PORT ALLEN, La. -- Lyons Specialty Co. is expanding its foodservice offerings for convenience stores to help retailers offer one-stop shopping as high gasoline prices have them driving less, said The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report. "Foodservice is one of the fastest-growing categories in a convenience store," Hugh W. Raetzsch Jr., president of Lyons Specialty and its subsidiary, AA Vending Service, told the newspaper "We're focusing on this sector more with everything from chicken tenders to hot dogs to branded programs such as Squawkers Chicken and Freschetta Pizza lines."
In February, [image-nocss] the Port Allen, La.-based company expanded foodservices by introducing new prepared foods such as fried chicken to the 500 Louisiana convenience stores it supplies. Newly hired food sales specialists are offering tastings during lunch so store owners and customers can sample the food, said the report.
While fast food in c-stores is not new, Raetzsch maintains that these in-house food lines are more profitable and manageable for storeowners, as well as helping draw more budget-conscious, one-stop shoppers.
Everyone has to be more cost-conscious, he added, assessing ways to cut fuel costs with both his businesses. "On the wholesale side, we have diesel trucks that log more miles, and with the diesel fuel prices continually rising we are trying to consolidate routes to cut miles. On the vending side, we service nearly 500 machines every week. The trucks servicing these machines run on regular gasoline, which is slightly cheaper, but the ability to recover the increased cost in fuel and product cost is more difficult, as it requires physically visiting every machine to reprogram it with higher prices."
"We're all selling Snickers and basically the same products, but in both businesses we differentiate ourselves with service and more extensive lines, and giving customers more options," Raetzsch said. Lyons Specialty handles more than 6,000 items, which lends to AA Vending offering more items than other vendors, which he said is a strong competitive edge.
"In the 11-plus years I have been here, I have seen our sales increase from $23 million annually to nearly $90 million last year," Ali Momenzadeh, vice president of sales, told the newspaper. "The interesting part of that equation is we have not had to increase our customer count by the same ratio, or at all, for that matter. We probably have fewer customers now than we did 10 years ago. The reason for this was our focus beginning about 10 years ago. We wanted to become a one-stop-shop for all of the convenience stores we serviced statewide—and we have."Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.