John Koch is CEO of Rusty Lantern Markets, a 28-location and growing chain of convenience stores and branded fueling stations in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Rusty Lantern Markets is headquartered in Brunswick, Maine.
John earned a Master of Business Administration from St. Mary’s College (Moraga, CA) a few years after completing his undergraduate degree in marketing at the University of Arkansas. He started in the industry right after school. He worked with service station dealers in the retail division of a major oil company and later joined a regional wholesale company that also operated a large network of company-owned convenience stores.
In 2015 John formed Rusty Lantern Markets – a new chain of convenience stores that would cater to growing trends in the industry and deemphasize categories on the decline. Stores needed to be larger and equipped to accommodate expanded and fresh MTO and Grab-n-Go F&B offerings, as well as modern amenities like guest seating and spacious/touchless restrooms. They also needed to support changes in technology and afford enough flexibility to accommodate and quickly take advantage of unforeseen trends over time.
Today, each location is true to the Rusty Lantern Markets brand and ideal—distinctive, spacious, and bright with open floor plans, indoor and outdoor seating. And each, a place where guests can select from always-brewed-fresh craft coffees and specialty drinks, made-on-site fresh food and meals throughout the day, and a wide selection of other snack, packaged food, and beverage products—many of which are produced locally and found in the “Made in Maine” section. Most stores include an expansive choice of craft and local beers inside a cave ‘as cold as Maine winters.’
Taking convenience and guest services a step further, John set his sights on adding online ordering and self-checkout services to each location and rewarding guests with a very generous loyalty program. Fueling facilities are large and easy to navigate and feature Irving’s Top Tier fuels. All these characteristics and an exceptional team of dedicated employees lend themselves to and support his vision for servicing communities in a welcoming, friendly and consistent manner.
John and his wife, Kristi, live in Massachusetts and have two children and a grandchild.