Breakfast sales have ebbed and flowed since the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and work-from-home trends disrupted normal daypart patterns. Now, more retailers report that breakfast sales are returning. More c-stores are adding quick-service restaurant (QSR) quality food, catering to customer demand for both fresh-prepared breakfast and fast handheld eats they can consume on the go.
“Breakfast has really been a hot item for the past five or so years. Even outside of the c-store industry, QSRs that traditionally are a lunch or dinner spot have made the move to capture that morning breakfast commuter customer,” said Mike Gilligan, vice president of Gilligan’s Retail, which operates 10 Gilligan’s c-stores in Arizona and two The Welcome Stop sites in Montana.
Currently, about half of the chain’s stores feature foodservice — including breakfast — while the other half are limited due to the space constraints of smaller footprints.
“We offer breakfast burritos and breakfast sandwiches served grab-and-go style out of our hotbox and a made-to-order menu with a larger variety of breakfast options,” Gilligan said. “Our sandwiches, through our grab-and-go, are served on either a biscuit, English muffin or bagel and have the option of egg with sausage, bacon or ham. Our breakfast burritos also come with the same meat options, including an additional chorizo option.“
The fresh-prepared menu is much larger and features items traditionally found at a sit down-style restaurant.
“It includes pancakes, omelets, different types of bagels with cream cheese, traditional plates of eggs, meat and hash browns, as well as all the items that we serve in our hotbox,” Gilligan said.
Gilligan has found that c-store customers are seeking a quick and fresh menu that delivers great taste while fitting with their busy schedules.
“We never want to sacrifice quality for the sake of speed, so that is why we offer a smaller menu through the grab-and-go counter and the larger menu for the customer that has time to sit down and enjoy their meal at one of our stores,” Gilligan said.
Gilligan’s Retail has seen breakfast traffic stay steady through the pandemic.
“As an industry, we were fortunate to be able to stay open and continue to serve our customers the past few years, a luxury that not all businesses were afforded,” Gilligan said.
Introducing delivery has helped Gilligan’s with breakfast sales. A few years ago, the chain partnered with a couple of third-party apps to reach customers and remain as convenient as possible. Gilligan noted that delivery continues to grow for the chain.
“As more retailers are entering into this specific market, we must continue to be creative with our offering and make sure that our food meets our own high standards and the expectations of our customers, who have many choices,” Gilligan said.
Simple Menu, Growing Sales
At Corner Store, which operates two c-stores and a travel center in the Seminole, Texas area, hot grab-and-go items are attracting customers at all three locations.
“To be able to offer fresh, hot and convenient services is the best way to attract customers and have them coming back,” said Becka Friessen, human resources and marketing director for Corner Store.
Corner Store locations feature kitchens and proprietary offerings made on-site.
“Corner Store offers a small and simple breakfast menu. From the kitchen we serve breakfast burritos and breakfast sandwiches,” she said. “In the warmer we serve tornados and fried burritos as well. We are known for and specialize in our amazing, hot and fresh breakfast burritos.”
Corner Store customers were demanding fast and fresh menu items, and since the chain began responding to that need, it’s been a game changer for sales.
“Our sales have gone up 60% since we started serving the fresh, homemade burritos as a hot grab-and-go item,” Friessen said. “We did a test run in June 2022 by putting a few fresh-made breakfast burritos out (different varieties from bacon-egg-and-cheese to sausage or ham with egg and cheese to a combo, etc.) in the warmers next to the tornados and fried burritos every morning. What we noticed almost immediately is that eight out of 10 customers would buy the fresh burrito out of the warmer rather than waiting the five minutes to order a custom one.”
Corner Store’s Travel Center opened in March of this year. In June it sold more than 2,000 breakfast burritos, and in the month of October it sold 3,225 breakfast burritos.
“Looking at past reports, seeing that we have increased our monthly burritos sold count by exactly 1,204 in just four months, shows me that our customers love our breakfast, even if our menu is small and simple,” Friessen said. “But we deliver quality, and that is what matters the most.”
Heat And Eat
Customers at Good To Go stores are also seeking quick, high-quality and delicious hand food that can be consumed on the go.
“We have a mix of both heat-and-eat grab-and-go items as well as items prepared on-site. These items include breakfast pizza, croissant and biscuit sandwiches, breakfast burritos, and biscuits and gravy,” said Mike Jones, director of retail and marketing for Good To Go, which operates 15 c-stores in Indiana and Illinois.
Good To Go recently launched waffle breakfast sandwiches and is exploring a French Toast-based option.
“Sausage, egg and cheese still dominates the protein landscape when it comes to breakfast, but we are starting to see more customers wanting a sweeter taste profile as well,” Jones said.
Despite new menu additions, breakfast sales at Good To Go have not yet fully recovered to pre-pandemic highs. Inflation is currently a driving force impacting breakfast sales trends, whereas early in the pandemic it was due to customer demand for different dayparts given the shutdowns, Jones explained.
Still, breakfast sales are on the rise for the chain.
“Breakfast sales are up by 4.5%, (but) they are still only making up 23% of the total daypart contribution,” Jones said.
Looking Ahead
Corner Store plans to continue its current strategy of maintaining a simple menu heading into 2023, while providing customers the fast, hot and fresh grab-and-go service they expect, Friessen said.
But other retailers are considering various strategies to maintain sales given the economic uncertainty expected in the coming year.
Looking ahead to 2023, with inflation still rising and a recession looming, Jones expects more customers will be focused on cutting costs, which might mean eating breakfast at home more often. Good To Go believes opportunities exist to market prepared meals that customers can heat and prepare for breakfast.
“The bottom line is we need to be able to pivot as needed to address the big advantages we have as an industry, which are the last mile, saving time and convenience,” Jones said. “We also see opportunities to offer breakfast through multiple dayparts,” Jones said. “McDonald’s did this some time ago and customers really seem to gravitate to it. Furthermore, with folks working a variety of shifts around the clock, who is to say really when breakfast is?”
Gilligan concurred that the industry is experiencing challenges today that are expected to continue into next year, particularly when it comes to food costs and supply.
“Having a good offering for breakfast is half the battle, the other half is marketing and promoting the product, which is where I expect we will see a big growth from retailers as we head into next year,” Gilligan said. “We are constantly looking into the future and working with our food suppliers on different ways we can offer promotions to our customers and tackle the challenges we face as an industry together.”
