How thousands of convenience store workers stay informed, engaged, and connected

From New Jersey to North Carolina, Royal Farms employees are a lifeline for their communities, ensuring they have access to everyday essentials in 285 store locations. Despite their pivotal role, these workers often missed crucial communications — from training opportunities to district-wide announcements — sent by store managers and corporate leadership.

“More than 90% of our 6,200 employees are frontline workers in our stores, without email access during their shifts,” says Brian Roche, Chief People Officer at Royal Farms. “We relied on email to communicate with store managers and office staff, but this channel was ineffective for reaching and engaging our frontline workers.”

With research showing that 18% of frontline workers say poor-cross team communication inhibits productivity, Roche recognized the role that timely, relevant communications could play in engaging frontline employees and helping them provide a better customer experience.

The need for improved frontline communication became urgent as the organization expanded exponentially — growing 10 to 15% annually. It was also crucial that Royal Farms maintained compliance with regulations as it grew — not only at the federal level but also at individual state levels.

“Our rapid growth made it clear that we needed a more efficient way to communicate across all levels of the organization,” adds Roche. “We aren’t a small company anymore. We need programs and systems in place so we can continue to grow — and ensure we remain compliant as we do so.”

Seeking a solution tailored to frontline workers’ communication needs and preferences, Roche and his team evaluated Beekeeper’s mobile-first Frontline Success Platform and were immediately impressed.

“Beekeeper was the only solution specifically designed for our frontline-majority workforce. We compared it to solutions like Microsoft Teams, but those platforms weren’t easily accessible or suitable for deskless workers,” says Roche. “We needed something intuitive and easy to use, with features like chat, streams, and videos — all in one place.”

Initially drawn to Beekeeper for its chat functionality and a recommendation from its IT director, the sales and implementation process revealed unexpected benefits. Most notably, Beekeeper could consolidate and replace many of Royal Farms’ existing systems and processes, leading to cost efficiencies.

During the implementation, Roche focused on frontline workers by assembling a project team that included representatives from all levels of the organization. “Many companies forget about the end user, but we knew having the right team was crucial for success.”

With a strong project team and Beekeeper’s hands-on guidance, the implementation was swift and painless. The three-tiered rollout began with a pilot in three stores, expanded to four districts, and finally extended company-wide. This phased approach, completed in just two months, allowed Royal Farms to learn and adapt at each stage.

With Beekeeper fully implemented, the HR team is monitoring activation levels and ensuring that frontline workers continue to use the platform regularly. The team prioritizes daily content — including polls, surveys, and video updates — to maintain employee engagement.

Royal Farms has already seen a positive impact from Beekeeper in just a few months. “We’re delivering information to our frontline workers that they’ve never had access to before,” explains Roche. As a result, employee engagement has increased.

“We’re already seeing likes and comments within Beekeeper, from frontline workers who are loving feeling informed. It’s been a real ah-ha moment,” adds Roche. This has led to employees feeling more engaged, leading to better performance.

Roche also sees Beekeeper as a tool for boosting retention — a common challenge in the retail sector, where 30% of all frontline workers changed jobs last year. “We want to retain employees and not wonder why they left. The need for better communication often came up in exit interviews, and Beekeeper is helping us address that.”

Looking ahead, Roche also expects Beekeeper to contribute to higher customer satisfaction and revenue. “In retail, our frontline workers are the face of our organization. Happy employees lead to happy customers,” he notes. “By increasing frontline engagement with Beekeeper, we anticipate a downstream effect of better service quality and, ultimately, higher sales.”