Coffee and other hot dispensed beverages are major drivers for customers to walk into the convenience store, particularly for the morning daypart. The c-stores that capitalize on this category with promotional offers, new flavors and a variety of options are likely to create repeat customers, especially among those who travel the same route frequently.
Understanding consumer coffee preferences, especially as they change with the seasons and generations, is crucial for c-stores looking to win customer loyalty.
Flavors and Options
For the past two years, Kwik Trip/Kwik Star has been focusing on freshness by installing bean-to-cup coffee brewing technology in all of its 865 locations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota and Michigan, said Paul Servais, the Wisconsin-based company’s retail food service director.
“We went with the bean-to-cup technology because it offers a fresher cup of coffee for our guests, it’s always available and there’s less waste for us,” Servais remarked.
The convenience stores offer a variety of six different brews — house, dark roast, hazelnut, Colombian, decaf and a limited-time flavor that rotates with the seasons — under the Karuba brand, plus a full complement of syrups to customize them. Self-serve cappuccinos and lattes branded Karuba Gold complete the coffee program.
In its fall 2023 National Coffee Data Trends report, the National Coffee Association (NCA) found that 30% of Americans drank a flavored coffee. It also discovered that younger-generation coffee drinkers “want something special,” as 65% of Americans aged 25 to 39 and 51% aged 18 to 24 chose a specialty coffee during one week.
As Kwik Trip’s stores prove, flavor options, whether brew or syrup, sell. The NCA found that 30% of Americans drank a flavored coffee during one week with the best seller being vanilla, followed by a tie between caramel, toffee, butterscotch and hazelnut; the next popular flavor was mocha, with a tie between Irish cream and pumpkin spice following and amaretto/almond and maple pecan coming behind.
To accommodate customers with dietary restrictions or preferences — a growing portion of the population — the stores offer oat milk along with the usual dairy coffee lighteners, Servais noted.
Recently, Worcester, Mass.-based Nouria Energy also made its “largest investment yet” in the coffee category by installing bean-to-cup technology in 99% of its 160 New England locations in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, according to Roland von Gunten, the company’s culinary manager/chef.
“Bean-to-cup will also be our brewing technology as we grow and acquire new stores,” he explained.
Nouria stores offer four different varieties of coffee consisting of a signature blend, dark roast, Colombian and decaf. To give customers a flavor or multiple flavor boost of their choice, a Sure Shot machine dispenses 10 different syrups.
“We replaced our flavored coffees, including limited-time offers, and flavored creamers with the syrups to give our customers more choices every day,” von Gunten pointed out.
Teas also do well at Nouria. It offers eight varieties ranging from standard black English breakfast to herbal-based teas.
A couple of the stores with drive-throughs also sell coffees with flavorings, teas and hot chocolate.
Bundling and Loyalty
Eighty-one percent of American coffee drinkers have their brews with breakfast, according to the NCA, and Kwik Trip takes advantage of this coupling by bundling breakfast sandwiches with coffee at its convenience stores.
Nouria, too, bundles coffee with breakfast items, such as its Nouria-branded baked goods.
Another daypart opportunity suggested by NCA findings is focusing on the afternoon following lunchtime when 19% of consumers crave some caffeine.
In addition to bundling, one of the perks of Kwik Trip’s loyalty program is offering coupons for a buy-one-get-one-free cup. The company also promotes its coffee program through social media and on the sides of its trucks.
In order to reward its regular customers, Nouria offers one free cup of coffee every day to its loyalty program members.
“This is a huge benefit for our members and one that they really appreciate,” von Gunten said.