Kwik Chek Meal Deals on the Menu

Cooking from scratch gets old particularly when you are forced to day after day and that is one of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic that has created an opportunity for food retailers in every sector according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Kevin Smartt, CEO of convenience store chain Kwik Chek Corp., recently stated “The clouds are starting to lift, referring to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business at the chain’s 46 stores in Texas and Oklahoma.” Smartt also knows that foodservice drive visit frequency and ticket / basket size.

Since very few have been going to work, Kwik Chek has been dealing with decreased trip counts and lower fuel gallons since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. “But inside sales have been pretty resilient,” Smartt told Convenience Store News in a recent interview. “Some of our stores are barely down at all in same-store sales.”

Smartt shared what consumers were buying in the interview, “The winners are beer — larger pack sizes are up tremendously — cigarettes and OTP [other tobacco products], ice cream, and staples, when we can get them,”

Kwik Chek recently launched Family Meal Deals, which Smartt said in the article are “starting to gain traction.” Family Meal Deals come in several different offerings, from chicken tenders to tacos, hamburgers, pizza, and more. Each deal costs less than $20 and serves a family of four and according to Johnson that is a very important price point to hit. Grocerant niche mix & match meal components are a hallmark of grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat success.

At Kwik Chek the Family Meal Deals, and similar Family Kwik Packs that are available in the cold grab-and-go case, are ideal for customers who want to pick up a quick meal, bring it home, and then heat and eat it. Kwik Chek intends to continue tweaking its family meal offerings, and most likely will keep them going after the current COVID-19 crisis, according to Smartt. After all prior to C-19 customer migration to Grocerant niche mix & match meal components was the key drive of growth within every sector of food retail according to Johnson.

Now that he can see a light at the end of the tunnel, Smartt conjectured that many of the activities adopting during the pandemic will have staying power including “Contactless payment will be vastly accelerated.” Kwik Chek is evolving with customer relevant touchpoints.  How are you evolving?

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.