When it comes to promotions, retailers span the calendar regarding their favorite holiday or event to promote foodservice items.
At Lexington, Kentucky-based Estepp’s, for example, they cater to busy Thanksgiving travelers and shoppers by offering quick, convenient options. Westborough, Massachusetts-based EG America in a recent year expanded National Hot Dog Day into a full week with a lineup featuring a range of flavor combinations.
CSP asked around and received an array of answers—including rationales as to why it was their fave and strategies to boost sales. Continue reading to see the replies from InConvenience Inc., U-Stop, EG America, RaceTrac, Rutter’s, Pilot Co., Estepp’s, SunStop and Global Partners.
InConvenience Inc., Chicago, 20 stores
Amanda Lobes of InConvenience Inc., which operates The Gas Spot and The Goods Spot locations, said her favorite holiday is the Fourth of July.
“This is a holiday that brings people—especially those that are patriotic—together,” said Lobes, a category manager. She adds that InConvenience likes to call its c-stores “community stores.” She adds, “I think Independence Day really reflects that sense of community.”
To promote the holiday, the company will engage on its social media platforms and rely on its stores to get the word out, she said. It also will use window signage and pump toppers for advertising.
“Recently, we started attaching flyers to our pizza order boxes regarding future promotions,” she said.
Stores are also given a decoration budget, Lobes said.
The chain’s newest interactive activity is giving coloring sheets each month to anyone who wants one, she said. The pages show the company mascot, Clutch, in settings to represent the month or a holiday that falls within it.
“We love when customers return them colored so we can display their art for all to see,” Lobes said.
Lobes said they have a two-for-$5 hot dog promotion for the rest of 2026—and during the Fourth of July will discount fountain drinks or have a two-for deal with its bottled beverages.
“These seem to be the staple items for this holiday, so we find it best to give customers what they want at a great price,” Lobes said.
U-Stop Convenience Shops, Lincoln, Nebraska, 40 stores
The Super Bowl is Maddie Whitehead’s favorite event to promote.
Whitehead is the director of food service for Jeannie’s Kitchen, owned by and located in U-Stop Convenience Shops. Whitehead Oil owns U-Stop.
For Super Bowl LX, customers who purchased a mini pizza, large pizza or any box size of chicken could receive a complimentary 2-liter of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi or Mountain Dew, Whitehead said. The promotion ran throughout Super Bowl weekend.
“Coincidentally, National Pizza Day fell on the Monday after so we extended it to a four-day promotion,” Whitehead said, adding that Pepsi helped with signage and in creating the accompanying image.
“We ran this through all of our social media platforms and had signage throughout the store,” she said. “We also neatly displayed 2-liters around the food warmer so our customers can grab their Pepsi product with their pizza and chicken.”
The Super Bowl lends itself to a solid promotion because “it helps us put ourselves on the map of becoming a great place to grab Super Bowl bites,” she said.
EG America, Westborough, Massachusetts, 1,464 stores
In her previous role in the roller grill category, Kate Weisman, category manager - foodservice commissary at EG America, said she enjoyed celebrating National Hot Dog Day.
Weisman expanded the celebration into a full week for customers.
“We launched a social media video highlighting our ‘Starting Lineup,’ a creative assortment of hot dog builds designed to inspire both store teams and guests,” she said.
The lineup featured a range of flavor combinations, from classic chili, cheese and Fritos toppings to more inventive offerings like the Honey Badger Dog, which swapped the traditional bun for a sliced honey bun, delivering a sweet-and-savory twist.
“This promotion proved especially effective as summer approached, when hot dogs naturally resonate with seasonal cravings,” Weisman said. “By introducing a different featured build each day, we created a sense of variety and anticipation that encouraged repeat visits throughout the week.”
At all EG banner locations, including Cumberland Farms, “customers were given a compelling reason to stop in daily for their favorite ‘Cumby Dog,’ often pairing it with additional purchases, ultimately driving both engagement and incremental sales,” she said.
RaceTrac, Atlanta, 611 stores
At RaceTrac, Tony DeSerto, director of hot foods and dispensed, said that holidays are soft in the c-store space and retailers must be both selective and strategic on what they are looking to accomplish.
RaceTrac strives to boost pizza sales on Halloween and the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, which are both well-known pizza holidays, DeSerto said.
“We typically focus on social and organic advertisements to drive conversion in the afternoon daypart with an extra competitive whole pizza discount,” he said. “The strategy is to build a complete basket with multipack soda or alcohol. Dispensed beverages can also win by addressing the thirsty guest for their trip home. These are both great opportunity mini-holidays to help get your food offers in front of guests who may not naturally consider your brand for home meal solutions and are outside of your core segmentation.”
DeSerto said his favorite holidays are celebrated Dec. 1 through Jan. 1, a season that allows retailers to lean in on hot-dispensed and hot-food programs and offers.
“Fall/winter holidays embrace indulgence,” he said. “Guests are naturally seeking the warmth and energy that a robust hot-dispensed program has to offer.”
Rutter’s, York, Pennsylvania, 88 stores
Philip Santini, senior director of food service and bar strategy for Rutter’s, said his favorite holiday is a toss-up between July Fourth and the Super Bowl—“technically a holiday,” he said of the latter—but for different reasons.
