7-Eleven Inc. has announced plans to expand its food and beverage program in 2024.
The retailer said it plans to grow its operating income by $113 million or 4% year-over-year. To get there, the company will focus on fresh food and expanding its private band, said Joe DePinto during parent company Seven &i’s fourth-quarter earnings call in April.
“We expect to see a challenging start to 2024,” said DePinto. “However, we have aggressive plans in place, and we will accelerate our investments expanding our food and beverage modernization platforms in our stores, refreshing our stores exteriors and interiors and enhancing overall operational execution.”
Currently in 500 stores, the retailer’s food and beverage modernization program includes bake-in-store platform; grab-and-go hot cases, where the consumer can quickly grab a product, pay and leave; self-serve roller grills; and specialty hot beverages, which will offer a wider assortment of hot food and specialty coffees.
The company noted that stores with these new platforms have significantly outperformed stores without them. And the company will further rollout this platform to an additional 2,500 stores in 2024, DePinto said.
“We're creating signature products and leveraging offers targeting a 17.5% increase in fresh food sales and a 7.7% increase in proprietary beverages versus the prior year,” DePinto said. “And we're bolstering our private brand lineup.”
DePinto said the retailer was on track to introduce 215 additional new private brand items this year. “We are improving the quality in our products. In particular, we’re improving quality in our signature slider line, as well as in our developing entree line,” said DePinto.
In the United States, the brand will also focus on delivery. DePinto stated that 2023 saw strong delivery performance, with delivery sales contributing $250 average per store day and adding 16 additional transactions in each one of those stores. The 7Now delivery business grew 25% on a same-store basis in 2023.
In 2024, 7Now will be boosted by adding more stores to the delivery network, and increasing food sales on that platform, as well as expanding the Gold Pass membership. DePinto expects 7Now delivery sales to grow to $725 million in 2024, he said.
Last week, 7-Eleven completed the acquisition of 204 Stripes convenience stores from Sunoco.
Earlier this month, Nikkei Asia reported that Seven &i Holdings will focus on strengthening its convenience store business through mergers and acquisitions in North America while also pursuing an initial public offering of its struggling supermarket business.