Couche-Tard's national category buyer for salty snacks had standardized listings around three incumbent suppliers and was not opening the deck to unknown brands without proven regional velocity. The brand had no convenience-channel history; a direct national pitch was a non-starter. But Couche-Tard's Quebec home-market operations. Where regional category managers retain meaningful assortment authority and where the brand's French-language packaging variant gave it shopper relevance. Created an opening that was specifically Quebec-shaped, not national-shaped.

614 Couche-Tard Quebec stores activated within 4 months, weekly sell-through ranking #2 in premium single-serve snack by Week 9, national consideration meeting earned Month 5, and approved expansion to a further 1,287 stores across Couche-Tard's Ontario, Atlantic, and Western footprints in the following quarter.