Products and Trends That Made an Impact at M-PACT

The annual Midwest Fuel and Convenience Trade Show, M-PACT, featured new products, services and technologies in a crowd of categories on display last week in Indianapolis.

The M-PACT Show is a collaboration of four petroleum-marketer and convenience-store state associations: Illinois Fuel & Retail Association, the Indiana Food & Fuel Association, the Kentucky Petroleum Marketers Association and the Ohio Energy and Convenience Association.

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As gas station owners continue to adapt to the electric-vehicle revolution, Red E, an EV charging network based in Detroit, spoke with attendees about everything electrification. EV charging is gaining even more momentum in the Midwest. On Wednesday, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) Director John J. Kim unveiled that $25.1 million is being awarded to 20 applicants for EV charging infrastructure under the Driving a Cleaner Illinois program.

Convenience stores are cooking up some serious kitchen magic in foodservice. Technomic's Pizza Consumer Trend Report finds that 27% of consumers are more interested in trying pizzas with unique toppings or ingredients now than in past years. With plenty of pizza offerings, Nashville, Tennessee-based Hunt Brothers Pizza provided samples of its limited-time offering (LTO) pizzas to attendees. New flavors included its Buffalo Chicken Pizza—featuring original crust topped with a mixture of ranch dressing and buffalo wing sauce, mozzarella and Monterey Jack cheeses and diced chicken.

Frozeti Dough is the newest flavor from Dippin’ Dots, the original beaded ice cream. Frozeti Dough is made from a combination of sugar cookie flavored Dippin’ Dots mixed with a duo of cookie doughs—chocolate chip and chocolate sandwich. Matthew Stark, national account manager of business development for Paducah, Kentucky-based Dippin Dots, told CSP on the tradeshow floor that another trend coming from the consumer is a pivot to simpler times. “Nostalgia is really trending,” he said. “National brands are even going back to early logos as a way to tell people to remember times of their childhood.”

This year’s M-Pact tradeshow floor was covered in tech, including the latest in frictionless shopping experiences. The Owl Services' booth featured a display of self-ordering technology that allows customers to order food and shop while pumping gas. The Troy, Michigan-based company is a sales, construction, program management, compliance and service provider to the retail fueling, industrial, commercial fleet and electric-vehicle charging companies across the U.S.

A variety of cannabis-infused beverages made its way on the tradeshow floor, including Plift a Chicago-based “black- and budtender-founded company,” according to the company's website. The cannabis-infused beverage’s newest flavor is a tart lime. Each 12-ounce can of Plift contains 4 mg of hemp-derived Delta-9 THC. Other flavors include crisp ginger and juicy grapefruit.