Convenience stores should assert their right to win in the foodservice category.
“You’ve earned it with that focus, with that investment that you've made in the recent years,” said Donna Hood Crecca, senior principal at CSP sister research arm Technomic, Chicago, on Aug. 4 at CSP and Informa Connect’s Outlook Leadership event in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
Compete with QSRs, but don’t try to be one, Crecca said. “Be a great c-store with a great foodservice offering,” she said.
C-stores should offer:
- A focused menu of quality offerings
- Strong operations, consistent execution
- Skilled, engaged, service-minded staff
- Relevant marketing
“We know that the on-the-go foodservice occasion is really owned by quick-service restaurants, so that sales growth that you need to accomplish really has to come from diverting those QSR occasions and converting them into c-store foodservice occasions,” Crecca said.
She added that only 7 in 10 c-store operators say they are intentionally, strategically going after QSRs and trying to take share.
“No matter where you are on your foodservice journey, this needs to be a priority, and you do have the right to win because this industry has done a great job on increasing food quality,” she said. “You've really done a great job of enhancing it, and the quality piece is so key for consumers because it really supports their value for the dollar spent perception.”
Crecca said c-stores should not try to be QSRs, because “doing so means that c-stores would lose a key differentiator, which is the overall value proposition of the c-store model.
“Your stores solve for multiple consumer needs states, and that’s a key factor in getting folks to turn into your parking lot versus the quick-service restaurant,” Crecca said.
C-stores allow consumers the ability to check off multiple tasks from their to-do lists: fuel and charge the car, and pick up beer, toilet paper and lottery tickets—“whatever it might be, and at the same time, quickly, easily access quality, craveable, satisfying prepared foods and beverages in five to seven minutes max.” Crecca said.
This is something that restaurants cannot deliver on, she said. Simply being a convenience store creates an inherent competitive advantage over restaurants.
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