The ZOOM™ gas station, convenience store and car wash is a unique pit stop for fuel and food that is powered entirely by solar energy and offers customers locally-sourced foods and healthier snack options, plus job opportunities for area residents.
In addition to the typical products sold at most convenience stores, ZOOM also offers fresh produce and local artisan products provided by St. Louis area entrepreneurs and Good Natured Family Farms, an alliance made up of 100 family farms located within a 200-mile radius of Kansas City, MO. Locally-sourced food offerings at ZOOM include a variety of jams, jellies and pickled items from Blackberry Hill Farms in Rich Hill, MO and honey from Hawley Honey Bee Farm in Iola, KS.
ZOOM also sells seasonal items and holiday gift baskets, plus healthy meals-on-the-go such as pizzas, sandwiches, salads and wraps made fresh in ZOOM’s kitchen by Executive Chef Philip Kurrus. Chef Kurrus brings nearly 30 years of foodservice and hospitality experience to ZOOM. He previously served in a variety of positions ranging from Executive Chef to Kitchen Manager at Prime 1000 Steak and Cocktail House, Maggiano’s Little Italy, PF Chang’s China Bistro, Citizen Kane’s Steak House, Cardwell’s Restaurant, Clipper Cruise Lines and The Natural Fact Deli. Chef Kurrus earned his Associates in Culinary Arts degree from the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, VT and interned under Todd English at Michaela’s in Cambridge, MA and Marcel Keraval at Café de France in St. Louis, MO.
Another first for the St. Louis area, ZOOM’s unconventional-looking canopy over its gas pumps supports a state-of-the-art solar panel system capable of producing 109,000 kWh of electricity annually, enough to power the entire gas station, convenience store and car wash.
Manufactured by Prism Solar Technologies, the glass-on-glass solar panels are capable of generating 35% more energy per Watt than traditional modules through its use of advanced bifacial N-type silicon cell technology that can generate electricity on both its front and back surfaces. The panels also offer exceptional performance in low light conditions due to the additional energy produced by its back surface, which allows ZOOM to maximize its solar investment.
ZOOM’s high-tech solar panel system is expected to produce energy equivalent to 216,208 lifetime gallons of gasoline not consumed, 2,014 new trees planted each year, 722 lifetime tons of recycled waste and a lifetime of 438 cars taken off the road.
ZOOM is open Monday through Sunday, 5 a.m. to midnight. Be sure to follow ZOOM on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram for all of our latest news.