CHICAGO — Avoiding contact. Reducing touchpoints. Using grab-and-go to limit time in a convenience store. For all the changes made in sanitation and training, what consumers see is the product on store shelves. And how it’s made available to them can make all the difference in the world.
All these are among the pandemic-related adjustments made in c-store foodservice that have given rise to lifestyle changes and innovations that, it seems, aren’t going away.
Such foodservice innovations encompass equipment and technology developments that shifted into high gear during the pandemic to keep businesses afloat by reassuring customers they could safely buy food and beverages in convenience stores.
“Some of these conveniences that were born out of the pandemic—[things like] having something delivered or having curbside pickup—[have proven to be] a great way to increase the convenience in my life. So I don’t think it’s going to go away,” says Karen Slaby, customer marketing manager at supplier Home Market Foods, Norwood, Mass. “It’s just going to continue to grow.”
Solving Counter Congestion
Milwaukee-based Hatco Corp., a food equipment company, sought to address the challenge of delivery drivers converging at a front counter during meal-rush times and creating congestion and too-close-for-comfort situations. The answer was separating the pickup area and implementing a locker system fully integrated into a point-of-sale (POS) system. When an order comes into a c-store via an app, a website, or third-party partners such as Uber Eats or Grubhub, it’s assigned to a locker, and the customer or delivery person gets a name and a code.
“When the driver comes in, he knows he’s picking up an order for Ryan. He’ll have a code: ‘1-2-3-4,’ he goes to the locker, finds ‘Ryan’ and enters ‘1-2-3-4,’ and it flashes and unlocks. [Then] he or she can pull out the food without really having to do any waiting,” says Ryan Catarozoli, key accounts sales manager at Hatco.
“COVID, the new world, is really the key here. How do we do better with less labor? … You want to deliver quality [when] there’s a problem finding good people to do the work.”
To go one better, Hatco’s locker system is heated. “It could be a 10- to 15-minute window from the time the food is prepared and the time the driver gets there, or you get there,” Catarozoli says. “The heated lockers maintain food-safe temps, above 140 degrees, at least until it’s picked up. So it raises the quality of the food.”
In addition to the lockers, Catarozoli says Hatco is experimenting with ordering food at a gas pump. If a customer presses “yes” on a pump display board to an ad for a slice of pizza and a drink, that cost will be added to the gas bill. Upon swiping a credit card to pay, “they’ll get a QR code on the receipt or displayed on the screen, or both, and when the customer goes in, they don’t have to go to the counter or go and find the pizza. They go right to the [heated] cabinet, put in their code, and they’re all ready to go.”
The QR scanner is another innovative way to avoid contact at a locker, Catarozoli says. Rather than touching the screen while entering a code, one scans the QR code on a receipt and the door opens. “So the only thing you’re really touching is the corner of the door to grab your food,” he says. Also, this system helps reduce the chance of an employee entering an incorrect code; instead, the employee chooses a locker, scans the receipt (which matches the QR code on the customer’s receipt), and puts in the food.
The 'Hot Fridge'
Denver, N.C.-based Unox Inc. has found adoption of what it calls a “hot fridge.” The Evereo unit uses hot-food preserver technology, allowing a c-store to warm, thoroughly reheat and preserve a food item, all prized attributes in the post-pandemic world, says Unox President Mark Klindera.
“You can preserve food hot, longer, safer and more consistent,” Klindera says. “COVID, the new world, is really the key here. How do we do better with less labor? … You want to deliver quality [when] there’s a problem finding good people to do the work.” The Evereo can help by reducing waste and improving food safety, he says.
Wrap It Up
Brad Duesler, CEO and founder of Food Concepts Inc., Middleton, Wis., says the pandemic also led to a significant jump in interest for new packaging in foodservice grab-and-go areas. With it came a subsequent modification of equipment to accommodate the change.
“There’s a lot more people doing wrapped product,” he says. “The downside of that is you don’t get to see your product unless it has a window. It might be a hot dog in a foil bag. But the convenience of just grabbing that and going vs. putting your hot dog on a bun and then putting it in a container and then putting condiments on. … Just grabbing the bag and a ketchup packet is speedier for the consumer.”
