Family Express Corporation
Family Express Corporation Headquarters Location
Valparaiso, IN
About Family Express Corporation
Our Story
Family Express is recognized in the market place by our passion for customer service. We have built our brand on the art of building relationships with our customers by utilizing our “living brand”. The living brand is our uniquely friendly employees. In addition, our upscale colonial architecture and enhanced landscaping plans welcome visitors from across Northwest Indiana. We pride ourselves on using cutting edge technology throughout our operation to ensure the best environment for our customers and associates.
Consumer innovations like our F.E. Perks loyalty program which offers the ability to earn instant cents-off-per-gallon savings at the pump for purchases inside the store, keep us on the leading edge.
F.E. Perks members also have the benefit of downloading the Family Express mobile application to their smart phone (Android, Blackberry and iPhone). The application provides the customer a Family Express store locater, promotion alerts, individual store fuel pricing, a game complete with prizes that are redeemable in the store and the ability to link an F.E. Perks card directly to the device and check the balance and to use at the register instead of a traditional plastic card at all locations.
We also believe strongly in our responsibility to the environment. All of our underground storage tanks are electronically controlled and monitored in order to assure fuel quality and environmental safety. In 2013, we began a million dollar upgrade of every light bulb in every store and office to more energy efficient LED lights.
All Family Express stores are equipped with an electronic cash management system, which eliminates the necessity for anyone in the store having to count cash beyond putting it in the cash register. The store deposit is electronically tabulated so that even the deposit slip is produced by the system. In order to enhance employee and customer safety, all of the stores can be visually monitored via the Internet.
We operate stores throughout Northwest and North Central Indiana. Our unique logistics model consolidates 30 traditional DSD weekly deliveries into a single daily delivery thereby achieving transportation efficiencies and unsurpassed freshness for perishables. We are known for high-performance fuels and our proprietary brands, including JAVA WAVE gourmet coffees, the JW European Cafe, Squeeze Freeze frozen carbonated drinks, private label natural spring water, milk products, and ice. The Cravin’s Market brand includes a line of fresh sandwiches and bakery products such as our square donuts that are prepared and delivered daily from our central distribution facility.
Our Vision
To be the finest small chain of convenience stores and fueling centers in the world.
Our Mission
We provide our customers with total satisfaction by offering competitively priced, high-quality products and services, in a clean, safe, and friendly environment. We serve our community through volunteerism and we are profitable in order to assure the future prosperity of our employees and our company.
A Career at Family ExpressFamily Express is recognized in the market place by our passion for customer service. We have built our brand on the art of building relationships with our customers by utilizing our “living brand”. The living brand is our uniquely friendly employees. In addition, our upscale colonial architecture and enhanced landscaping plans welcome visitors from across Northwest Indiana. We pride ourselves on using cutting edge technology throughout our operation to ensure the best environment for our customers and associates.
Consumer innovations like our F.E. Perks loyalty program which offers the ability to earn instant cents-off-per-gallon savings at the pump for purchases inside the store, keep us on the leading edge.
F.E. Perks members also have the benefit of downloading the Family Express mobile application to their smart phone (Android, Blackberry and iPhone). The application provides the customer a Family Express store locater, promotion alerts, individual store fuel pricing, a game complete with prizes that are redeemable in the store and the ability to link an F.E. Perks card directly to the device and check the balance and to use at the register instead of a traditional plastic card at all locations.
We also believe strongly in our responsibility to the environment. All of our underground storage tanks are electronically controlled and monitored in order to assure fuel quality and environmental safety. In 2013, we began a million dollar upgrade of every light bulb in every store and office to more energy efficient LED lights.
All Family Express stores are equipped with an electronic cash management system, which eliminates the necessity for anyone in the store having to count cash beyond putting it in the cash register. The store deposit is electronically tabulated so that even the deposit slip is produced by the system. In order to enhance employee and customer safety, all of the stores can be visually monitored via the Internet.
We operate stores throughout Northwest and North Central Indiana. Our unique logistics model consolidates 30 traditional DSD weekly deliveries into a single daily delivery thereby achieving transportation efficiencies and unsurpassed freshness for perishables. We are known for high-performance fuels and our proprietary brands, including JAVA WAVE gourmet coffees, the JW European Cafe, Squeeze Freeze frozen carbonated drinks, private label natural spring water, milk products, and ice. The Cravin’s Market brand includes a line of fresh sandwiches and bakery products such as our square donuts that are prepared and delivered daily from our central distribution facility.
Our Vision
To be the finest small chain of convenience stores and fueling centers in the world.
Our Mission
We provide our customers with total satisfaction by offering competitively priced, high-quality products and services, in a clean, safe, and friendly environment. We serve our community through volunteerism and we are profitable in order to assure the future prosperity of our employees and our company.
In 2015, Family Express achieved a milestone on our quest to be the finest small chain of convenience stores in the world by receiving the Convenience Store Chain of the Year Award! This prestigious award is a testimony to all of the hard work that each and every one of our associates puts in every day.
Are you ready to join a team that is reaching new heights every day?
Are you a caring, energetic individual who enjoys building relationships? If so, you may qualify to become a member of our team also known as our “living brand”. A career at Family Express isn’t just about running a register, it’s about making emotional connections with our customers.
Our employees are the foundation of our success; they work hard, have fun, and genuinely love providing exceptional customer service through building relationships.
We provide training so you can succeed.
We believe that training leads to success which is why we invested in a state of the art Learning Center. Not only are new employees trained with the most advanced technology, we also created approximately 50 individual computer based training modules to enhance the learning experience. Our investment in training includes a full scale store built inside our Corporate Office which is equipped with all the same bells and whistles of a functioning store. Our new associates spend time learning how to run the register, use the lottery machine, clean a restroom and many other things without the pressure of waiting on real customers.
