DATA MINE
FOODSERVICE
PROFITS ON THE MENU
Convenience dining is gaining ground every year as c-stores make the shift to more appealing fare and demonstrate greater quality BY KELLY GRAY
More customers are looking to convenience retail for quick snacks and meals than ever. Convenience dining has grown well over the past year with operators turning to established brands and creating interesting house products to fill the need for prepared foods. In fact, Technomic has reported that 34% of consumers in 2016 looked to convenience retailers for a prepared food item. This is up 4% over 2014 indicating a trend where consumers are viewing c-stores as places where convenience intersects with great tastes. Helping the perception is the drive to branded partnerships among quick service retailers. Wellknown brands convey tagon values that c-stores can utilize to their benefit. This has been the experience of Yogi Solanki operator of RO 9 Convenience in Orangeville, ON. Yogi opened the store a couple of years ago and has built a considerable business with some 100,000 customers in his catchment. Helping to anchor the trade at his store are two foodservice brands, Mr. Sub and Country Style Coffee. “My idea was to create a store that is a one stop shop for everything people need and this in-cludes food for all day parts. This meant a good foodservice component and I was fortunate to find solid brands people knew and understood,” he says, reporting that his customers are 30% foodservice only, 30% c-store only, and 40% blended with people using both channels. “It’s this 40% of customers that use both that allows us to increase basket size with in-store promotions and suggestive selling.” RO 9 Convenience is the number one Mr. Sub/ Country Style franchise in Canada. He reports his store sees an average of 550 foodservice customers a day in busy summer months and 350 a day in slower periods. While he covers all day parts his best trade is the lunch and dinner crowd. “I have been conservative in the use of social media for advertising. I believe strongly in word of mouth and this has paid off with customer counts growing as people tell others about our store and product offering.” Yogi tells that he has been very careful in his 12
JULY | AUGUST 2017
c-store stock assortment. “Why have things people don’t need? I listen to my customers and only stock what is necessary. As a result I only find about $100 worth of wear-dated stock every three months. The real volume is in the foodservice side. This attracts customers who may also pick up a quart of milk or a lottery ticket on the way out. While Yogi turned to national brands to convey the kind of trust in menu and kitchen that keeps his customers coming back, others have developed their own signature offering that utilizes lo-cal brand messaging. For example, TimberFalls Store and AutoSpa in Steinbach, MB offers Papa Peppies Pizza, a pie made in house and sold to area customers that know the taste and val-ue of the product. They also operate a Nana K’s Waffle Loft and sell locally made meats and cheeses. On Sunday the store is famous for its ‘Kieke’ a noodle dish popular with Mennonite folks who stop in by the van-load after church in the religious farming community. According to the operators, Lorne and Edna Funk, it’s not uncommon to sell 200 plates of noodles during Sunday lunch when people throng into the 70-seat dining area. In Whitecourt, AB, a town about 175 km northwest of Edmonton, the Hommy family operate the Esso at Kanata, a c-gas operation that is locally famous for its foodservice and nationally re-nowned for it restrooms (Esso at Kanata was Cintas’ top restroom in 2016). According to Esso at Kanata owner Landon Hommy, the 6,500 sq. ft. c-store has been open for the past 20 months. Working with a kitchen crew of five to six workers, the site has CCentral.ca