YORK, Pa. -- "I'm so hungry I can eat a sandwich from a gas station!"
Those words were funny when Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) uttered them in 1983's National Lampoon's Vacation.
"I don't think people are laughing today," Jeff Lenard, spokesperson for the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), told the York Daily Record.
Pennsylvania has an abundance of "progressive" convenience stores that are spearheading a national trend toward emphasizing foodservice over gasoline sales, he said. As gasoline and cigarette profit margins have steadily dropped, c-stores have turned to foodservice sales to bring in revenue.
That means creating a unique menu with many options, Monica Jones, a spokesperson for Sheetz, told the newspaper. "Anybody who is in this arena is trying to become more broad-based, more diverse. They want to be able to offer as many different things as they can," she said.
Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz Inc., which operates more than 400 stores in Pennsylvania and nearby states, is constantly testing out new foods, Jones said. The chain now offers Yuengling beer-battered fish and shrimp, sold a la carte or in sandwiches.
Prepared food options increase as chains vie for the consumer's lunch money, Jerry Weiner, vice president of foodservice for Rutter's, told the paper. The chain recently introduced macaroni and cheese and sweet corn bites to its menu.
"Instead of gas stations that happen to sell food, [they're] going to be restaurants that happen to sell gas," Lenard said.
In fact, York, Pa.-based Rutter's Farm Stores already calls the foodservice areas in its more than 50 stores in the region "restaurants," Scott Hartman, Rutter's president and CEO, told the paper.
And Sheetz refers to their stores as "convenience restaurants," Jones added
Nationally, the average c-store has about $227,000 in prepared food sales per year, according to the report, citing NACS. That makes foodservice the third top-selling category for c-stores, after cigarettes and alcohol.
And with Pennsylvania stores unable to sell alcohol in their stores, chains are turning to foodservice to keep profits up, Lenard said.
C-stores historically viewed their food options as a simple grab-and-go process, Weiner said. "The belief was that people were just stopping by to fill up their bellies and they didn't care what [they were eating]," he said.
But as the everyday consumer became more mobile, the demand grew for quality to-go foods, Lenard said. Consumers want speed, freshness and value, he added.
"They're looking for more choices on the menu, and they want it fast," Hartman said.
Meanwhile, Sheetz opened its 412th "convenience restaurant" earlier this month, in Wendell, N.C., the 36th in the state.
The 6,500-square-foot store will provide an economic boost to the area creating 40 to 45 new full and part time jobs and add $3.5 million taxable property value to the city and county tax base. It will be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and offer fresh food items such as Sheetz' signature Made To Order (MTO) items that include Angus beef burgers, grilled chicken sandwiches, freshly made salads, French fries, onion rings and more. The new store will also feature are MTGo! and Shweetz Bakery lines of sandwiches, wraps, donuts and muffins, along with Sheetz Bros. Coffeez, a full-service espresso and smoothie bar staffed by a trained barista where customers can order hand-made specialty coffee drinks including lattes, cappuccinos and mochas, hot, frozen or iced.
Just before opening, camera crews filmed a new series of Sheetz commercials there.
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