Convenience stores are increasingly offering customizable beverage bars, like this setup from Sunny Sky Products displayed at the NACS Show. | Photo: Heather Lalley
The future will be difficult for convenience stores if they don’t up their game in foodservice.
That was the message from the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) President and CEO Henry Armour, who spoke with his successor, Frank Gleeson, Thursday at the 2025 NACS Show, which ran Tuesday through Friday at McCormick Place in Chicago. The two were also joined by outgoing NACS Chairman and former Alimentation Couche-Tard President and CEO Brian Hannasch.
Gleeson, former president and CEO of Aramark Northern Europe, will take on the president and CEO role at NACS come Jan. 1.
“Food is a phenomenal growth opportunity for this channel,” Gleeson said.
2024 was a record year for in-stores sales at U.S. convenience stores, according to NACS data released in April. Foodservice sales—which include prepared food, commissary and hot, cold and frozen dispensed beverages—accounted for 28.7% of in-store sales. In 2004, only 11.9% of in-store sales came from foodservice, the association said.
C-store operators and their distributors have leveled up their food offerings in recent years, with some producing restaurant-quality food. At the sprawling (and very busy) NACS Show booth for convenience-store distributor Core-Mark, for example, we sampled fresh-fried spanikopita atop a bed of veggie-studded couscous as well as cheesey Salvadoran pupusas with two dipping sauces and a tangy slaw.
On the drinks front, we saw lots of beverage stations where consumers could create custom iced coffee, refreshers, hot chocolates and more with flavored syrups, creams and toppings like marshmallows or sprinkles.
There is a lot of competition for foodservice among convenience stores and from quick-service restaurants (QSRs), Gleeson said.
“But the good news is the convenience industry is capturing more and they’re taking it from QSRs,” he said. “I have a firm, strong belief that we’ve got the best real estate in the world in our channel. We have a great opportunity because we’re the closest to the customer. We have a great opportunity because we can deal with multiple day parts for the consumer.”
While the industry will continue to sell fuel, packaged goods, tobacco and more staples, food drives more opportunities to get customers in the store, Gleeson said.
“I’ve said this many, many, many times: You fuel your car once a week, you fuel your body three, four times a day,” he said. “They’re satisfying more day parts, and they’re building loyalty with their customers. So, in my view, it’s a great opportunity, and I would encourage everybody to look around, take it in. You could start small and build and that’s what a lot of companies do.”
It’s not an easy journey though, Armour said. And convenience stores will not transform their foodservice offering if they’re copying or benchmarking against the c-store down the street.
“If you’re really going to do it, your competitive set is QSRs, quick-service restaurants,” he said, adding c-stores should focus on how fast QSRs go to market, how they execute menus and are flexible.
This story originally appeared in sister publication CSP Daily News. Managing Editor Heather Lalley contributed to this report.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.
