DALLAS – 7-Eleven Inc. announced the winners yesterday in its Operation: Take Command, a contest to award a U.S. military veteran a 7-Eleven® store. In a surprise twist from the original competition, all three finalists were selected as winners and will all become business-owners of their own 7-Eleven franchise.
The winners are: Active Duty U.S. Army Captain Robert Kemna of Miami (currently stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C.); Army veteran Salil Gautam of Chesapeake, Va.; and U.S. Navy veteran Mark Anthony Page of Granbury, Texas. Each of the winners will receive a waiver of the franchise fee, valued at up to $190,000, to franchise any of the company’s 7-Eleven convenience stores available in the continental United States. According to 7-Eleven, Gautam, Kemna and Page are looking for stores near their homes – in Chesapeake, South Florida and North Texas, respectively.
As the last step in the almost six-month-long contest, the three finalists interviewed with 7-Eleven President and CEO Joe DePinto, an Army veteran himself, last week at the company’s home office in Dallas. So impressed was he by the caliber of the three Operation: Take Command finalists that DePinto made an on-the-spot executive decision to honor three veterans instead of just one.
“How can you pick just one winner when you have three?” DePinto asked. “I was extremely impressed by each one of them – for overcoming adversity, serving their country selflessly, having a heart for service and demonstrating outstanding leadership qualities. These are the kind of folks we want in the 7-Eleven system. They are all too deserving not to win. 7-Eleven is a franchise-centric company focused on how we can best support our franchisees,” DePinto added.
More than 1,700 veterans and soon-to-be vets from all branches of military service applied for the competition that ran from Veterans Day last November through January 25. Some 300 were qualified and from those, 10 were selected for the video competition whereby the public could vote for their favorite, resulting in the three finalists chosen.
“Some of the veterans who entered but didn’t win were so enthusiastic about starting their own 7-Eleven business that they already are going through the franchising process to select and acquire a store,” said Greg Franks 7-Eleven franchise system vice president.