CHICAGO -- With Super Bowl 51 around the corner, convenience stores offering the best takeout food and beverage options are positioned to capture game-day sales.
American consumers will spend an average of $75 for a total of $14.1 billion as an estimated 188.5 million watch the Atlanta Falcons face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI on February 5, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual Super Bowl Spending Survey.
According to Technomic’s2016 Catering Insights Program Quantitative Study, 39% of consumers purchase prepared foods such as party platters and family-style entrees for social occasions spent watching sporting events on TV. The same study shows that 62% of consumers say takeout packaging is an important part of their consideration set for these occasions.
While most c-stores don’t offer formal catering options, many of them will fill large orders for takeout with advance notice. Here are the five c-stores, ranked from fifth to first, consumers say are doing the best job of offering quality takeout packaging for prepared food and beverage, according to Technomic’s Consumer Brand Metrics survey …
Score: 53.8%
More than half of recent customers to La Crosse, Wis.-based Kwik Trip say the chain does a very good job of offering quality takeout packaging for its prepared food items. The chain has promoted its pizza for the Super Bowl on social media in the past, when its home-state Green Bay Packers were playing.
Score: 55.8%
More than half of Tulsa, Okla.-based QuikTrip consumers rank the c-store’s takeout packaging as top notch. Last year, the chain rolled out a Carryout X-Large Pizza, placed inside a perforated pizza box that can become four separate pizza plates and be refolded to store pizza leftovers for later.
Score: 58.1%
Nearly three-fifths of recent customers say Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz does a great job with its takeout packaging. The chain ran a regional Super Bowl ad last year promoting its “amped up” line of signature foods and its new-at-the-time BBQ Beef Short Ribs with a parody of locker-room pep talks.
Score: 58.6%
Almost three-fifths of Wawa consumers say this Pennsylvania-based c-store offers excellent takeout packaging. The chain regularly promotes how its soup and macaroni-and-cheese cups fit well in a car cup holder and pairs its food and beverages with football on social media.
Score: 58.7%
According to recent customers, the best c-store chain for takeout packaging is York, Pa.-based Rutter’s Farm Stores. This chain recently debuted a new hot-hold pouch—a takeout carrier designed to better preserve the food quality of crispy foods such as its chicken wings, french fries and mozzarella sticks.
Rutter’s, like Sheetz, also ran a Super Bowl ad last year promoting its foodservice program.
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