Convenience stores can create great foodservice offerings, but they also have to get customers in the door.
To do this, c-stores are focusing more on branding, said Kyle Drenon, co-owner of the Springfield, Missouri-based ad agency Supper Co.
“Kum & Go did a really good job of this. Sheetz has done this, too, and Wawa and others,” he said. “They’re able to create fans because of their branding, similar to how QSR is doing.”
Drenon said that a customer knew immediately they were in a Kum & Go, now owned by Salt Lake City-based Maverik, with the door handles in an ampersand symbol.
Getting a customer to enter the store from the forecourt requires creating an offering of “something truly craveable inside, and that probably needs to extend beyond pre-packaged goods,” which can be found all over, Drenon said.
“You have to get them to be curious about trying something that’s inside for fear of missing out,” he adds. “You have to start developing those and coming up with new ones all the time.”
Drenon advised one client to do a brand collaboration with Doritos on a fried chicken batter. “That kind of interesting crossover is another way to capture guests’ attention,” he said, creating the opportunity for a picture-worthy social media post that “makes people want to try it.”
To combat inflation, c-stores should take a page out of the restaurant industry’s book, Drenon said.
“The most successful restaurant in the country in 2024 was Chili’s,” Drenon said. “They used social capital, introduced a flavor, a Nashville Hot Mozzarella Stick, and when you bite into it, it’s this big cheese pull from your mouth. It comes out and it’s this moment that people wanted to film themselves doing.”
This garnered interest, and customers tried it, he said. “And then the smart part was they introduced a value meal for $10.99 that was a burger, fries, a drink and chips and queso, or chips and salsa,” Drenon said.
“Combating inflation is about the perception of value, that’s the key,” he said. “It’s not ‘give everything away and cut all your margins to nothing.’ It’s ‘have one deal that sounds really, really good and brings people in the door for that value.’”