Rutter’s plans out its limited-time offer menus 20 weeks ahead of time.
“Obviously there’s a couple of things that come up here and there,” said Philip Santini, senior director of food service and bar strategy at York, Pennsylvania-based Rutter’s. “We’re working on a pizza program that wasn’t necessarily in our plan for 2025, and then it came to be. So, you sort of have these other plans to fall back on.”
However, the 20-week period, part of the convenience-store chain’s LTO launch playbook, is important for team training and in-store marketing—as well as for leveraging one’s app and loyalty program, he said, speaking Oct. 15 at the National Association of Convenience Stores Show in Chicago.
“If you're creating a new menu item on your program, some of the materials might be available,” he said. “Your baseline SOPs [standard operating procedures] are probably there, your know-hows on how to get training materials out to the stores are probably there, but the physical and actual way to do it is not, and that’s what is probably the most important period of time, the bulk of time in getting this done and ready to go.”
Another part of LTO planning is internal communications, which includes setting up financial reporting to see if these items are going succeed or fail, Santini said.
In-store marketing is another area to consider, he said.
“How are you communicating this to your guests?” Santini asked. “How are you getting out there? What’s the launch behind this new program? Are you just throwing french fries on the menu and saying, ‘This is this is what we got now, guys. Give it a try.’”
- Rutter’s is No. 79 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count.
Santini also said retailers must plan what they’ll do with their app and loyalty program to leverage this information.
“You put a new menu item out there, you pushed it to your most loyal customers, you’re getting their feedback on it thousands of times a week,” he said. “What are you doing with the information? How are you leveraging that to say, ‘Guys, this is what we need from you,’ or, ‘Does this item work in your everyday experience at the c-store; yes or no?’
“It’s very easy to pull that data,” he continued. “It’s much harder to do something with it, so that’s the challenge over here in the playbook.”
From LTO to permanent addition
Santini discussed crafting a flavor story, focusing on the Rutter’s cheeseburger sub and how it began as an LTO and became a permanent menu item.
“It’s a cheeseburger, basically, on a sub roll,” he said. “It’s simple, but what’s fun and surprising about it is that we put fried pickles on it. It’s a relatable twist to something that’s very classic."
The sub includes thousand island dressing, ranch dressing, tomatoes and lettuce. The sub can appeal to a customer coming in for a burger and seeing this item.
“Why not try this?” he said. “The ring is better for us. The market basket increases slightly, and then there’s opportunities for you to take a few liberties with what you’re pairing with these items.”
Another way to look at flavor elements is to tie them to something seasonal that makes sense, he said.
When Rutter’s first launched the cheeseburger sub, it did so as part of its LTO series and tied it into its annual summer promotion where Rutter’s does summer games including free giveaways. The item is now on the chain’s permanent menu.
“We wanted to do something a little bit more fun,” Santini said. “More of, you’re out on the road, you’re likely to get to go to a picnic with your family, you’re likely to go to a fair or carnival. So, we released this with the fair and carnival menu item. That was a moment that tied to something that was relatively seasonal based off the time of year that we were.”
There’s also the factor of creating curiosity and urgency.
“We launched this menu item last summer, and it was great,” he said. “We took it off the menu for Q1 and Q2, and we just brought it back as part of our larger burger menu because it makes sense. There is a moment now where people understand what this is and how it should be part of our menu. The idea of ‘try before it's gone’ is very, very powerful.
“The other side of this is what happens if it's really successful?” Santini continued. “You’re not going to try it before it’s gone; you’re going to keep it on the menu, so we try to balance when to keep something and when to move it on a regular basis.”
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