The convenience-store channel heard good news at the Outlook Leadership conference from Donna Hood Crecca, senior principal at CSP sister research arm Technomic, Chicago.
“Technomic has identified the convenience channel as a growth segment in the broader foodservice industry and is forecasting for 2025, as has been the case the past couple of years, that fresh food and beverage sales in convenience stores are outpacing total sales in QSR restaurants and the foodservice industry overall,” she said at the event Aug. 20. “So, a lot of momentum here.”
Data presented at the conference showed how c-stores with strong foodservice programs are doing better than those without.
Among convenience stores where foodservice sales make up 20% or more of top line dollar sales, foodservice accounts for 29.8% of top line dollar sales, and their total store dollar growth is 3.9%, according to NIQ Discover, Total Store Food Service Analysis year-to-date, week ending July 12, 2025.
Among all U.S. convenience stores, the foodservice contribution is 9.9% of top line dollar sales, and total store dollar growth is negative 0.1%.
Adding to the argument for c-stores to implement or boost their foodservice offerings is that foodservice customers are frequent customers, according to Technomic data.
Among prepared-food customers, 11% make one-plus visits daily to a c-store, 32% visit two to three days weekly, 22% once weekly and 34% less than once weekly.
Among dispensed-beverage customers, 17% make one-plus visits daily, 38% visit two to three days weekly, 20% once weekly and 24% less than once weekly.
Crecca said there are many layers to foodservice and, in reference to CSP’s Outlook Report that was presented at the conference, she said, “I think this morning we’ve just sort of scratched the surface on the benefits of the category to driving the convenience business forward.”
However, to unleash the category’s potential, she said, “Everybody’s got to lean into the fifth outlook” that was presented that morning: “Strategy without solid execution won’t win.”
“Foodservice is a category where execution is everything,” Crecca said. “Foodservice is complex. There are opportunities for margin erosion at multiple steps in the process. It is intensely competitive and quick-service restaurants now identify this channel as a competitive channel.”
Crecca said c-stores are going after QSRs, and vice versa.
“The bar is very high,” she said, adding that consumers are unforgiving if they have a less-than-satisfactory experience.
“There’s a lot going on in the foodservice occasion and in the foodservice business,” she said. “Our take going forward is that execution is everything. [You] absolutely have to lean into that. You can have the greatest items on your menu. We do a tremendous amount of menu research. We’re using AI, we’re using predictive analytics, social listening, everything, to predict menu trends down to the item, the flavor, the ingredient.
“That’s great, super important, but the execution is where you’re going to win,” she continued.
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