PRINTING United Alliance is grateful to serve its members who make such significant impacts on the printing industry. Through our Member Spotlights, we continue to recognize our members, and help our community get to know their peers better, both professionally and personally. The following is a Q&A with Alliance member Lauren Gearhart, Print Operations Manager at Sheetz, Inc. based in Altoona, PA.
Can you please provide a brief history/background on your company?
Sheetz is a family-owned and operated restaurant and convenience chain with more than 710 locations across the Mid-Atlantic, all open 24/7, 365 days of the year. Founded by Bob Sheetz in 1952, we have over 25,000 employees who serve more than 1.5 million customers a day across Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, and North Carolina with Michigan coming soon.
Our company’s mission is to be the ultimate one-stop-shop where consumers can get what they want, when they want it, how they want it. A mecca for people on-the-go. Sheetz customers visit our stores for the vast selection of nationally recognized, award-winning made-to-order food and premium beverages, friendly service, and convenient locations.
Can you tell us more about the plans for Sheetz’s newest print production facility set to go live in 2025? (Will this be the first time Sheetz is running print production in-house? Where will the facility be located and how many jobs will this create?)
We will be implementing our first in-house print production facility in January 2025. It will be located in our new Logistics Center at our central Pennsylvania corporate campus. The production facility will occupy about 35,000 square feet of the new building, and support around 20 new team members to start.
How did Sheetz get its printing done previously? What made you decide to do printing in-house? (i.e. what benefits do you anticipate getting?)
We’ve previously leveraged relationships with mostly local printing partners to execute all of our printing programs. The need to move this business in house was fueled by our DNA, commitment to innovation and our future growth plans. Our in-house production facility will allow us the flexibility and control necessary to deliver on unmatched speed to market, meet changing consumer needs and growing store locations.
What types of printing technology is Sheetz planning to implement?
Initially, we will be implementing all digital solutions. Both cut sheet toner and large format UV inkjet technologies will be the workhorses of the facility.
What types of items will you be printing?
We will be printing and manufacturing the majority of all printed materials for our 710+ retail store locations. This will include everything from point-of-purchase signage, take home collateral, permanent store trade dress and packaging labels.
What safety protocols will be put in place to ensure a safe working environment for employees once the facility is up and running?
We do have very established safety protocols managed by a safety department for our existing manufacturing operations that we leverage. These protocols combined with initial and ongoing safety training, regular inspections both to equipment and operating environment, appropriate PPE, emergency response planning, incident reporting protocols and access to health and wellness programs on-site really allow us the opportunity to provide our employees with a safe working environment.
Why did you decide to join the Alliance? What resources do you plan to utilize through your new membership?
Joining the alliance was an easy decision for us. Being new to this industry at Sheetz, there are seemingly endless resources that we can leverage to make quality decisions about how to implement and manage our business. We’ve already been looking at industry wage reports, available training to help support our new team members and leveraging all the industry updates to understand what’s happening in print, and how it will affect our business in the future.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Sheetz is able to succeed because it has outstanding employees with a commitment to Total Customer Focus. Sheetz employees strive to meet the needs of its busy customers. The company is listening to its customers and wants to ensure the brand continues to evolve to meet their needs and aligns with their mission of being the ultimate one-stop-shop. Being a part of the Alliance allows us to truly live up to that commitment and we could not be more pleased to be a member.
For more information on Sheetz, Inc., visit their website at https://www.sheetz.com/.