Convenience stores with the most foot traffic are also leaders in food innovation.
This insight comes from R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Los Altos, California-based location-analytics company Placer.ai, who spoke in April CSP’s Dispensed Beverages Forum in Lombard, Illinois.
“What we’re seeing is that those chains that really invest behind food programs, food quality, making it easier to access through mobile ordering or pickup windows, and loyalty programs have really been big among the winners in terms of year-over-year visitation trends,” Hottovy said.
Maverik, helped by its acquisition of Kum & Go and rebranding, led the year-over-year change in visits by brand from 2023 to 2024, with a gain of more than 25%. The rest of the top 10, falling between 2% and 7% growth, were Buc-ee’s, Kwik Trip, BJ’s Gas, Meijer Gas Stations, Woodman’s Gas, Sheetz, Wawa, Casey’s and Coffee Cup Fuel Stop, Hottovy said.
Food leaders—Hottovy singled out Wawa, Sheetz, Buc-ee’s and Casey’s—have been outperforming the category.
In addition, these same food leaders are experiencing greater visits for breakfast and lunch dayparts. For example, these four chains outperform “total gas stations and c-stores” every hour starting at 7 a.m. through the noon hour, Hottovy said. Customers also stayed at their stores longer, he said.
The average dwell time for a gas station is 8 to 9 minutes, Hottovy said. The 2024 c-store food leaders and their median dwell times were:
- Buc-ee’s: 20.3 minutes
- Sheetz: 11.5 minutes
- Wawa: 11.4 minutes
- 7-Eleven: 10.2 minutes
- Kwik Trip: 9.3 minutes
- Maverik: 9.2 minutes
- Circle K: 8.9 minutes
- Casey’s 8.7 minutes
These chains “generally have a higher visitation trend, and there is a pretty direct correlation looking at dwell time and overall retail sales, so that is something as they spend more time in the store, maybe they're waiting for a food item to be made, there is an opportunity to cross-sell or upsell,” he said.
Hottovy also said that growth in c-store visits might be increased by rates of loyal visitors.
The percentage of loyal customers who visited two-plus times a month:
- Wawa: 89.6% in 2024, 86.9% in 2019
- Casey’s: 87.9% in 2024, 84.8% in 2019
- Circle K: 81.7% in 2024, 74.6% in 2019
- Cumberland Farms: 83.5% in 2024, 82.2% in 2019
- Kwik Trip: 94.5% in 2024, 90.7% in 2019
- Maverik: 80.9% in 2024, 72.0% in 2019
- Sheetz: 87.8% in 2024, 83.4% in 2019
“These food innovators are starting to see much more loyal, more people coming in twice a month, more people coming four times a month,” Hottovy said. “So, again, food can be on a path toward loyalty. And I’m not saying anything that any of us doesn’t know, but it’s interesting to kind of tie the data to it.”
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