By Maureen Azzato
Many retailers can boast of success with their breakfast and lunch offers — the easier dayparts to execute — but few, if any, are tackling or scoring winning points for dinner.
That’s because no one has quite figured out what dinner should and could be in a convenience store. And if foodservice experts in the industry haven’t cracked the dinner code, how can they expect the consumer to make the leap from breakfast and lunch — where they are comfortable — to dinner, where there is scant record of credibility and success?
Consumers won’t begin to think of convenience stores for dinner without savvy marketing telling them why they should change their opinions and expectations of convenience stores.
And it’s no secret that dinner hours are the slowest traffic times for most convenience stores, when staffing is also lightest.
Certainly retailers can pull off dinner programs with the right concepts and menu offerings, but success won’t come overnight. And consumers won’t begin to think of convenience stores for dinner without savvy marketing and advertising telling them why they should change their opinions and expectations of convenience stores.
“Dinner is a behavior change that will take a commitment from our team to convince our guests to choose Racetrac as a dinner option,” said Bob Derian, director of foodservice for the Atlanta-based chain. “If they are already on the lot for breakfast, we need to give our guests a compelling reason to come back after 6:00 p.m.”
Without question, dinner is the least developed daypart, and the one that could represent the biggest opportunity for the industry. But operators should not contemplate dinner before they’ve truly mastered breakfast and lunch — and won over as many customers as possible — according to industry experts. And even then, dinner success is not guaranteed, as some that have tried and failed can attest.
“Dinner is tough for convenience stores for the same reason it’s tough for many QSRs. It’s a completely different eating occasion with different decision drivers,” said Rod Martin, vice president of marketing for Stripes LLC, a 520-store operator owned by Susser Holdings, based in Corpus Christi, Texas. “If you’re great at breakfast and lunch, it doesn’t mean that you’ll necessarily be great at dinner, especially because it is the one meal that you don’t eat while on the run.”
Chad Prast, director of foodservice for VPS Convenience Group, agreed, noting that most customers prefer to eat dinner while sitting down with their families. “In stores where we have adequate seating and offer a good dinner daypart, we see higher sales,” he said. “Customers do not stop going to our Quiznos, Burger King or Subway locations for dinner just because they’re attached to the c-store. The difference is they offer the customer a good seating area, [trusted] name and good facility to bring their family.”
Many claim that the greatest barrier to the dinner daypart is consumer perception — they just don’t think of convenience stores as a dinner destination. But some believe that mentality can change over time with the right plan and program, as well as heavy and targeted marketing. Ten years ago few consumers thought of convenience stores for breakfast or lunch, but the industry is winning them over, said Jerry Weiner, vice president of foodservice for Rutter’s Farm Stores.
“Breakfast was the easier win. Once you have the credibility of food, lunch becomes a place you can go pretty easily after you find the food products you can execute well in a c-store environment,” Weiner said. “The consumer perception for dinner, on the other hand, is more toward plate-style food and products that are not typically offered in a convenience store.”
So before convenience operators can expect consumers to view them as a dinner occasion, they have to make sure they offer the right menu options that clearly communicate credible dinner fare.
Operators that already have strong pizza and chicken programs are a bit ahead of the curve because they’ve begun developing credibility in hot meal-type foods, a critical component of a dinner menu. Operators can’t expect to make a strong dinner statement by simply extending lunch fare to the dinner daypart.
“Without the right menu there is no reason to go to a c-store for dinner. You have to create a compelling reason to go 40 percent. Over the next several years, the goal is to get dinner to 20 percent of foodservice sales, Weiner said.
“It takes time. Once you develop a great dinner program, it won’t be successful overnight,” he warned.
VPS Convenience Group, comprised of 392 stores under the Village Pantry, Scotchman, Young’s, Li’l Cricket and Next Door banners, has about 50 stores with strong fried chicken programs, which Prast believes is a good platform from which to grow.
“I still think there is a market for selling grab-and-go hot chicken for dinner,” he said. “Like any program it takes time to build it up, but it’s there. Supermarkets do very well at it, so we just have to get the word out that we can too...I would like to continue to keep trying new things to get that dinner customer. Success will be measured more on a store-by-store basis than company-wide.”
And most operators dabbling in the dinner daypart agree that whatever menu is selected, it has to be executable. “Don’t do anything you cannot execute consistently day-in and day-out,” Weiner said.
But even with a solid dinner menu and replicable and flawless training and execution, other barriers can impede success, such as competition and facility restrictions.
“I think dinner is tough [in convenience stores] because there are so many better options out there, quite frankly,” said Tim Powell, director of research and consulting for Technomic Inc. “You have supermarkets, limited-service restaurants and fast-service restaurants all vying for the dinner dollar, with seating, high chairs and ambience. Plus, c-stores do not have drive-thrus, which makes them unappealing to moms with kids and those wanting a quick bite on the way home without leaving the car.”
The bottom line, he added, is that consumers don’t perceive convenience stores as restaurants with menu desirability, atmosphere and hospitality. Only 8 percent of consumers consider going to a convenience store for a meal, while 69 percent will consider going to a full-service restaurant, 64 percent a fast-food restaurant and 51 percent a supermarket for prepared foods, according to Technomic research.
The other key issues are portability and flexibility, according to foodservice specialist Larry Miller of Miller Management Consulting Services Inc. “The offer must be presented as a meal and not as grab-and-go, eat-on-the-way solution, but it could be consumed quickly and while mobile if needed,” he said. “It is also easy to justify [consumption of] convenience foods if we are just feeding ourselves, however if we are sharing it with the family we tend to be more discerning.”
Dinner competition is also fierce, with many fast-casual, limited-service and quick-service restaurants deeply discounting popular menu items to protect or increase market share, and dissuade new market entrants, Miller said.
“As a channel we have a much better chance if we position our offer to focus on those people who are on the run and time starved during the dinner daypart, and satisfy them with a multi-item offer as a deal,” Miller said, such as a personal size pizza or slice, a pre-pack salad, a drink and a dessert item for a bundled price.
No one is quite sure what form dinner will ultimately take in convenience stores, but most industry players and foodservice experts agree that operators with a strong foodservice commitment and culture can succeed in dinner, but it will take time, and much more trial and error.
Maureen Azzato is a freelance content developer and editor with 20 years of business publishing experience. Most recently she was the publisher and editorial director of On-the-Go Foodservice, a publication for cross-channel retail foodservice executives.