Food offerings most profitable part of the c-store business

Food services continue to be a growing part of the convenience store business, offering high profit margins and differentiation, says new report.

A new report from Dataessential reveals that 77% of convenience store operators believe that food service offering is a “very profitable” business. The trend towards fresh and healthy food has been ongoing for a number of years now.

The results show that c-store operators see food services as the most profitable part of their business, topping bottled and canned beverages (69%) and beer and alcohol (56%), while only 37% of the respondents claimed selling fuel was very profitable, reports cstoredecisions.com

“C-store operators are paying attention to what consumers are interested in and are updating their offerings to provide a fresh variety of dining choices to customers,” said Ann Golladay, senior project director at Datassential. “Foodservice is a powerful area for these stores to grow their bottom line and so they are motivated to pay attention to the latest food trends and to compete with the local fast food option.”

The products that experienced the biggest growth since 2012 are ethnic foods such as sushi, empanadas and egg rolls, finds the report. Currently, the demand is switching towards freshly made items and healthy products like fruit or salads.