FOODSERVICE Prepared Food + Hot, Cold, Frozen Dispensed Beverages
HOW TO
How to Turn Women & Millennials Into Foodservice Customers By Bob Phillips
G
enerally speaking, the typical convenience store foodservice customer is thought to be male, blue collar and aged 30 or older. It’s a well-known fact that about 160 million customers visit convenience stores throughout the United States every day. It’s also a fact that foodservice accounts for 25 percent of Foodservice 101 all in-store (i.e., non-petroleum) • The store environment, marketing gross dollar profand staff play a big role in the its. That’s nearly overall presentation. double the margins • Understand that getting started is just of tobacco and the beginning. packaged beverages. • Women and millennials are principally “Today, and interested in health and wellness. for the foreseeable C-stores that don’t yet offer calorie future, foodservice counts and nutritional labeling would — and especially benefit from implementing these ASAP. fresh foodservice
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76 Convenience Store News | OCTOBER 2015 | WWW.CSNEWS.COM
— represents the most important category in our business,” said How To Crew expert Maurice Minno, principal of MPM Consulting Group and former executive at Circle K and Wawa. From Minno’s perspective, foodservice is the most important component in driving future sales inside convenience stores. He lists several reasons, including: • Fresh foodservice is what today’s customers not only want, but crave. Customers seek out c-store retailers who are capable of satisfying customer foodservice cravings during each daypart (from morning to late night) — cravings for innovative, fresh, quality, good value-priced foods and beverages. • It enables a c-store retailer to build a distinctive brand and operational model that can deliver truly unique experiences for consumers. Driving brand distinctiveness and delivering unique and memorable customer experiences is the key to retail success. • A focus on fresh foodservice allows c-store retailers to evolve their image from offering simply