Convenience stores understand why customers choose to eat breakfast outside of the home. Fifty-eight percent of consumers who eat breakfast away from home do so because of convenience, according to the “Breakfast Keynote Report” fielded in April 2024 by research firm Datassential.
And c-stores know how to deliver on convenient, quick breakfast options.
However, 36% of customers said they eat breakfast away from home because specific foods and flavor profiles are too hard to make or replicate at home. Luckily, c-stores have been rising to the occasion with more versatile, flavorful and quality breakfast options to meet this need.
Tracking the Trends
More than half of consumers, particularly Gen Z, said they want high-protein offerings at breakfast, according to Datassential. Nearly half said they had eggs for their last breakfast, according to the report.
C-store retailers would do well to follow these trends and continue to respond accordingly.
Englefield Oil Co.’s Duchess convenience stores noticed one “strong trend” that has led to a popular menu offering: consumer demand for low-carb options, according to Nathan Arnold, Duchess’ director of marketing. Duchess responded with the “eggwich” — sausage and cheese sandwiched between two eggs instead of a bread or waffle carrier.
Less traditional meats, such as chorizo, also continue to grow for the breakfast segment. The signature item that sets Duchess apart, however, is called the Duchess Stuffer.
“We do especially well with our sausage gravy stuffer, which consists of sausage gravy stuffed inside a biscuit,” reported Arnold. “It turns sausage and gravy into a tasty handheld breakfast item.”
The latest item to be added to the menu is a chicken and biscuit sandwich that will be available at breakfast and lunch.
“By focusing on items that span across multiple dayparts we can increase the efficiencies of our team members and help to reduce waste,” Arnold explained.
At Duchess stores, breakfast accounts for 20% of the total foodservice program, he noted. In the past quarter the chain saw a 30% increase in breakfast sales.
Duchess operates 119 convenience stores in Ohio and West Virginia, 110 of which serve breakfast.
Duchess is not the only c-store chain to notice what customers want and add new items to its menu. At Nana’s Kitchen, Birmingham, Ala.-based Quick Shop’s foodservice program, customers have the option of enjoying a biscuit sandwich (bacon, egg and cheese is the favorite) or a full plated breakfast with grits, fried or scrambled eggs, and bacon or sausage.
“Our customers like to have choices,” Quick Shop President David Collins remarked. “And we have enough choices to make everybody happy.”
Collins continued that breakfast is very strong in the eight out of 13 total stores in Alabama that serve the morning meal. Sales in 2023 were higher than in 2022 and have grown the most from July through October.
At two of the stores, Collins has introduced breakfast wraps, using tortilla shells instead of a biscuit, and “they’re doing pretty good,” he said. He is also considering adding a sweet item such as a cinnamon roll.
Breakfast burritos and sandwiches seem to be crowd pleasers across regions.
At Kwik Stop, which has 27 locations — 13 of which offer breakfast — in Colorado and Nebraska, three breakfast burrito variations, including one made with chorizo, account for 43% of breakfast sales. The top-selling sandwich is the egg and cheese croissant which, by itself, accounts for 10.7% of total breakfast sales. Additionally, breakfast pizza slices represent 10.73% of morning daypart sales.
The breakfast daypart for 2023 accounted for over 16% of total deli sales, said Kwik Stop Director of Food Services M. David May. That number is up from 12% in 2022, representing a 33% increase.
May also emphasized that a dynamic breakfast business is crucial in c-stores because it boasts a 65% gross profit margin, more than any other daypart.
Last September, Kwik Stop added a waffle, sausage, egg and cheese sandwich and French toast sticks to its breakfast menu. Both are doing well, May said. In November, he launched Cinnobabies from partner Hot Stuff and plans to add a no-meat breakfast burrito.
Marketing the Morning Daypart
Adding variety and options that appeal to customers is not enough to capitalize on the breakfast daypart, however. C-store retailers must find ways to inform customers that can get them in the door to try their food, as well.
At Duchess, to promote its breakfast menu the stores offer two-for promotions or bundling opportunities.
“Coffee,” Arnold pointed out, “is, of course, a natural fit, but we’ve also had success with fountain drinks, canned energy drinks, bottled soda and sweet treats, such as coffee and a cookie with a breakfast sandwich or a candy bar with a breakfast sandwich.”
Drawing a customer’s eye to the breakfast offerings through strategic placement is also key for success.
May has found at Kwik Stop that one major way to increase foodservice, and specifically breakfast, sales is by moving the hot case close to the point of sale.
“We first noticed the benefit of having the cases very close to the registers when we began offering chicken,” he explained. “It dramatically increased impulse sales.”
