Podcast: NACS chair Annie Gauthier discusses family business
Annie Gauthier has spent her career proving that scale isn't the only way to lead. In this episode, the co-CEO of St. Romain Oil Company talks family business, food service growth, and what she's watching ahead of NACS Show 2026 in Las Vegas.
Gauthier was installed as NACS chair at the NACS Show in Chicago in October 2025. She explains why NACS deliberately builds its leadership around a mix of company sizes and geographies, so that no single type of operator sets the industry's direction, and reflects on what running a 16-store family chain in rural Louisiana teaches other operators, wherever they are: know your own market, and don't be afraid to skip what everyone else is doing. That philosophy shows up clearest in food service, which she says now contributes as much to her company's business as fuel or convenience merchandise.
That philosophy shows up clearest in food service, which she says now contributes as much to her company's business as fuel or convenience merchandise combined. Gauthier also talks trends she's picked up on the road this year, and previews what NACS Show in Las Vegas this October has in store for retailers and suppliers alike.
Annie Gauthier
Annie Gauthier is CFO and co-CEO of St. Romain Oil Company and its Y-Not Stop convenience-store chain in Mansura, Louisiana, a third-generation family business founded in 1970 that she runs today with her two brothers. She was installed as chair of NACS in October 2025, after joining the NACS board in 2018 and its executive committee in 2022. She is a NACS Master of Convenience and a graduate of the NACS Women's, Financial, and Executive Leadership Programs.
" I fell in love with the convenience industry when I worked for our state association, particularly during 2005 when hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast. And I realized just how integral we are to every community that we serve.."
"For our company, profitability comes equally from food service, fuel and convenience merchandise, which is markedly different from when I joined 20 years ago, when food service was only about 10% of our total contribution."
