Supermarket News reported that 7-Eleven’s hot food merchandising pilots show that pizzas prepared in-store are the third-fastest moving SKU at the chain, even exceeding sales of cigarettes and certain cups of coffee, Dennis Phelps, 7-Eleven’s vice president of fresh foods said during a food retail conference this week.
The results were presented in a session titled “Winning Consumers in the On the Go Moment,” which was part of The Grocery Manufacturers/Food Products Association’s Merchandising, Sales and Marketing conference.
7-Eleven’s pilot program launched in March, and has presented its shoppers with a menu of hot foods including pizza, chicken wings, chicken tenders, Jamaican beef patties and cinnamon churros, with most prepared using high-speed TurboChef Ovens. The c-store leader is rolling out the menu in multiple locations.
"We’ll have another 600 stores converted by the end of the year, and 2,000 by the end of next year," Phelps said, according to Supermarket News. "The sections give us the ability to sell pizza in 90 seconds and toasted sandwiches in 45 seconds."