Few things make a convenience store’s foodservice program stand out than scratch-made quality, but as labor challenges persist and efficiency remains a top priority, offering made-fresh foods requires some strategizing.
Timesaving solutions are particularly important in the baked goods section, but freshness is particularly appealing to consumers here, too. Finding shortcuts to freshly make bakery items can be great for the bottom line—and is easier than retailers might think.
Breakfast on the rise
It’s never a bad time to have baked goods at the ready, but morning occasions see the greatest demand. According to Technomic’s April 2022 C-Store Operator Update, 31% of retailers say they expect breakfast sales to increase in the next six months, and 30% say the same of morning snacks. As a result, most (60%) of retailers say they’re increasing the number of breakfast items they offer—more than any other daypart.
In other words, now is the time for c-stores to review and revamp their morning foodservice menus—not just to draw in new customers and increase basket averages, but also to offer enough variety for returning shoppers to make repeat purchases without getting tired of the same options. Within the realm of bakery items, muffins are a perennial favorite, with 31% of customers saying they’d purchase them for breakfast at least occasionally. In addition, muffins offer a great platform for adding variety; try offering a different flavor baked fresh on different days or changing the assortment week to week.
In addition to assortment, food quality is a major factor in determining how successfully a retailer competes for sales; Technomic’s Q1 2022 C-Store Consumer Marketbrief reports that nearly one in four shoppers say higher quality would increase breakfast purchases from the c-store for breakfast.
Increase quality and variety, decrease labor
Fresh-baked goods may seem a tall order for c-stores already running on skeleton staffs, and rotating different recipes even more so, especially for the 82% of c-store retailers who say that struggling to hire enough workers at each store is currently among their top concerns for their businesses, according to Technomic’s Operator Update.
Labor-saving solutions can make it possible: Bake’n Joy PanFree® 4.25-ounce muffins dramatically reduce the difficulty and time commitment involved in offering unbeatable variety and freshness. PanFree muffins are ready to bake straight from the freezer—not only allowing retailers to bake the exact number they need, but also bypassing the margin for error or possible ingredient shortages associated with a from-scratch recipe. This means, too, that c-stores can adjust how many they bake according to fluctuations in demand and minimize food waste—while reaping all the benefits of the “made fresh daily” claim, encouraging shoppers to add to their orders.
Bake’n Joy PanFree muffins are available in the most in-demand flavors—including Blueberry, Double Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, Banana Walnut, Cranberry Nut and many more.
To learn more about offering fresh-baked muffins from Bake’n Joy, click here.
This post is sponsored by Bake’n Joy