Shout and devour

By KYLE ARNOLD World Staff Writer - 11/7/2009


VINITA — Buddy Garland and Mike Flock rarely miss a weekday lunch at Shout & Sack.

"I've been coming here, well, I don't remember how long," said Flock, an auto mechanic, as he spooned a bite of thick, freshly made chili while sitting at the counter with Garland.

The story's the same for hundreds of other people who crowd into the Vinita convenience store for lunch. Every weekday, owner Chris Carter serves about 250 lunches in the town of 6,000, and dozens more meals go out as part of Shout & Sack's catering service.

"The food's the most important part," Carter said. "Without the food, we're the same as everyone else."

Satisfying customers' taste buds has allowed Carter and his wife, Jody, to turn the business into a social hub, despite it being nondescript from the outside and located nowhere near the interstate highway.

Shout & Sack recently gained national attention, at least in industry circles, with a five-page spread in Convenience Store News for the Single Store Owner magazine, which highlighted the store's popularity in a business dominated by chains and franchises.

Carter distanced himself from the corporate fray even further in 2006 by cutting ties with the store's longtime gasoline brand and supplier in favor of an independent brand where he could control prices better and improve profit margins on fuel.

"I haven't lost any business with gasoline since we dropped ConocoPhillips," he said.

Carter, a Navy veteran who served in Vietnam, started Shout & Sack in 1978 after working at another convenience store in town. He said he quickly found that food, initially chicken salad sandwiches, drew people to the business.

Today, with a staff of about 17, the store makes fresh chicken, barbecue, sandwiches and side orders. On Fridays, the line goes out the door for fried catfish, made with a special recipe by Carter, a devout Catholic.

In the back, inside a full kitchen equipped with a grill and smoker, employees prepare food for the catering business, which serves everyone from weddings and birthday parties to business gatherings and political events.

Shout & Sack gets about 40 percent of its sales from in-store food sales and 20 percent from the catering service.

Carter said suppliers and even locals often ask him why he doesn't operate more stores. Shout & Sack did expand for a time, he said, but he closed that location after four years to concentrate on the original store, now at 12,000 square feet, and his family.

Carter also has resisted letting others manage the store, instead working full time with his wife.

"It would be easy for us to just step back and let someone else do all the work," Carter said. "But I'm too hands-on to do that."



Kyle Arnold 581-8380
kyle.arnold@tulsaworld.com


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Tulsa World Reader Comments
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Slatz, Tulsa (11/9/2009 7:53:00 AM)
Mom always ran the register in their sandwich business. It's the only way to operate and be sure everything's legit.

Moses, Jenks (11/7/2009 11:44:14 PM)
Good management decision Mr. Carter. No one will ever take the interest and run your business like you and your family would! I’ll bet, if you would take a poll, you would discover many of your customers come to your business because of the great food, good service and because they like you and your wife a lot!

Dr. Strangelove, Tulsa (11/7/2009 7:04:30 AM)
Great story- sounds like he's going at it the right way. Good job sir.

slideitin2deep, tulsa (11/7/2009 1:43:35 PM)
gimme directions im hungry



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