As employee turnover remains a major concern for c-store retailers in 2026, labor costs rank among the industry’s top challenges, alongside rising food costs and shrinking basket sizes, according to Datassential’s Q2 C-Store Quarterly Tracker.
Following labor costs, food costs and basket size concerns, operators cited staff retention, recruitment, staffing practices and monthly business expenses as their top challenges in achieving profitability.
As a result, 25% of operators reported raising menu prices over the past month, with 19% noting that they reduced their menu size. Additionally, 13% of respondents reduced in-store seating capacity.
This reduction in seating capacity comes at a time when 22% of consumers reported visiting a c-store in-person for a meal away from home.
According to Datassential’s report, Millennials are leading the dine-in charge, with 28% saying that they had eaten at a c-store in the past month. This is followed by 23% of Gen Z, 21% of Gen X and 12% of Baby Boomers.
On the other side of that coin, delivery sales have seen increased adoption in the c-store space. Similarly to dine-in behavior, Gen Z and Millennials are driving the most delivery sales, with 12% of Gen Zers saying that they had food delivered from a c-store at least once in the past month, 12% of Millennials, 9% of Gen X and a stunning 0% from Baby Boomers.
Datassential surveyed 1,504 “gen pop” U.S. consumers and 438 c-store decision makers for the report —16 of whom operate convenience stores — to tap into the pulse of the c-store foodservice landscape.
Download the full report HERE.
