Food Sales, Service, Convenience Who Wins Fast Casual, Fast Food or C-Stores?

Consumers vote with there feet and wallet according to Tacoma, WA based Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson at Foodservice Solutions®. Year over year customer counts continue to plague many chain restaurants all the while foodservice within the C-store sector is projected to clime once again above 6% this year.

A new study by Alix Partners found that Consumers rate their experience in purchasing meals and beverages at convenience stores much better than fast-food or fast-casual restaurants in terms of speed of service and overall convenience. The majority also say that ready-to-go/serve-yourself foods, beverages and snacks are their preferred type of foodservice when they shop at a convenience store.

So, let’s see just what key findings were:

1.       Lower percentages of consumers rated c-stores ahead of fast-food and fast-casual restaurants in regards to healthy food/beverage choices and menu options. However, they did give c-stores the nod for better prices than fast-casual establishments. 

2.       Foodservice is the primary c-store purchase category (picked as tops by 28 percent of participants), but 40 percent of these shoppers view it primarily for snacking. 

3.       57 percent say ready-to-eat is the type of foodservice they most want from c-stores, with made-to-order far behind at only 29 percent. 

4.       Half of respondents (50 percent) said “better-for-you” options are important when choosing a c-store, up from 46.5 percent in last year’s survey. 

5.       A loyalty program is a very important c-store influencer (3.6 on a scale of 1 to 5), scoring higher than a drive-thru (rated 2.7). 

6.       Food quality, price, speed and menu variety are the most important factors when it comes to delivery from a c-store. Forty-four percent of consumers prefer to order directly from the store rather than a third-party service (12 percent). 

7.       For traditional c-store products, 36 percent of millennials and 20 percent of Gen X say they will shop more at Amazon instead in the year ahead. 

8.       89 percent of electric car owners say having charging stations is important for c-stores, with half (51 percent) saying it is “extremely important.”

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