New stores will feature Laredo Taco Co., a quick-service Mexican brand. | Photo courtesy of 7-Eleven
Convenience-store giant 7-Eleven plans to open 500 food-and-beverage-focused locations in the U.S. from 2025 to 2027, according to an investor presentation from parent company 7 & i Holdings on Thursday.
The stores will feature a new format called New Standard that continues the chain’s shift toward larger, more high-tech stores with expanded food options, including in-store restaurants.
It builds upon a previous prototype that incorporated Laredo Taco Co., the 600-unit quick-service Mexican brand 7-Eleven acquired when it bought most of the Stripes c-store chain in 2018. (It added the remaining locations in April.)
The new stores will be larger and will offer fuel. They’ll also feature more digital touchpoints to enable “frictionless” shopping.
Pictures of a New Standard store included in the presentation showed a Laredo Taco Co. counter, a hot food case, a “fresh to go” area and a self-checkout machine.
The chain has found that these stores perform better than existing locations. Average sales per store per day at existing 7-Elevens were about $5,500 in the first half of this year, while the average New Standard store did $6,300—a 13% difference.
And after a New Standard store has been open for four years, the chain expects average daily sales to be more than $8,200, or 30% better than those stores are doing now.
The presentation indicated that Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven will have 115 New Standard stores open by the end of fiscal 2024. It expects to build another 125 next year, 175 in 2026 and 200 in 2027, for a total of 615.
The news follows the announcement earlier this month that 7-Eleven plans to close 444 underperforming stores in North America. The chain has been working to improve its traffic and sales, which have suffered from inflation and declining demand for cigarettes.
Tokyo-based 7 & i is also facing a takeover bid by rival Alimentation Couche-Tard, the owner of Circle K. The deal would bring together the two largest c-store chains in the U.S.
7-Eleven’s scale and hot food offerings have made it a longtime competitor for restaurant visits. But its growing emphasis on food and restaurant-style service has ratcheted up that threat.
Laredo Taco Co., for instance, already has roughly as many outlets as Del Taco. If Laredo is included in all of the new builds, it will nearly double its footprint over the next three years.
7-Eleven also operates about 100 locations of Raise the Roost, a fried chicken and biscuits concept. It has more than 13,000 U.S. locations in all.
The chain’s push into foodservice is part of a broader trend in the c-store and grocery industry to offer more prepared food, which has been an area of growth for those businesses.
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