Employee SafetyAre you ready to join a team that is reaching new heights every day?
Are you a caring, energetic individual who enjoys building relationships? If so, you may qualify to become a member of our team also known as our “living brand”. A career at Family Express isn’t just about running a register, it’s about making emotional connections with our customers.
Our employees are the foundation of our success; they work hard, have fun, and genuinely love providing exceptional customer service through building relationships.
We provide training so you can succeed.
We believe that training leads to success which is why we invested in a state of the art Learning Center. Not only are new employees trained with the most advanced technology, we also created approximately 50 individual computer based training modules to enhance the learning experience. Our investment in training includes a full scale store built inside our Corporate Office which is equipped with all the same bells and whistles of a functioning store. Our new associates spend time learning how to run the register, use the lottery machine, clean a restroom and many other things without the pressure of waiting on real customers.
We care! ❤️ Our team member's and customer's safety has been and remains our top priority. We now have implemented in all stores a number of safety measures providing you with a touch free, safe visit. Further details on what we are doing:
➡️ Tissue dispensers have been placed on all fuel pumps, pin pads, cooler doors, beverage dispensers, and other touch points. This allows you to eliminate the need to touch things with your bare hands.
➡️ Hand sanitizer stands have been placed inside and outside each store.
➡️ Plexiglass Shields have been installed at registers to separate you and our team members during checkout.
➡️ Our team wipes down and sanitizes pumps, handles, pin pads, and more every two hours throughout the day.
We are here to serve you and look forward to your visit.
Family Express more than tripling size of its Valpo distribution center➡️ Tissue dispensers have been placed on all fuel pumps, pin pads, cooler doors, beverage dispensers, and other touch points. This allows you to eliminate the need to touch things with your bare hands.
➡️ Hand sanitizer stands have been placed inside and outside each store.
➡️ Plexiglass Shields have been installed at registers to separate you and our team members during checkout.
➡️ Our team wipes down and sanitizes pumps, handles, pin pads, and more every two hours throughout the day.
We are here to serve you and look forward to your visit.
Family Express, the Valparaiso-based chain of convenience stores known for square donuts and fresh foods like bacon and milk, is nearing completion of a multimillion-dollar expansion of its bakery distribution center.
Family Express founder and CEO Gus Olympidis said the construction project would more than triple the size of the retailer's main bakery warehouse at its headquarters in Valparaiso. The company is adding another 25,000 square feet to the 10,000-square-foot facility, which ships its baked goods daily to its 75 convenience stores across the state of Indiana.
"It's designed to be state-of-the-art in every element with safety being the strategic objective," Olympidis said. "It will be substantially bigger in size as the bakery grows."
The gas station and convenience store company, which Olympidis founded on Christmas Day in 1975, invested $1.5 million in an expansion of its bakery in 2015 when it added 10 more workers and tripled its production capacity from 17,000 baked goods a day to 50,000 a day.
Since then, Family Express has added 12 more retail stores across the state and continues to grow.
Family Express's warehouse in Valparaiso stores donuts, muffins, cookies and other baked goods before trucks ship them to Family Express locations across the state.
"We had outgrown the facility, of course," Olympidis said. "The distribution center was well exceeding its limits in terms of capacity. We've tripled the logistical capacity. It went from four loading docks for trucks to 12 and that is significant."
Family Express is in the final stages of getting municipal approval to build new stores in Brookston, Carmel and Westfield in downstate Indiana, Olympidis said.
Construction workers have been working on the warehouse expansion project for about a year, and it's now a few weeks away from being wrapped up. The expansion will allow production at the bakery to grow and could result in more jobs over time.
"It allows our company to prepare for the future," Olympidis said. "We've been having a hard time keeping up with the demands of the current day, but this will allow us to look forward to the next page."
Article by Joseph S. Pete – Mar 4, 2020 – NWI Times
Family Express founder and CEO Gus Olympidis said the construction project would more than triple the size of the retailer's main bakery warehouse at its headquarters in Valparaiso. The company is adding another 25,000 square feet to the 10,000-square-foot facility, which ships its baked goods daily to its 75 convenience stores across the state of Indiana.
"It's designed to be state-of-the-art in every element with safety being the strategic objective," Olympidis said. "It will be substantially bigger in size as the bakery grows."
The gas station and convenience store company, which Olympidis founded on Christmas Day in 1975, invested $1.5 million in an expansion of its bakery in 2015 when it added 10 more workers and tripled its production capacity from 17,000 baked goods a day to 50,000 a day.
Since then, Family Express has added 12 more retail stores across the state and continues to grow.
Family Express's warehouse in Valparaiso stores donuts, muffins, cookies and other baked goods before trucks ship them to Family Express locations across the state.
"We had outgrown the facility, of course," Olympidis said. "The distribution center was well exceeding its limits in terms of capacity. We've tripled the logistical capacity. It went from four loading docks for trucks to 12 and that is significant."
Family Express is in the final stages of getting municipal approval to build new stores in Brookston, Carmel and Westfield in downstate Indiana, Olympidis said.
Construction workers have been working on the warehouse expansion project for about a year, and it's now a few weeks away from being wrapped up. The expansion will allow production at the bakery to grow and could result in more jobs over time.
"It allows our company to prepare for the future," Olympidis said. "We've been having a hard time keeping up with the demands of the current day, but this will allow us to look forward to the next page."
Article by Joseph S. Pete – Mar 4, 2020 – NWI Times
Number of Employees in Family Express Corporation
201 to 500
Family Express Corporation Revenue
$100M to $500M (USD)
Industry