas stations have come to be. Locally all
our Speedways have added TV's at the pumps that play Speedway commercials non-
stop.

They're all out of sync and it gives you a headache to listen to all of them.
It annoyed me so much that I did some googling and I figured out how to turn
down the volume ;<). But they had a software update and my little trick no
longer worked.

But the TV's didn't increase store sales so you know what they did? They
cranked up the volume to an ear splitting level;<(. It's almost as if they're
trying to drive customers away.

~~~
latchkey
The faster you get your gas and go, the quicker the next person in line can
get their gas. Imagine all the people who see a full gas station and keep
driving knowing they could get gas later when the station is less full. Gas
stations almost need to appear empty at the pumps.

------
jiveturkey
Most interesting. I wouldn't have thought any of those little details matter,
so I guess I am not representative of the market.

I never shop at the gas station convenience store (unless traveling and in
need of water). I pick a gas station solely on convenience factor, ie closest
to me on the correct side of the road. The only criteria I have is that I do
not use gas stations (Arco) that have central payment islands vs pay at the
pump.

I'm pretty amazed anyone cares what gas station they go to, and actually
_pick_ one over another.

------
vpribish
clickbait-styled headlines are repulsive

~~~
regnarg
Yea like wtf is a "former Egyptian engineer"? Like is he not Egyptian anymore?

------
cosmodisk
I don't drive so I rarely step into a petrol station but whenever I do it's
almost always: wtf?? It's like most operators try to make them as inconvenient
as possible.Poor selection of products on shelves, toilets often not
clean/locked,etc. No wonder this man is so successful.

------
JustSomeNobody
Focus on customers and employees and have pride in your product. Now there’s a
lesson modern business could learn. It’s _not_ about returning all profit to
the wealthy investors.

------
duelingjello
Reminds me of an improvement on the advice by good old Felix Dennis:

 _Nice (fake) flowers can do as much or more for decor than antique lawyer or
designer furniture._

------
carltonbanks
At the risk of sounding pedantic, “former Egyptian engineer” sounds like he
stopped being Egyptian at some point. Shouldn’t it be Egyptian former
engineer?

------
forgotmypw38
This page is blank (though very tall) without JS.

------
tajalan
Paywall

------
aazaa
Bogus Norton Security nonsense. I'm outta there.

------
wahern
> In urban areas like Seattle, the best locations for gas stations — along
> busy arterials — are also the best places for apartments, which are far more
> profitable.

There's a gas station at the corner of Fort Meyer and Nash St in downtown
Arlington, VA which sits beneath a church. It looks like it was built
purposefully that way. I don't see why you couldn't build one under an
apartment building[1], especially a modern one that can handle fumes, etc. I
mean, we build residences above much worse stuff today (e.g. the chemical
fields created during Silicon Valley's heyday and which now sit beneath many
new residential projects), and both gasoline and cars are far cleaner now than
when that building was originally constructed. I wouldn't be surprised if
there are already many locations like that, in the U.S. and elsewhere.

[1] That's how I remembered that gas station--as sitting below an apartment
building--but looking on Google Maps it must've been a church all along.

