Cinda Lavery is retiring from Break Time on December 1 after serving as the Tipton store manager for the past 37 years. Lavery joined the Break Time team when her store was acquired by MFA Petroleum Company on July 31, 1986. She has managed the same convenience store (which was also a Colonial and Crown store) since 1981.
“Cinda has been the local face of Break Time in Tipton since we acquired her store,” says Tom May, senior employee relations and engagement director. “She has consistently had low turnover among her employees, which speaks to how she ran her store and cared for her team.”
Lavery says she always thought of the Tipton Break Time as her store, and she worked to instill that sense of ownership in her employees. As an example of her long tenure in Tipton, Lavery hired three generations of women from the same family.
“One of my former employees is now a grandmother, and I hired both her daughter and granddaughter,” she says.
Lavery has seen many changes during her four decades of C-store experience, including working with several different supervisors. Her store went from having no security cameras to black and white ones, then color, then ones with sound, which she says was a significant improvement.
Other changes included food service options. The Tipton store once included a Taco Bell Express for eight years. Lavery and her team earned a fifth-place national ranking for Taco Bell Express one year. She even traveled to other Break Times to train employees on Taco Bell procedures.
“I can still roll a good-looking Taco Bell burrito,” Lavery jokes. “That’s a skill you never forget.”
Lavery says she feels lucky to have worked in a small-town community where she knew most of her customers. On her last day, she stopped in for coffee with many of her regulars while dropping off her keys.
Break Time Area Manager Mary Thompson has worked with Lavery for nearly 10 years and says her knowledge and experience will be greatly missed.
“From the first time I met her, I could tell Cinda took a lot of pride in her store and her employees’ performance,” Thompson says. “Cinda has received numerous well-earned Break Time awards throughout the years for her store’s successes, and many of her fellow store managers often sought her out for advice.”
Though Lavery won’t miss getting up at 3:30 in the morning for work, she looks back on her career with fond memories.
“I’ve worked in the same store for 43 years,” she says. “In that time, I got married, raised two children, and now I’ve got four grandkids and one great-grandchild. It was a nice little store and things worked out well for me.”
In retirement, Lavery looks forward to spending more time with family, especially her grandchildren.