In Weckstein’ s role as Food and Beverage Brand Director, she oversees all coffee, fountain, and frozen beverage programs; hot food service; grab and go offers; and franchised restaurant brands.
Under Weckstein’s leadership, the “Eat’s Southern Cookin’” and “Eat’s Fresh on the Go” brands were created and implemented in 31 of the company’s locations. Weckstein is committed to continuing the growth of those brands while making the company’s non-traditional deli locations a destination for fresh, quality grab and go food. She is driven to enhance the guest experience and raise the standard for exceptional food service within the convenience store industry.
Weckstein is an accomplished speaker who has represented SWGO at industry conferences to include Winsight Media’s 2022 and 2023 Convenience Retailing University and C-Store Food Service Forum. She has also served as an innovation panelist at Kinetic 12 C-Store Collaborative events. In late 2023, she and SWGO president Glennie Bench will participate in CSP’s inaugural Convenience Store Women’s Event, a year long program designed to increase the number of female leaders in the industry through coaching, training and peer-to-peer sessions.
Weckstein is a graduate of the University Akron and is a certified ServSafe Instructor and registered examination proctor through the National Restaurant Association. She has 26 years of experience in the food service industry, where she has been responsible for creating training and development programs, as well as operational systems for other companies that include Pizza Hut, Applebee’s, Winking Lizard Tavern, Inc., and Parker’s Kitchens. While in her position with SWGO, Michelle was featured in multiple C Store Decisions and CSP Daily News publications, as well as Food and Drink International. In 2020 she was a nominated finalist for Foodservice Category Manager of the year. She is a member of the National Society of Human Resources and continues to hold her SHRM-SPC and Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certifications.
Michelle and her husband Bob reside in Thomasville, GA and have two sons, Anthony and Alex, a grandaughter, Riley and a grandson, Chase.