Tips, New Items and Foodservice Trends in Our Sights

CHICAGO — Funky flavors, a rise in energy drinks, data analytics to help businesses and best practices in point-of-sale (POS) systems all have been on the mind of convenience-store retailers and consultants.

Click through for a look at what’s in the basket of recent news in foodservice and related categories …

Mashups are hot right now as c-stores partner with well-known candy brands for offbeat beverages and more. C-stores also have been carrying mashups created by other companies.

For example, Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz in May teamed with Goetze’s Candy Co. to launch a series of Cow Tales-inspired seasonal milkshakes at the c-store chain. The first two limited-edition collaborations are Caramel and Cream Milkshake with Cow Tales Flavors and Strawberry Cream Milkshake with Cow Tales Flavors. They’re available in all 649 Sheetz stores in six states.

Elsewhere, on-the-go, blend-it-yourself shake and smoothie company f’real, Emeryville, Calif., added a Snickers milkshake to its offerings. This newest flavor marks the first partnership between f’real and Mars Wrigley, Chicago, the makers of the iconic Snickers bar.

The blurring of lines between dayparts is another growing c-store trend. Two examples include GPM Investment’s grab-and-go initiative and 7-Eleven’s launch of all-day breakfast items.

When it comes to breakfast, lunch and dinner, Arie Kotler, chairman, president and CEO of Richmond, Va.-based ARKO Corp., parent company of GPM, told CSP, “I don’t think this definition exists anymore with consumer behavior.” The pandemic made irrelevant many daypart boundaries, Kotler said, and customers of breakfast and lunch have not returned to their conventional time slots—and they may not return.

“People are working from home,” Kotler says. “The people who go in the morning to drink coffee and buy a doughnut, a lot of them are just not there anymore, but they might come at 10 a.m. to buy coffee and a doughnut, and the same thing goes for lunch.”

As a result, ARKO/GPM has invested in grab-and-go cases at more than 525 stores and has added more than 680 freezers to better meet consumers’ needs.

Meanwhile, to coincide with Cinco de Mayo, Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven in May launched a new LTO: Mini Spicy Breakfast Empanadas, an all-day breakfast item featuring sausage, egg, cheese, peppers and spices wrapped in a flaky, buttery crust.

Energy drinks drive traffic into c-stores, and Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based QuickChek is finding ways to bring the drinks to foodservice.

In May, the chain launched a made-to-order version, starting with a can of sugar-free Red Bull and then infusing one or more flavors for a colorful and crisp iced or frozen drink.

QuickChek, a wholly owned subsidiary of Murphy USA, El Dorado, Ark., calls it, “A flavorful way to meet your energy needs and amp up your day.” Iced infusions are served in 16-ounce and 30-ounce cups, and frozen infusions are available in a 24-ounce size.

One sure way to improve foodservice sales: Call out the best-selling item on a store’s menu, says Dan Gertsacov, an Atlanta-based angel investor in food and restaurant technology who has worked at Google, Focus Brands and McDonald’s.

Speaking at the National Restaurant Association Show in May, Gertsacov said featuring a popular item goes a long way to encourage trial and promote it. “We did this at McDonald’s. In Latin America, when we put a ‘most popular’ [item] callout, we sold 40% more,” he said. “Use your data. Focus on the most popular, and you’ll sell more of it.”

Quick-service restaurants (QSRs) are increasingly setting up shop in c-stores. Dunkin has for years done business inside c-stores, and recently a Togo’s opened in a Grab N Go store in Modesto, Calif. It’s the first version of the fast-casual sandwich chain in a c-store implementing the company’s new “3.0” initiative.

The location, which includes a Union 76 gas station and a Starbucks, features kiosk ordering, updated branding and a new assembly-line approach to making sandwiches.

John Dyer, San Jose, Calif.-based Togo’s vice president of franchise sales and real estate, told CSP that the 50-year-old brand is staying competitive in the quick service restaurant (QSR) industry by expanding into nontraditional restaurant locations.

This blending of c-stores and QSRs has become so crucial to Milford, Conn.-based sandwich shop Subway that in May it named a vice president of nontraditional development. Taylor Bennett is now in charge of targeting nontraditional locations, including c-stores, airports and hospitals.

In another variation, c-store retailer Cubby’s closed on a deal to buy a traditional Godfather’s Pizza location in Omaha, Neb., the headquarters of Cubby’s. The chain now operates 22 Godfather’s Pizza Express locations and a Godfather’s Pizza To Go location.

“We are working hard to become a restaurant that just so happens to sell fuel,” says Mike Wilson, chief operating officer of Cubby’s.

Elsewhere, QSR Big Chicken, founded in 2018 by Shaquille O’Neal, entered into an agreement with Northwest Petroleum, Houston. The multiunit development deal will bring the Las Vegas-based QSR chain to the four largest Texas markets: Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin.