79. Ross Ledbetter & Cheryl Reeder - Reeder’s Auto & Tire – Tulsa’s Original Service Station

Cheryl Reeder:

So, if you were from California, wherever you were at, and you wanted to put in a Texaco gas station, you would come in and you would see what your store was going to look like.

Robert Wagner:

From HoganTaylor CPAs and Advisors, I'm Robert Wagner, and this is How That Happened, a business and innovation success podcast. Each episode of the show, we sit down with the business and community leaders behind thriving organizations to learn how business and innovation success actually happens.

Our guests today are Cheryl and Ross Ledbetter. The Ledbetters are third generation owners of an iconic Tulsa brand, Reeder's Auto and Tire. Reeder's was founded in 1961 as what was then a traditional automobile service station. Today, Reeder's provides Tulsans with a truly unique customer experience. Reeder's is a convenience store but they offer both self-serve and full-serve fueling options. And in-house chef made food options. An auto repair center featuring BMW Master Technicians. And a top of the line car wash. So we're anxious to hear more about all of that. They feature food from locally owned, Tulsa restaurants including a wide variety of pickles for every taste. That caught my eye. And I want to hear more about the pickles as well. So we're anxious to hear more about this iconic brand. So, Cheryl and Ross, thanks for joining us today on How That Happened.

Cheryl Reeder:

Thanks for having us.

Ross Ledbetter:

Thank you.

Robert Wagner:

Appreciate it. Yeah, I appreciate having you guys. So, Cheryl, I tried to provide a little description of what Reeder's is in the intro. But kind of give us a fuller description about Reeder's.

Cheryl Reeder:

So we started in 1961 on 3rd and Utica in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We moved over 1960...

Ross Ledbetter:

November 1st, 1969.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yes.

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Cheryl Reeder:

And one thing that's pretty neat is that Texaco headquarters for marketing was next door. And we were actually the showroom. So if you were from California, wherever you were at and you wanted to put in a Texaco gas station, you would come in and you would see what your store was going to look like. So we were the model.

Robert Wagner:

Oh, wow.

Cheryl Reeder:

I know. It's kind of a neat... Yeah. So we always knew when they were coming over. And so we'd have to face products the correct way and anything that was, if they decided to change what the service bays looked like or anything like that, it was done first at our location. And then if you wanted to work for Texaco in the corporate offices, you actually worked for my dad and my grandpa for a month. That was your training.

Robert Wagner:

At Reeder's. At the store.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yep.

Robert Wagner:

Oh, wow.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yep.

Robert Wagner:

Very cool.

Cheryl Reeder:

So my dad has trained many of presidents of major companies and everything. It's kind of a neat...

Robert Wagner:

Yeah. So how has it evolved to what it is today?

Cheryl Reeder:

We were talking about it today. It's like you have to be changing with the market and you have to be different. What would you say, Ross?

Ross Ledbetter:

Yeah, I think that we just always are keeping an eye out with what's going on. We always talk about, for Reeder's, we operate in a land of giants. I mean, we have a big convenience store chain here in Tulsa, Oklahoma that's very, very popular and very well run. And we have dealerships that are very well run and we have car washes that are very well run. So how do we stand out? And that started back with her father and standing on the station. When we took over with Cheryl's ideas and things, since she'd been in forever was, well, what did we want to be when we grow up kind of a thing. And we started that back... Well, we bought the station at the end of 2007 from her father. And then immediately started thinking about what we were going to do. Of course, at that time we were under contract with Phillips.

There was a change that happened when Texaco couldn't be in this market and we changed over to Phillips. Her father did. We had about five years left on that contract. And once that contract was up, we were looking around now how do we become ourselves? And how do we get our own contracts? And how do we do these things to still be unique in the market? And that's kind of where we started. And that whole idea of the Reeder's began probably about, today's Reeder's, in about 2013.

Robert Wagner:

Okay. So you hit on something. And for people are listeners who are not Tulsans, this is the corporate home of QuikTrip corporation and QuikTrip has just saturated this market. But, yet, Kum & Go has come to the market. Now Casey's has come to the market. I mean, Tulsa is a convenience store town. Is that helpful? I mean, do you learn from them or do you go the opposite direction? How do you think about that?

