Food Fight: C-Stores vs. QSRs

Convenience stores are finding it harder to compete with and steal share from quick-service restaurants (QSRs), an industry expert says. Donna Hood Crecca, principal at RB sister research arm Technomic, said during a recent webinar on c-store foodservice that winning more occasions from fast-food restaurants “has become more difficult in the past couple of months because of all the value offerings that are out there,” Restaurant Business reports.

To combat such QSR value deals, Crecca convenience stores should:

• Offer more promotions and deals;
• Offer their own value meals/deals;
• Implement new menu item and pricing options for value meals;
• Increase marketing for value/combo meals.

Among those taking a tiered approach to pricing food items is Circle K, with $3, $4 and $5 offerings, Crecca said. David Hall, Circle K’s VP of Global Foodservice explained the chain’s strategy: “As customers continue to feel the strain of higher prices on their everyday purchases, we are looking to drive value for them, partnering with our suppliers to bring some great deals where they can enjoy great-tasting meals, quickly and easily at great prices.”

That partnership involves identifying, for example, “affinities between a breakfast product and an energy drink,” Hall said. “There are opportunities with the supplier, where there’s growth for them in a daypart, as well as for us that when we can bring these right meal deals together, it drives incrementality more for their businesses as well as ours.”

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