Quicklee’s Convenience Stores Doubles Down on Food for Growth

Retailers large and small have been tracking the success derived after companies add grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food.  Regular readers of this blog know that 25,740 plus unique views a day of this blog across all Foodservice Solutions® social media platforms alone is a sign of the strength of the grocerant niche.

Quicklee’s Convenience Stores, a 14-store chain in upstate New York, positioned itself for aggressive growth in 2018 adding new stores and remodeling many current stores after it recently debuted a new 11,500-square-foot travel center complete with two c-stores, amenities for professional drivers and a food court.

Quicklee’s Vice President Ken Perelli, vice president stated  we replaced the previous Quicklee’s spanned 2.5 acres with a 3,500-square-foot c-store featuring a Dunkin’ Donuts, as well as a separate car wash. “We tore down the 3,500-square-foot building and its existing gas canopy, which had five pumps total,” ….

“Quicklee’s expanded the property by an additional six acres, constructing a new, 11,500-square-foot building. The forecourt includes six diesel, non-ethanol pumps and six high-speed diesel and DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) dispensers out back. The car wash remained, and the chain added a 7,500-square-foot truck maintenance building and a CAT scale. By converting the property to a travel center, Quicklee’s was able to offer its local community a bigger, all-inclusive c-store.

Perelli continued “In the main building area we have two convenience stores—each about 2,500 square feet. One has traditional convenience items. Then we have a truck-specific convenience store. We still have Dunkin’ Donuts and we have a New York-style deli called Calabresella’s,” Calabresella’s serves both hot and cold foods, including wraps, pasta and potato salads, specialty Italian sodas, and also sells meats and cheeses by the pound.

“If you imagine the building being broken up into thirds, the left side features a traditional c-store with a Dunkin’ Donuts. The middle third is actually a food court with seating for 50, and the right side features the Calabresella’s and the truck-stop convenience store. The far side of the truck stop features a laundry facility, changing area, four private showers and restrooms with heated floors,” Perelli said. The site can easily accommodate 100 guests within a few minutes….

The food court features a proprietary food area called the “Chill and Fill,” as well as a fireplace, a large screen TV, leather chairs and sofas. Food options include a soda fountain, a soup bar, a pizza station, chicken dinner, chicken fingers, pretzel rolls, corn dogs, hot dogs, mashed potatoes and mac n cheese. Grab-and-go options also abound, including salads, puddings, string cheese and cold-cut sandwiches.

Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® agrees with his team that doubling down on grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food will drive traffic, build sales all while increasing the bottom line. 

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or twitter.com/grocerant