Ross Ledbetter:

I think we run on the principle that you can be everything to everybody, but you got to be something to somebody. And so we want to find those somebodies out there that want to shop with us and want to be with us and be... Another thing we did last year is we talk about fans and identifying the fans that we have of Reeder's and really focusing on the fan of our brand. And then pulling other fans into our brand from where they may be. So I guess the answer to your question is we don't look the other way and we don't try to be completely different than them, we just swim in our own lane. And that's made us strong, is just swimming in our own lane has created our own brand.

Robert Wagner:

So, Cheryl, you've grown up in the business.

Cheryl Reeder:

I did. Yup.

Ross Ledbetter:

Right.

Robert Wagner:

So tell me about your progression through. Where'd you start in the business?

Cheryl Reeder:

So I started, gosh, 1990? I've always worked at the station. I take my naps at the station floor when my mom and dad... It was my mom and dad. My grandfather was in the business and then, when he retired, my mom got in the business with my dad. So many nights when the books need to be done, things need to be done, my mom would take a pallet and I would lay on a blanket and wait for them to finish up their job. But when we first started out with Texaco in '68... Was it '68 or '69?

Ross Ledbetter:

I think '69.

Cheryl Reeder:

'69. We were actually open 24 hours, seven days a week.

Robert Wagner:

Oh, wow.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah. So there was not a key to the station. So, many nights, my dad pulled all nighters and stuff like that. So once I got in the business in 1990, I graduated in '89 from high school locally around here, and then I got straight in the business and I knew that I needed to go to college, but I knew that I'm social butterfly. And so, instead of going out in places like that, but a lot of college kids do, I went to work and that was my social time. So I that's what I enjoyed doing. So that was my hangout. So I started in 1990. Went to undergrad. Worked myself through college and then went to culinary school after undergrad at Oklahoma State University in Okmulgee. Went through that program and then right after that I met Ross. He was one of my customers. My mom and dad met at their first gas station. When I met Ross he was with Helmerich & Payne International Drilling. He just thought he was here for a short stint and how many years later? 23 years later?

Ross Ledbetter:

23 years later, yup.

Cheryl Reeder:

He's still here.

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Cheryl Reeder:

So, yeah.

Robert Wagner:

Well, Ross, that was one of my questions. I mean, you obviously have married into the family. Did you know that this was part of the gig? Was owning a gas station?

Ross Ledbetter:

No, I don't think so. I think I, kind of again, I was doing my own thing. Extremely happy with what I was doing, loved what I was doing in the oil industry. But with it came a lot of travel and I was gone a lot. We had a daughter at the time and I came home one night and she's like you were gone almost half a year last year. I was like, "And?" I said, "This is what I like doing." But then I realized that I really wanted to watch her grow up and have a family and be here, even if it was giving up something I'd done since I was 18, working in the oil industry. And so it was a new twist, it was a new challenge. And so it was fun. And so that's kind of how it happened. I mean, her dad finally said one day, he goes, "I'm out. You want it?" And we decided, yep, now is the time. So that's what we did.

Cheryl Reeder:

I actually said to him, "You ready to pump gas?"

Ross Ledbetter:

Yeah.

Cheryl Reeder:

That's what I told him and he was like, "Okay."

Robert Wagner:

That was the invitation right?

Ross Ledbetter:

That was pretty much it, yeah.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah.

Robert Wagner:

So was... Do you have other siblings?

Cheryl Reeder:

I had a-

Robert Wagner:

I mean, was there a tug of war between you and other siblings or were you the natural?

Cheryl Reeder:

No, so my brother worked for us until he passed away so.

Robert Wagner:

Oh, okay.

Cheryl Reeder:

I don't even... 2000 and...

Ross Ledbetter:

2003.

Cheryl Reeder:

'03. He passed away. So we were always in the business. I had an uncle that worked for us for, gosh, 40 some odd years. So he retired. So it was just... But I always loved being at the gas station.