“July Fourth drives all-day traffic with strong performance across grill-friendly items and cold beverages,” Santini said. “The Super Bowl, however, is more intentional and built around group ordering, which typically results in higher check averages and stronger attachment. If I had to choose, the Super Bowl has the edge because it aligns best with planned, occasion-based purchasing.”
Rutter’s promotion strategy is straightforward: Simplify the decision and grow the basket, he said.
“We lead with bundles such as pizza, wings, shareables and beverage pairings, positioned as feed-the-group solutions,” he said. Super Bowl messaging starts two weeks out, with a heavy push the week of and day-of reminders. Meanwhile, July Fourth ramps up two weeks before, peaking July 2 to 4.
“We plan on making a greater push for the 250th anniversary,” Santini said.
In execution, digital menu boards and kiosks prioritize bundles, in-store signage reinforces group value, and app and loyalty channels push limited-time offers and reminders tied to key ordering windows, he said.
“Customers are not just buying a meal, they are solving for an event,” he said of both holidays. “That is where convenience stores win.”
Pilot Co., Knoxville, Tennessee, 658 stores
National Coffee Day, Sept. 29, is Savannah Johnson’s favorite day “as our coffee is the perfect wingman for any road trip.”
Pilot’s senior manager of food and beverage business development said, “We take pride in having the best coffee on the interstate, so National Coffee Day is a great opportunity to invite our guests to experience it for themselves.”
Pilot promotes this day by keeping the offer simple and valuable, Johnson said. Most years, customers can get a free any-size cup of hot coffee, redeemable through the Pilot app.
“We support the promotion with messaging across the Pilot app and our social and digital channels, so travelers know the offer is waiting for them when they stop in,” she said.
“Coffee and the open road are practically synonymous, so National Coffee Day is a natural fit for who we are and who we serve,” she said.
Estepp’s, Lexington, Kentucky, 13 stores
Thanksgiving is the favorite holiday of Kali Rogers of Estepp’s.
“It’s one of the biggest travel holidays of the year for us, which naturally brings more customers through our stores,” said Rogers, operations and support manager at the chain. “People are on the road, running errands or heading to see family, so they’re really looking for quick, convenient options.”
People also are less price-sensitive and more focused on convenience, which makes them more open to bundle deals and add-ons, she said.
“On top of that, the seasonal aspect—those comforting fall flavors—helps make the promotions feel natural instead of forced,” Rogers said. “From a store perspective, it’s a great combination of increased volume and a strong opportunity to meet customers exactly where they are.”
Estepp’s usually starts building into Thanksgiving in early November with seasonal flavors—and highlights them in-store and through its digital channels.
One of the chain’s biggest strategies is promoting snacks and drinks as “road trip essentials,” she said, adding that they’ll run bundle deals pairing popular snacks with dispensed beverages.
In the store, Estepp’s keeps signage simple and visible—especially near the entrance, beverage areas and checkout—to catch planned and impulse purchases. They also use app messaging and push notifications during peak travel times to highlight offers.
SunStop, Bainbridge, Georgia, 81 stores
For Scott Morris of SunStop, it’s the Fourth of July.
“It’s hot, so we get to try some cool frozen flavor profiles,” said Morris, dispensed beverage category manager at Southwest Georgia Oil, which operates SunStop convenience stores. “We are always trying to work on a red, white and blue mix-and-match combo (think Bomb Pop), some combination of sour and sweet that travelers and locals will want to mix together.”
This year, Morris said, the company is teaming up with Coke and using their 250th anniversary cup for both cold and frozen beverages for the summer.
“To me, the summer months give you the most opportunity to try something new because kids are home from school,” Morris said, adding that kids come up with “all sorts of new ideas” in mixing beverages together to create new flavor combinations.
Global Partners, Waltham, Massachusetts, 334 stores
At Global Partners, Karen Campbell, senior food service category manager, said her choice is the fall holiday season.
“It consistently delivers strong guest engagement and continues to grow year over year, driven by the popularity of pumpkin spice,” she said. “The fall season also allows us to expand into complementary flavors such as maple syrup, apple pie and other warm, indulgent profiles that resonate especially well in New England.”
Global Partners, which has brands including Alltown, Alltown Fresh, Honey Farms and XtraMart, begins planning months in advance, working closely with its marketing team to ensure a coordinated, multichannel approach, she said. This includes social media campaigns, text messaging, the Bee’s Knees loyalty program and traditional media such as radio, banners and billboards.
In-store execution is equally important, she said. The company highlights seasonal beverages through strong signage and bundle promotions with other categories.
“For example, pairing a pumpkin spice iced coffee with a freshly baked pumpkin spice doughnut encourages incremental purchases and enhances the overall guest experience,” she said. “Timing is critical to launch early enough to capture excitement but sustain momentum with fresh messaging and product combinations throughout the season.”
The fall season lends itself to strong promotions because it taps into nostalgia, comfort and routine, all of which drive repeat visits, she said.
Customers enjoy customizing their drinks with seasonal flavors, she said, and even traditional customers are open to experimenting with a hint of pumpkin spice or a new syrup like pistachio or dark chocolate. Also, millennials and Gen Z “continue to drive trends in espresso-based and specialty beverages, making seasonal innovation even more important,” Campbell said.
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