Duesler expects this increase in packaging will continue post-pandemic but that, due to heightened conscientiousness over waste, more environmentally friendly packaging will be developed.
The transition to increased packaging has led to modifying existing equipment, with retailers turning around roller grills and making them a full-service piece of equipment, for example.
“We also did some developmental work for some food manufacturers on giving guidance to putting a hot dog on a bun, putting it in a foil bag and then putting it on top of the rollers and using the roller grill as a heat box,” Duesler says. “Then people could grab-and-go a hot dog in a foil bag.”
Duesler says one retailer moved hot dogs from a roller grill, which was hidden, into a warmer facing a spot near the door. That move caused a jump in hot dog sales, “which I thought was pretty fascinating,” he says.
“There’s a lot more people doing wrapped product. The downside of that is you don’t get to see your product unless it has a window.”
Duesler also notes changes to coffee dispensers. A valve attachment created by manufacturer Wilbur Curtis eliminated the need to touch the handle of the dispenser. “You push a lever with your cup to pour the coffee, similar to a fountain valve,” he says, adding it’s an innovation he expects will live beyond the pandemic “because it’s just convenient.”
In addition, Duesler expects a sneeze guard his company developed for fountain machines to retain relevance. “You can still fit the cup under, and it’s just a nice way to cover up the exposure of the cup,” he says.
Tamper-Proof Labels
On another end of the food business, POS Supply Solutions has seen growing demand for tamper-proof labels for takeout and delivery during the pandemic. The Middleton, Mass.-based manufacturer makes point-of-sale media, including receipts, labels, tags, tickets and thermal labels. The company’s specially designed labels, made with security slits and adhesive, are affixed to a to-go container or bag to ensure safety.
“It’s called a hot-melt adhesive, so it adheres very quickly, as opposed to a UPS or FedEx label,” President Stephen Enfield says. A customer can tell if a delivered meal has been tampered with because the label will come apart in pieces. “There’s been a big demand for these, and it’s kept up. So we think this is here to stay.”
Enfield says part of the demand increase is due to a spike in orders being entrusted to third-party delivery services and customers wanting that extra security measure. POS Supply Solutions also developed a tamper-proof label for drinks. “There are some states that approved the delivery of liquor and beer during the pandemic, so they wanted seals made specially for a mixed drink made and served in a to-go container,” Enfield says. “You can tell it’s been sealed since it left the restaurant.”
Enfield says he’s also seen an “explosion” in demand for linerless (aka restick) labels. The linerless label comes out of a POS printer and has no liner (or backer), making it more environmentally friendly. It increases the efficiency of an operation, Enfield says, and, when customers get their drinks, they’ll see their name and exactly what they ordered printed on the label.
“So rather than going in, people are doing takeout and delivery and drive-thru, and the pace of that has accelerated and is only going to increase.”
“Think about Dunkin’ or Starbucks and how we’re seeing a lot more takeout with technology,” he says. “So rather than going in, people are doing takeout and delivery and drive-thru, and the pace of that has accelerated and is only going to increase.”
Hands-Free Fountain
Finally, Coca-Cola Co. earlier this year introduced a countertop Freestyle fountain dispenser to let smaller-footprint stores offer more than 80 beverage choices with the touch of a button or even via an app. With this contactless pouring solution, consumers can choose and pour a drink from their smartphone in just a few seconds, without having to sign up for a membership or download an app. Instead, they hold up their smartphone camera and scan a QR code on the display. The phone will connect to the cloud and bring the Freestyle interface to the phone, where they can interact with it just as on the fountain machine itself.
The Coca-Cola Freestyle 7100 countertop fountain dispenser has a 24-inch high-definition touchscreen and intuitive user interface, Coca-Cola says. It uses over-the-air software updates, an enhanced diagnostics dashboard with real-time drink-inventory levels, and “self-healing” maintenance capabilities.
These examples show how consumer behavior during the pandemic is changing food preparation, storage, delivery and more, according to Sharon Kuncl, senior director of foodservice at Naperville, Ill.-based food distributor Eby-Brown.
Speaking about delivery options for retailers in particular, Kuncl says, “As part of the continuation of what happened during the pandemic, we definitely have seen a new age of the consumer wanting delivery and expecting it as part of how they run their everyday life. And c-stores are the perfect place to play into that.”