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Cheryl Reeder:

I always say I grew up at the corner at 21st and Lewis.

Robert Wagner:

Right. Okay. So what's the division of labor between the two of you?

Ross Ledbetter:

Oh, I would say that the social butterfly over here does the social stuff which is stuff that I'm not good at on the other side. And then I'm more on the business side of it. Running the fuel contracts, running basically all the different pieces of the shop, and keeping up with the daily activities of the accounting, the finance and things that come with the company. That's more of my side. And she's more on the marketing side with our daughter. Wouldn't you say that? That's probably-

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I like to order and I like to... I'm always, it's funny is I can never be in trouble being on social media too much because that's my job. So when I always look and see how many hours I was on social media for the day, I'm like, well that's my job.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah. So let's talk about that. So you have my crack marketing staff here, HoganTaylor, let me know that you have 50,000 followers, at least, well, the station does, on TikTok, right?

Cheryl Reeder:

Mm-hmm, yup. Yup.

Robert Wagner:

So I mean, how does that happen? That's amazing.

Cheryl Reeder:

So we started TikTok back in the pandemic. And we would go live because people were just sitting at home bored. And we went live and they would watch me eat whatever the chef made for the day. And I purposely was always in the shop. And so you'd hear the shop noises because a lot of places, their shops shut down but we didn't. And so I would eat in the shop and, in the background, you could see the guys working on the cars. So it wasn't... The ploy was to get you in for the food and the toys and candies we would show. And it also reminded you, yes, we have an auto repair shop. So there was a lot of little things, but I always made sure I was in the shop and we still film in the shop a lot of times on our TikToks and our Instagram reels and stuff like that. But that's what we did. We did whatever we could to survive that during the pandemic. And that's how we started TikTok.

Robert Wagner:

Well you had some leg up because you have full-service fueling, right?

Cheryl Reeder:

Mm-hmm, yup.

Robert Wagner:

So I guess you could lean on that a little bit during that time.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah but nobody was driving. So we had to... But everybody else's shops were closed and so we were able to grab some of that customers that needed service work. And, still today, the service, some of the services are months out to get your car in for service at some places.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah. Yeah. So what does the service part of the business look like? The car service? What all can I get done?

Ross Ledbetter:

You can get about anything done. I mean, we don't overhaul engines in that shop anymore. We don't overhaul transmissions. But everything else we can do. All the suspension work, all the electrical work, most of the top end work we can do and stuff in there. Our techs, we have one Master BMW Tech and they're a second level BMW tech but they work on every car that's out there. We have the latest technology. We call it a sleepy shop because you walk in, you're like that's dealership-quality level equipment you have in there. And that's because we care about the mechanics. Excuse me, our technicians.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah, that's new words you have to use.

Ross Ledbetter:

And so we care about these guys and how they perform their work. So we have all the latest equipment. So that puts us a leg up. We can work on the high end cars.

Robert Wagner:

Right, right. I mean you went exactly one place I wanted to go, which was about the technicians. And I know that's the term now because it's like every job. It's like jobs here at HoganTaylor, I mean, there's technical jobs. You have to... There're computerized things and to do the diagnostics you have to understand that. I think you've just answered this by having great equipment and supporting them. But is that how you've attracted really high quality talent? Because that's really hard in today's world.

Ross Ledbetter:

I think being honest is what attracted talent. And people are always looking for honesty in places they can trust. With any job that people work with, either it's a technician or a chef or somebody that's out in the market looking, they want to go to a place that they like and a place that likes you. And you feel comfortable and safe. And can you raise a family and can you have income that allows you to be successful in what you do? And so we've really made an effort in the last three or four years, as a small company, to do those things like bringing benefits on board for our employees. I mean from one store in Tulsa, 21st and Lewis, being able to provide health insurance, dental insurance, short term disability, vision. I mean those are the kind of things that people need to have a family.

Robert Wagner:

Right.

Ross Ledbetter:

And so we realized not only do we want to be a family, but want our employees to be a family. So that attracted people that were looking for that as well. Good people find good people. And so we were really in the market trying to find good people and it just kind of so happened that we found them and we continue to look for more.

