The past couple of years have been unprecedented for the U.S. foodservice industry. When COVID-19 shuttered nearly all of the U.S. economy in March 2020, c-stores were one of the few places left where consumers could escape for a quick snack or a break from home lockdown.

As we enter September 2022, there are still several headwinds facing the industry — record high inflation, high fuel prices and a weak stock market — yet c-stores continue to evolve and become relevant to newer generations of consumers.

Shifting Consumer Composition

For example, millennials and Gen Z did not experience the industry’s evolution from gas stations offering lone roller grills in a dark corner into stores with the glowing, spacious and welcoming atmosphere of a Thorntons, QuickChek or Rutter’s. 

While baby boomers and Gen X still deal with perception issues from a troubled c-store past, the younger generations will help bolster growth as food has become ubiquitous — from food trucks, to bookstores, to drug stores and just about anywhere else people congregate. 

Safety Perceptions Are Changing

It is tough to see the silver lining in a pandemic, and yet there have been many fundamental changes to society that have helped bolster c-store foodservice. 

Among challenges retailers face are criticisms surrounding the safety of a c-store, particularly whether stores are safe for women shoppers. 

In December 2020, 61% of females indicated they felt “safe” in a c-store, and that number rose to 71% in January 2022. Clearly, the segment has made many enhancements to stores to improve this perception. 

Lockport, N.Y.-based Crosby’s was one of the first chains during the pandemic to become Safe Shop Assured, a recognition of having met and exceeded a 10-point checklist of essential safety measures. Small measures such as these go a long way to give the first-time visitor peace of mind.

Freshness Cues 

The three essential requirements a successful restaurant (which is what c-stores aspire to be) must follow are excellent food, delivering consistently on the service fundamentals and an exceptional store appearance.

In the c-store context, most consumers serve themselves and many items are grab-and-go products for a myriad of reasons, chief among them being labor constraints and the desire of the shopper to transact in less than five minutes. Convenience stores, therefore, have a very short window in which to showcase fresh and premium with respect to prepared foods. 

In December 2020, the majority of c-store shoppers judged the freshness of a prepared food item by looking at the expiration date (63%), but by January 2022, “visual inspection” of the food became the top factor (54%). While these may not seem significant, it does tell us that consumers have become more in-tune with visual inspection after the pandemic, a trend we have seen across all grab-and-go and non-commercial service systems.

What’s really important for c-store retailers investing in foodservice to know is that consumer tastes and composition will always change. 

What retailers can do, however, is strive for controlling those things such as food quality, appearance and staff professionalism, as these are the fundamental elements of foodservice success no matter the external market conditions.

Tim Powell is a principal at Foodservice IP, a Chicago-based consultancy.