Why Casey’s General Stores Continues to Win at the Intersection of Food, Convenience, and Value

For decades, convenience stores struggled to be taken seriously as food destinations. Casey’s General Stores has methodically dismantled that perception by leaning into what I call the grocerant sweet spot: fresh food credibility, craveable takeout, and disciplined mix-and-match bundling that consistently grows ticket size across dayparts according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Casey’s is no longer just selling food as an add-on to fuel—it is architecting a food-forward ecosystem where prepared meals, dispensed beverages, and grocery adjacencies reinforce one another with impressive financial results.

Prepared Foods: The Economic Engine of the Brand

Casey’s prepared food and dispensed beverage business continues to perform like a high-margin foodservice operator rather than a traditional c-store. Prepared food and dispensed beverage sales rose 4.8% year over year, and an even more telling 10.3% on a two-year stack basis, with an average margin of 58.6%. That margin profile rivals—and in some cases exceeds—many QSR concepts.

Whole pizzas remain a cornerstone, but the growth story is broader. Whole pies and hot sandwiches performed well across all dayparts, reinforcing the importance of all-day food availability. Even more notable is breakfast, which performed exceptionally well, driven by innovation such as the Maple Waffle Breakfast Sandwich. This product underscores an important strategic shift: Casey’s culinary team is not merely refreshing legacy items—they are actively innovating with flavor-forward, comfort-driven offerings that resonate with time-starved consumers.

Fresh Food and Takeout: Expanding the Grocerant Halo

Casey’s success is rooted in its ability to blur the line between grocery and restaurant. Freshly prepared pizzas, hot sandwiches, and breakfast items anchor the takeout experience, while adjacent grocery items allow shoppers to build complete meal solutions.

Same-store grocery and general merchandise sales increased 2.7% year over year and 6.4% on a two-year stack basis, with an average margin of 36%, up approximately 40 basis points from the prior year. This improvement was driven by a favorable mix shift toward higher-margin items such as energy drinks and nicotine alternatives.

From a grocerant perspective, this matters because these items are not purchased in isolation. They are commonly bundled with food—pizza plus energy drink, breakfast sandwich plus coffee, hot sandwich plus snack—creating incremental ticket lift without requiring incremental labor.

Mix-and-Match Bundling: Where Ticket Size Is Won

Casey’s demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of bundled behavior. Customers don’t come in for “a pizza”; they come in for dinner. They don’t want “a breakfast sandwich”; they want breakfast solved.

By leveraging grocerant mainstay principles—mix-and-match bundling across prepared foods, beverages, and grocery adjacencies—Casey’s consistently increases basket size. The data supports this strategy: higher-margin grocery items complement prepared food purchases, while dispensed beverages deliver margin accretion with minimal friction.

This bundling capability is a competitive moat. It allows Casey’s to monetize traffic across multiple missions: fuel stop, meal occasion, and pantry replenishment—all within a single visit.

Fuel Still Matters—But Food Makes It Stick

Fuel remains an important traffic driver. Same-store gallons sold increased 0.8%, with a fuel margin of 41.60 cents per gallon, supported by strong premium and mid-grade demand, stable diesel sales, disciplined pricing, and solid fleet volume gains.

However, from a Grocerant Guru® perspective, fuel is increasingly the entry point, not the profit center. The real long-term value lies in converting fuel customers into repeat food customers—something Casey’s does better than most through consistent food quality and broad daypart relevance.

 

Three Insights from the Grocerant Guru®

1.       Casey’s Is a Food Company That Happens to Sell Fuel
With prepared food margins approaching 60%, Casey’s economic model increasingly mirrors foodservice leaders rather than traditional convenience retailers.

2.       Breakfast Innovation Is the Next Growth Multiplier
Products like the Maple Waffle Breakfast Sandwich signal that Casey’s understands breakfast is no longer transactional—it must be indulgent, portable, and memorable.

3.       Bundling Is the Silent Profit Driver
Casey’s disciplined mix-and-match strategy across food, beverages, and grocery adjacencies quietly but consistently expands ticket size without adding operational complexity.

In an era where convenience alone is no longer enough, Casey’s General Stores proves that when fresh food, innovation, and bundling discipline align, the grocerant model delivers both customer loyalty and sustainable margin growth.

For international corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaking will leave success clues for all. For more information visit www.GrocerantGuru.com , www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or call    1-253-759-7869