Robert Wagner:

So just so our listeners understand, how many bays are there for service?

Ross Ledbetter:

So there's two there and then a half bay where all the equipment is. But they do enough work there we're like a five bay shop because we use a lot of back in the oil field techniques, but manufacturing techniques to get cars in and out. To make sure that we're turning those cars in a fast and efficient manner. But, basically, we're pretty full for the day by 9:30 or 10:00 usually every day. We have the day planned out and-

Robert Wagner:

Yeah, I was going to say, is it like sort of appointment only at this point? Or not really?

Ross Ledbetter:

No, it's not. It's actually walk-in still. They take some appointments for some bigger jobs, if they can get it. Again, you're kind of dealing in a market where parts are somewhat slim in the bigger jobs. When you have to get them and you to plan those out. But, most part, people come in every day and drop them off. And it's the kind of place where people walk in and hand them the keys and talk to him. And we like to say that there's not many places like Reeder's, where you can get belly to belly with your technician.

Robert Wagner:

Right.

Ross Ledbetter:

Where he's going to come out and talk to you about your car.

Robert Wagner:

Right.

Ross Ledbetter:

He's going to tell you what he saw, what he did. If you go to a dealership, they don't do that. You're going to talk to the service advisor. You're not going to know who worked on your car.

Robert Wagner:

Right.

Ross Ledbetter:

So it gives people comfort knowing that they're going to call down, they're going to get Nick or Chris or one of those guys that, or Grayson. I mean, they're going to talk to the people that work with him.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah. Yeah. Pivot just a little bit. Is Reeder's part of Route 66 lore? I mean do people... I know you're not on Route 66 but do people... You're shaking your head no so I assume not so.

Cheryl Reeder:

No. I don't know. I mean, we always want to be a destination.

Robert Wagner:

Right.

Cheryl Reeder:

And it shows this past two weeks having a couple go viral that people are coming to Tulsa. And when they come to Tulsa it's purpose is to do this and this and this, but then they're going to stop at Reeder's before they go home.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah. That's what I really meant was people-

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, so we wanted to be... Can't even talk. My main goal was to create a destination for Tulsa.

Robert Wagner:

Mm-hmm. So give people like a visual tour, I guess, of what they're going to experience when they come into Reeder's.

Cheryl Reeder:

Wow, gosh. It's really pretty.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah, it is very pretty. It's beautiful, actually.

Cheryl Reeder:

So James Boswell, our architect, he designs lots of restaurants, both here in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. And so we interviewed quite a few people for that job and he just got us. So it's more of a modern contemporary look, but then with lots of nostalgia. And we bring back that, with our full-service side and our self-service side, but we've got the old gas station pump. We've got pictures of the old gas station, our original store. We have some memorabilia in the store. But then it's just got a, I wanted it retro, but retro modern. So lots of, as you've been in, you've seen that the lights. So I'm all about lights. I'm big time on lights. And then we just have a lot of different unique options to offer them like the tea tap wall and stuff like that that Ross invented. That's what I told him I wanted. I didn't want to see the tea urns. That was a big thing for me. So we had tea on tap. Just like you have beer on tap. We have tea on tap.

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Ross Ledbetter:

It's actually a beer pumping station that pumps tea instead of beer.

Robert Wagner:

Okay, awesome. Awesome. So there's a sign. This part of the signage in the building says Fresh to Convenience. So tell us about that.

Cheryl Reeder:

So Ross and I knew that we needed to trademark that so, actually, that's trademarked to Reeder's.

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Cheryl Reeder:

Just like a lot of things that you don't realize. What else is trademarked on that?

Ross Ledbetter:

Well, the sign, it kind of started with the main sign on the corner, that sign, which started with a, kind of like Southwest, on a napkin, started on a piece of paper.

Cheryl Reeder:

It really did.

Ross Ledbetter:

Full-service room. Drawing that sign and that sign that's outside the R with the arrow. And the other thing-

Cheryl Reeder:

Was the old gas station pump.

