BRENTWOOD, Tenn. -- Mapco Express Inc., the retail division of Brentwood, Tenn.-based Delek US Holdings Inc., plans to install its own brand of quick-service restaurants (QSRs) in all new Mapco stores going forward, up to 75 locations over the next five years, reported The Nashville Business Journal.
Mike Cox, the foodservice brand manager for Mapco Mart, told the newspaper that Mapco has opened its first MY Top Ten Subs & Sliders restaurant in Franklin, Tenn. The chain is building 11 locations this year that include the new restaurant concept, the report [image-nocss] added.
According to the website, along with the subs (toasted or cold varieties in slider, regular and footlong sizes), the menu also includes salads and chicken tenders; there is also a kid's menu and a catering menu.
"No Frozen, pre-packaged, pre-sliced, pre-made, pre-portioned food here," it says. "Because of our attitude and commitment to consistently delivering our CRAVEABLE Salads, Subs and Sliders we have only a couple of rules: Rule No. 1 Each of these HOMEMADE sandwiches are PERFECT, NO Substitutions! Rule No. 2 Fugetabout Rule No. 1. We will make YOUR sandwich ANY way you want it made!"
The MAPCO Mart stores have previously offered the proprietary Grille Marx foodservice concept, a made-to-order grilled food program with touch-screen ordering, although as of late first-quarter 2010, about 15% of store locations included Quiznos, Subways or Blimpies.
The new, proprietary QSR strategy is part of a multi-million dollar corporate initiative to shed Mapco's convenience store image in favor of a concept called the "convenience restaurant," said the report.
Other c-store chains-- Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz Inc., for example--have been experimenting with the convenience restaurant concept. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of Sheetz's efforts.)
Mapco's goal for the concept is twofold, said the report--to differentiate Mapco from other c-store chains while luring time-starved customers inside the store to spend more money on higher-profit food items.
Foodservice has helped Delek US report overall positive financial results for first-quarter 2011, the company reported in May. Foodservice continued to gain momentum, and same-store foodservice sales increased 13.7% during first-quarter 2011, compared to a same-store increase of 9.2% in the prior year period, as fresh and prepared food concepts gained traction throughout the retail network, it said.
Delek US Holdings is a diversified downstream energy business focused on petroleum refining, the wholesale distribution of refined products and convenience store retailing. The refining segment consists of refineries operated in Tyler, Texas, and El Dorado, Ark., with a combined nameplate production capacity of 140,000 barrels per day. The marketing and supply segment markets refined products through a series of owned and third-party product terminals and pipelines. The retail segment supplies fuels and merchandise through a network of approximately 400 company-operated convenience store locations operated under the MAPCO Express, MAPCO Mart, East Coast, Fast Food & Fuel, Favorite Markets, Delta Express and Discount Food Mart brand names.
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