Not any new gas station': Convenience stores enjoying new success with focus on food | PHOTOS
As of Sunday, March 22, 2015
© Copyright 2015 Gwinnett Daily Post
© Copyright 2015 Gwinnett Daily Post
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Gas Stations Focus on Food
Across the country, chains are selling more and more food — and racking up record sales.
#LAWRENCEVILLE — Trevor Dowdy gets it.
#“It’s not any new gas station — this is the new QT!” the local audio engineer said the other day, after ordering a chicken-bacon-ranch flat bread sandwich at the QuikTrip on Duluth Highway. “This was very exciting when it opened.”
#The enthusiastic Lawrenceville man is correct that the newly opened QT isn’t your average gas station. It has a kitchen and offers an expansive menu of pizzas, toasted sandwiches, hot dogs, pretzels, flat breads and even more variety in pre-made food and drinks.
#But, as those in the industry know, convenience stores like this probably won’t be an anomaly for long. Across the country and throughout Gwinnett County, customers are increasingly stopping at gas stations for food, and gas stations are increasingly upping the ante on what was previously thought possible — or smart — in the market.
#Mike Thornbrugh, spokesman for QT, which has its metro Atlanta offices in Lawrenceville, tells the story this way:
#For years, the company’s leaders have been bracing for decreased gas and tobacco sales, as Americans slowly transition from those cash cows. Tobacco, a large profit driver, was of particular interest. Thornbrugh says QT knew 10 years ago that tobacco sales would decline “at a pretty accelerated rate.”
#Food sales emerged as a means of supplementing the eventual loss of the goose’s golden eggs.
#“We believed that over time, if we were methodical and took our time to learn the business, that we’d have a chance to be very successful,” Thornbrugh said. “We’re just getting to a point where we think we’re pretty good at it. We have a long way to go. The opportunities to add more and more varieties, it’s there. We’ll take our time to get there.”
#Changing business
#QT is but one of the companies shifting gears. The same is true of Atlanta-based RaceTrac and some smaller operations, whose food efforts continue to grow, with more options and daily deals for travelers looking for a bite on the go.
#At RaceTrac, the public relations department regularly sends out news releases to the media about new menu items and floods social media with pictures of sandwiches, hotdogs, lattes, cupcakes and donuts.
#“RaceTrac’s mission,” executive chef Bob Derian said in one recent release, “is to make people’s lives simpler and more enjoyable, and our fresh food offering gives our guests the opportunity to enjoy great-tasting food without sacrificing quality, freshness or convenience.”
#Such missions appear to have plenty of dollars-and-cents logic behind them.
#According to the National Association of Convenience Stores, U.S. convenience stores reached record in-store sales in 2013, with food and drink service being “the category that drove profits.”
#Food and drinks prepared in house accounted to 29.1 percent of gross profit dollars, well ahead of tobacco, which brought in 18.7 percent. Pre-packaged drinks were second, pulling 19.6 percent of gross profit dollars. Pre-packaged foods accounted for 9.9 percent, the NACS found.
#One look around the QT on Duluth Highway makes it clear that the industry has seen the writing on the wall.
#Throughout, the store is stocked with fresh pizza, pretzels, sausages and sandwiches. Shelves and cases hold beef jerky, yogurt, string cheese, Lunchables meals, prepackaged sandwiches and burritos, fruit, cake, salads — even key lime pie. Also on offer are dozens of drink options, frozen and otherwise.
#The food and drink operation is so sizable that the company has had to adjust the way its stores are built.
#A new ‘generation’
#With the advent of QT’s “Generation 3” design, which puts a focus on expanded food and drink options, the chain has been relocating stores to new sites often very near to the existing locations.
#Such was the case with the Lawrenceville Generation 3 store. In February, the chain closed its 2110 Riverside Parkway location and opened the brand new, larger store less than half a mile away at 1094 Duluth Highway.
#According to Thornbrugh, replacing locations isn’t new for QuikTrip. Sometimes changes such as traffic pattern shifts spur the company to move, he said, but with the Generation 3 stores, “if we don’t have enough room on the existing (site), you are seeing a lot of re-locations down the street, across the street.”
#It might sound like an expensive ordeal to go through to make more room for food, but the company thinks it makes sense long-term.
#“We’re not real big on short-term,” he said. “Everything is long-term, and we’re confident that as people become more aware of it and we become more proficient at it, we’re going to do very well.”
#But even in the short-term, the company at least appears to be on its way. In the span of about 45 minutes around lunchtime recently, the Duluth Highway store saw a steady stream of customers coming in to grab a bite.
#Asked why they chose a gas station for lunch, nearly all said the same thing: time.
#“It’s just fast,” said Joe Sanchez, a local construction project manager. Sanchez, rushing to get back to work with a sausage dog in hand, said the trip is just simple; you can get gas, get lunch and get out.
#For Rick Booher, a school bus driver, time was also a factor.
#“It’s on my way where I’ve got to be and I was running close on time,” he said. “It’s just quick fast food, in and out. You don’t have to worry about standing in lines or anything like that.”
#On the quality of the food, Booher and most of the others asked didn’t exactly rave, but they said it did the job.
#“It’s pretty good. I ain’t going to say it’s the best, but it gets you through,” the bus driver said.
#But the chain is working steadily to improve and offer even more — and better — products.
#“The sky’s the limit,” the spokesman said. “There’s no telling what we’ll be able to offer in the future. Nothing’s off the table. We’re going to try a lot of things as we continue to grow the business.”
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