Ross Ledbetter:

Was an old gas station. Kind of that deal and that sign transitioned inside. And then the Fresh to Convenience came from, not everybody wanted a roller grill and not everybody wanted to go to McDonald's on their way and not everybody wanted fast food. Excuse me. And so going through that deal and we were going to all these trade shows trying to figure out what was unique and what we needed to do. We realized that there was a whole market out there, who we call fans, right? Of fans out there that wanted something fresh quality. And sometimes they wanted it from a local vendor, but they didn't have time to go across town. So we came up with the term Fresh to Convenience. And so a lot of people being like, no one's going to get that. Well, most people get it now because it's like, Hey, I want something fresh, but I don't want to go to a restaurant and wait on it.

Robert Wagner:

Right.

Ross Ledbetter:

Or I don't want to wait in a line telling them what I want down the row. I want you add chickpeas, I want you to add this. No, they didn't want that. They wanted to come in, something fresh, and go out the door. So that's where Fresh to Convenience started. And it kind of got put over the entrance as you walk in, as you go into the store.

Robert Wagner:

Right. And so at least some of this food is local restaurants you just have agreements with. They supply you in a daily or whatever the arrangement is, right? Because I saw there's the old joke about gas station sushi, but you guys have sushi from Tulsa's high end sushi store, right?

Cheryl Reeder:

Yup. It's one of... James Boswell introduced us to the guy that owns it and he was all-

Ross Ledbetter:

To Greg.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah, Greg. And Greg was all on board on gas station sushi. So we have that on. It's called Wasabi Wednesday. We offer that on Wednesday.

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Cheryl Reeder:

Antoinette's was the big player first off the bat.

Ross Ledbetter:

Yeah, I think, going back to 2017, 2018, and we started going around and Cheryl did, talking to all the different vendors like, hey, we have this idea, this vision. It's like-

Cheryl Reeder:

We actually went door to door.

Ross Ledbetter:

Yeah, door to door, knocking on them and saying, "Hey, we like your product. Can you envision that with us? Not everybody can come to your location, but we're right in Midtown, can we sell some of your stuff?" And then we had to go through the whole City of Tulsa health and to make sure all these things could leave their kitchen and things. And they all did. And so just slowly started building up clientele on that. And we call them partners, building partners, like Antoinette's, Cookie Mama, In the Raw, and there's a list of them.

Cheryl Reeder:

We have about, we're up to, I think 40.

Ross Ledbetter:

Yeah.

Robert Wagner:

Oh, wow.

Ross Ledbetter:

It's a list.

Robert Wagner:

Nice.

Ross Ledbetter:

So yeah, that's kind of how it happened. And they came on board. And that's how the original Fresh to Convenience was. There wasn't a chef in the back at that time.

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Ross Ledbetter:

It was all these different vendors coming in and it slowly evolved where we couldn't keep up with that. We needed to bring something in-house. And then we built that full kitchen in the back.

Robert Wagner:

Nice.

Cheryl Reeder:

And the funny story on Chef Kristi working for us. I watched her food on Instagram.

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Cheryl Reeder:

All the pictures. And so, one day I told the manager at the time, I said, "Hey, can you message this lady and see if she'd like to come in for an interview." And he's like, "Okay." And she came in and, you know, when people get you, they get you. And she exactly, she researched and came up with what she would want to prepare for the station. And she just, as I told her yesterday, I'm like, "You just got us. You just knew exactly what we wanted and what we needed." And so she runs the kitchen part of it. Does a great job.

Ross Ledbetter:

Yeah.

Cheryl Reeder:

There's some really good feed. If you haven't had the oatmeal, that's my favorite.

Robert Wagner:

Okay. Okay.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah. So what else?

Ross Ledbetter:

I think that's it. That Fresh to Convenience, it just grew from that, that deal. And now you're seeing more and more. I mean it allowed those companies to partner with other companies to get their products out because brick and mortar stores are really hard and especially for a small vendor that has a great product, they just can't go out and rent a space in Jenks. They can't rent one in Owasso. But they've got their own space and they can push stuff out. And so it really worked well for us. It worked well for them. So it was a good partnership.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah.

