Kwik Trip Pulls Plug on Roller Grills

A major Midwest c-store chain is bidding goodbye to a longstanding fixture of such shops: the roller grills used to sell hot dogs, brats and the like. Kwik Trip Inc., a family-owned convenience store chain with 900-plus stores, says the grills will be gone from all its stores by Sept. 21, C-Store Dive reports.

The Wisconsin-based retailer will still sell items found on roller grills through its hot grab-and-go cases, which is also where the chains sells burgers, sandwiches, corndogs, pizza and other grab-and-go food items.

“We have tested this in a group of stores and found we can sell more of these items from our hot grab-n-go cases, which have a prominent position in the store, than we can from a roller grill,” said Kwik-Trip VP of Food Service Paul Servais.

At least one other major c-store chain has made the move away from roller grills, C-Store Dive notes. Last year, Murphy USA revealed that its newer, larger store design excludes the popular fixtures, which a district manager referred to as “dead space.”

“Roller grills have become synonymous with convenience stores through the years, often serving as a punchline to the industry’s efforts to establish itself as a food destination,” the C-SD story notes. “Yet they remain an integral part of c-store foodservice, particularly grab and go. Just a few years ago, sausage company Johnsonville reported that 71% of consumers viewed roller grills as ‘very important’ or ‘extremely important’ when choosing a c-store to visit.”