OKLAHOMA CITY – A recent Associated Press article takes a look at the transition that Love’s Travel Stops has made since 2012, increasing its in-store selection of fresh fruits and vegetables. In fact, since the company began offering more fresh options, it has seen its fruit and vegetable cups and bananas outsell traditionally popular items. 

“We’re doing what (our customers) have been asking us to do by giving them fresh options,” Bryan Street, category manager over deli, fruit, fountain and roll grill at Love’s, told the AP. “We’ve seen great success not only in the new stores, but in the existing stores,” he added. “People as a whole want to be healthier. They want something fresh that doesn’t make them feel tired or make them feel bad.”

According to nutritionist Nancy Caldarola, a longtime foodservice and food safety consultant to NACS, the fresh trend began in the mid-2000s, with stores on the East Coast offering made-to-order sandwiches. When she started pushing the idea of fresh items in 2010, c-store operators had concerns about  the perishability of fresh products. But, Caldarola affirms, “the opportunity for profitability is there in food if stores focus on what customers are buying, and they want fresh foods.” (For more on how a successful produce program can help your bottom line, read “The Case for Fresh” in the April issue of NACS Magazine.)

Love’s, for example, retains a high profit margin by cutting and packaging the fruit itself, rather than outsourcing the preparation or using another brand.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, QuikTrip spokesman Mike Thornbrugh said the company has been redesigning its stores with more space in the front for its fresh fruit offerings. With the new store design, there are coolers on the floor, making it easier for customers to grab the snacks. As QuikTrip has recognized, store design is important to the success of fresh food items. The retailer has found that displaying fresh items in the back cooler so customers are forced to wander the store is not an effective strategy. . (More  on how store design encourages more purchases of fresh foods will be featured in the September pre-NACS Show issue of NACS Magazine.)

Thornbrugh emphasized: “We don’t think [fresh foods] it’s a trend. We think it’s a category that will continue to grow. We’re just not big on fads. It’s becoming more and more of a staple. We wouldn’t dedicate this much space if they didn’t sell.”