Ross Ledbetter:

It still is.

Robert Wagner:

That's very cool.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah.

Robert Wagner:

So you mentioned trade shows a minute ago. So are there other locations like Reeder's across the country? Sort of single stores, iconic brands in their local markets? Are there or are you totally unique in that sense?

Ross Ledbetter:

I would say we're probably not totally unique. I think there's probably some in lots of markets that we don't know that they're the local corner store that people go to either for... They may be known for donuts or they may be known for something else. But what we wanted when we went to these big trade shows, we went to NACS, which is the largest trade show basically in the world. And a couple times took James with us.

Cheryl Reeder:

And NACS is National Association of Convenience Stores.

Ross Ledbetter:

Yeah.

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Ross Ledbetter:

And we did that stuff and really learned from what we were seeing, because it's kind of like... How do you say it. So we knew like the Wawas, we knew the Sheetz. We knew the bigger stores across the country, the QuikTrips, the Kum & Gos. And as we're walking around, I'd see their badges and I'm like, and I'd watch, and I'd say, "Where are they going?" So I'm watching where their reps are going. So we're following them a little bit saying, "Okay, what are they doing?" And then what we learned was where the market's going. So instead of reading it in magazines, kind of like this is research, bootstrap research, right? Instead of reading it in a magazine months down the road, we were kind of living it in real time, just walking around, seeing where they were going, knowing what we wanted to do in the coffee market and knowing what we wanted to do in some other markets. And so kind of watching them and figuring out that stuff allowed us to say, "Okay, we're kind of our own research team here. But we're going to follow them a little bit and see what's going on."

Robert Wagner:

Gotcha. Gotcha. So will there ever be a second Reeder's?

Ross Ledbetter:

Possibly. We talk about it a lot.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah.

Ross Ledbetter:

I mean we talk about two, maybe another one. So in the convenience store industry, you're putting on your finance hat and things like that and the barriers to entry and it's really high. I mean the sheer capital investment to put another store in. So I think that's a barrier for a small company sometimes. But there may be some versions of it. There may not be everything that we have in one corner on the same spot, but there may be versions of it indifferent ways. There might be mini Reeder's or the different things that we bring to market.

Robert Wagner:

Okay. Okay. Very good. Very good. And so, last question, before we get to our final set of questions. So your daughter helps you with the social media.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yep.

Robert Wagner:

Is she going to be the heir apparent you think or?

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah. So it's funny we... Applying for scholarships when she was at Oklahoma State University, she applied for the National Convenience Store Association scholarship and she got it. So she-

Robert Wagner:

Oh, wow.

Cheryl Reeder:

Had always heard about us going to NACS but she never got to go because it was during school year. And so she actually won it one year. She was nationwide scholarship in top 10, she was top 10. So she got a pretty good scholarship from them. And she got to go to NACS. She enjoyed it. This will be her second time this year. We're going to go... Third time? No second time.

Ross Ledbetter:

Just her second time.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah.

Ross Ledbetter:

Yeah.

Cheryl Reeder:

Second time in Vegas. So she's excited to go to that. But yeah, so she does, she... The funny story on the social media thing is she... There's people called influencers. And so you get to go to these influencer parties. And I always say I was the oldest influencer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. So I would go and I would support other... It was other women, businesses, or small businesses. And so we would go to their little parties and stuff like that. And all they want you to do is post that you've been there on your story and your page and all that kind of stuff. So we'd made a TikTok at one of these places and I was driving and I said, "Hey, Mary, can you post that to my TikTok?" And she's like, "Oh, I don't know how to do TikTok." I'm like, "You don't know how to do a TikTok video?" She's like, "No. I can watch it but I don't know how to do it."

Cheryl Reeder:

And I looked over at her and I said, "If you're going to run my social media, you better learn how to do it. And you do it on your own TikTok." And she was like, but she's kind of a quiet, shy, she's more of a brainiac, like my husband is. And so she was stepping out her comfort zone on that and she started her own TikTok. And just hers has now blown up. And so now she goes and does the influencing, all that kind of stuff. But she's taken that part over and she's done a phenomenal job. Don't you think?

Ross Ledbetter:

Yeah. She's done a great job.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah.

Ross Ledbetter:

I think... I've been amazed at how many people have come in from social media. We went through a large thing last year where we talked about identifying fans and we identified that we had had a breakfast fan, we had a lunch fan, and then we had an afternoon dinner fan kind of combo thing like that. But we really realized that we now have a social fan.

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Ross Ledbetter:

Which is a completely different... They're not in the store. They feel like they're a part of it, they feel like they're part of the store even though they haven't been there because they're a social fan and it's been a great thing. Now we're starting to see those social fans come into the store.

Robert Wagner:

Wow. Very cool.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah.

Robert Wagner:

Very cool.

Cheryl Reeder:

We're proud of her. She is doing a great job and just like this past weekend we had 25, 30 people in there most of the day. It was crazy.

Robert Wagner:

Interesting. Wow.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah. Yeah.

Robert Wagner:

Truly a destination.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yes. That's what we wanted to be.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah. All right. Well thank you so much for being a part of our podcast. Now we do have five questions that we ask all our guests. Okay? So I'll let you each answer these questions. So what was the first way you made money? Cheryl, we'll start with you.

Cheryl Reeder:

Selling braided barrettes at my dad's gas station. I was about eight years old.

Robert Wagner:

Okay. So you had the entrepreneur spirit right there.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yes. Yep.

Robert Wagner:

All right. Ross?

Ross Ledbetter:

I was mowing lawns.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah.

Ross Ledbetter:

You know, like every guy, right?

Robert Wagner:

Yeah.

Ross Ledbetter:

In Edmond, Oklahoma.

Robert Wagner:

Okay. All right. All right, second question. So if you were not running Reeder's, what do you think you would be doing?

Cheryl Reeder:

I think I'd be a stay at home mom.

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Ross Ledbetter:

And I'd probably still be in the oil industry.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah. Okay. All right. So, Cheryl, what would you tell your 20 year old self? Your 20 year old self was at Oklahoma State studying culinary?

Cheryl Reeder:

No, no, no. I was at home. I worked myself through college at the gas station, so I would probably... I wouldn't change anything about myself, but I would just say I'd probably study the finance side, do a little bit more finance classes than... I did marketing. I love the marketing side but not the finance side of it.

Robert Wagner:

Right. Okay.

Cheryl Reeder:

I can't wait to hear Ross's answer.

Ross Ledbetter:

I know. I mean, 20 years old at Baylor University in a fraternity, let's see. I think I probably would've said that... I took five years to go to school down there. And at the time I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, this is way too long," and things like that. But I think if I told my 20 year self it's like, stay as long as you can because there's only a certain amount of time you have that group of people together in your life.

Robert Wagner:

Right.

Ross Ledbetter:

And they're influential in your life and your friends. And so really enjoy that time that you're with them. Because once that breaks up and you get out of school, it's harder to get them back.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah.

Ross Ledbetter:

So I would tell myself to enjoy it a little bit more, not be in such a hurry.

Robert Wagner:

There you go.

Cheryl Reeder:

Well, you know, if you had asked him about if he was age 28, he always will say, I always say, "I met my husband on pump number one," and he always says, "I should have went to a different pump." Some people think it's funny and some people are like, "Oh my gosh." But yeah, we think it-

Ross Ledbetter:

Get a sense of humor. Come on.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yeah. Yeah.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah. Okay.

Cheryl Reeder:

Especially when you have to work with each other 24/7.

Robert Wagner:

All right. So what will the title of your book be?

Cheryl Reeder:

Well, I'm known as the gas station lady, so it's probably The Gas Station Lady.

Robert Wagner:

Okay. All right.

Ross Ledbetter:

Mine's going to be, a little different. I think I said everything I've ever learned about running a company, I learned on a softball field because I coached my daughter's softball team. Something that's completely different. But yeah. I mean that's...

Cheryl Reeder:

Or how about Ross The Boss?

Ross Ledbetter:

Yeah, Ross The Boss.

Cheryl Reeder:

We call him Ross the boss.

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Ross Ledbetter:

But yeah, it would be something completely different. Everything I learned is not something that you know.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah. Okay. All right, last question. So what's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

Cheryl Reeder:

I'm going to say it's from my husband. You can't be everything to everybody, but you could be something to somebody.

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Cheryl Reeder:

We want to be something to you.

Robert Wagner:

Okay. Good.

Ross Ledbetter:

For me, gosh. Never study on Fridays?

Robert Wagner:

Okay.

Ross Ledbetter:

And I think it was meant to be one of those deals that's like sometimes you got to relax a little bit and I don't do a really good job at it.

Cheryl Reeder:

No.

Ross Ledbetter:

You know, working all the time. And I got to remind myself. But I think the best advice I ever had was give yourself time to let your hair down a little bit.

Robert Wagner:

Yeah.

Ross Ledbetter:

So never study on Fridays.

Robert Wagner:

Okay. That's good. We've never had that. That's very good.

Cheryl Reeder:

Well, he just, didn't you just say... We just had that conversation about that. What was that about? This morning wasn't it?

Ross Ledbetter:

So yeah. So Mary's been asked by some... Mary, unique that she never made a B in her whole life and her study habits are great and-

Cheryl Reeder:

She did college in three years.

Ross Ledbetter:

Yeah. And so some of her friends had said, "Hey, will you meet with some boys that are boys and rambunctious?" So she was going down her list of things. And that was one of the things.

Cheryl Reeder:

Well, meeting boys, not meeting... Like, like-

Ross Ledbetter:

Well, meeting the guys to help... Meeting young high school boys to teach them study habits.

Robert Wagner:

Right. Yeah.

Ross Ledbetter:

Is what she's doing. And one of those on there was, hey, do you remember that from me because it was like, I'd passed it on, is never study on Fridays. And so she was trying to tell them, hey it's okay.

Robert Wagner:

Very good.

Ross Ledbetter:

We have a son, Reeder, that works at the station as well. And you're trying to instill those things. And the difference between the two of them is very unique. And our goal with him this year, he worked at the station as well, and it was, hey, you know, get up in the morning, make your bed, come to work. Or go work out at school, come to work. You're going to learn to get up on time and you're going to learn these pieces, right? And then I had a deal with him as well. It was like, "Hey, you're going to make tips on there. And for every tip that you get, I'm going to double it. I'm going to match it." And the intent was I really want you to learn to speak to people because when you speak to people and they like your service, they'll pay you in recognition. Don't accept it if it's just because they feel pity on you. Make sure it's something different. So it started out a dollar. I matched dollar. $2, $2. $5, $5. Then started getting up, getting up, and getting up. And I finally said, "Hey, I'm done matching. You're doing really well." But those goals for him were just the same way. Start small, get big.

Robert Wagner:

Right.

Ross Ledbetter:

And we've enjoyed having them both there.

Robert Wagner:

That's awesome. That's awesome. All right. So you have a great presence on social media. So tell people how they can find you on TikTok and other places.

Cheryl Reeder:

TikTok, Instagram, and Instagram Reels and Facebook is Reeders_Tulsa.

Robert Wagner:

Okay. So @Reeders_Tulsa.

Cheryl Reeder:

Yep.

Robert Wagner:

All right. All right, well we certainly would invite everyone who's listening to go visit the store. It's at 21st and Lewis, right? And it's, again an iconic Tulsa brand. So thank you for joining us today. Appreciate you guys.

Cheryl Reeder:

Thank you for having us.

Robert Wagner:

That's all for this episode of How That Happened. Thank you for listening. Be sure to visit howthathappened.com for show notes and additional episodes. You can also subscribe to our show on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcast, or Stitcher. Thanks again for listening. This content is for information purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Copyright 2022 HoganTaylor LLP. All rights reserved. To view the HoganTaylor general terms and conditions visit hogantaylor.com.