Transforming the gas station into a food destination
The humble gas station is undergoing a dramatic change, moving away from offering the traditional and rather tired “cokes and smokes” to being a destination for fresh food, wine and beer and ready-to-eat meals that attract the most discerning of home cooks.
Part of that evolution has been driven by the changing needs of drivers when they pull into a gas station. In the 50s and into the early 60s, gas stations were very transactional spaces, places one stopped to purchase gasoline, maybe buy some oil or windshield wiper fluid and maybe even a quick snack of a soft drink along with a package of cigarettes. That is how the old saw of “smokes and cokes” came about.
By the 1970s, gas stations began to add vending machines to offer a somewhat wider selection of items to purchase, but it was not much more than more kinds of drinks, cigarettes and wider selection of packaged snacks. By the 1980s and 90s, you began to see more offerings, such as Slurpee machines and even some hot foods, such as pizza slices and the well-known hot dog roller machine.
When we get into the 2000s, there is a marked movement for gas stations and their convenience store operations to offer fresher foods and a wider selection of offerings, from freshly brewed coffees, deli counters where customers could order sandwiches and salads, to a growing drink selection.
READ: What equipment are c-stores investing in to support beverage alcohol sales?
Today, gas stations are now very much food destinations. Many incorporate QSR-style restaurants, a wide selection of freshly prepared meals for breakfasts, lunches and dinners, to now an ever-growing selection of wines, craft beers and ciders being sold alongside traditional soft drinks. In the United States, gas and convenience retailers such as Buc-ee’s, Sheetz and others are now food destinations for many with their offerings of freshly made meals, drinks and snacks.
Sean McGrann, chief commercial officer with Due North, a Canadian provider of refrigeration and cooler technologies for the convenience industry, says this evolution of the gas station’s convenience food offerings very much follows the changing expectations and needs of busy customers today.
“As more people began to work away from home, both men and women, and schedules became tighter, the demand for fresh, grab-and-go meals began to become much more sought after,” he says. “So the demand at the gas station began to shift from that old ‘cokes and smokes’ to meeting the demand that when someone comes to fill up with gasoline to maybe grab a fresh breakfast item or on the way back home from work to drop in and pick up a fresh ready-to-eat meal instead of say ordering a pizza or another standard take-out meal. Instead, they are looking for fresh foods, healthy foods from a local convenience retailer.”
That means a gas station’s convenience operations not only have to have a well-stocked and properly functioning kitchen or restaurant, but also a means to display these foods while ensuring they stay at temperatures to keep them safe for sale over the day.
That is why refrigeration systems, displays and coolers have evolved to be more robust, but also to be adaptable to the often-unique footprints of a gas station’s convenience footprint. While a Buc-ee’s in the United States can be tens of thousands of square feet in size, many others are smaller but still desire to have a wide selection of food and drink offerings available.
Due North, McGrann says it offers a variety of options that operate in a wide range of retail footprints, as well as helping to display foods in a manner that incentivizes people to make an impulse food purchase.
“Retail square footage certainly is at a premium, and retailers are trying to figure out how to maximize as much of the space they have,” McGrann adds. “We try to provide them with solutions that will fit with their needs. We have a stable of existing tried and tested products and we are expanding with others, such as open-air coolers that are meant for the demands of the grab-and-go customer and display everything from sandwiches, prepared meals to beverages while maintaining proper temperatures for food safety.”
In Ontario, cooler are going to be even more important, McGrann says, and the province is now celebrating the first anniversary of allowing convenience stores to sell beverage alcohol to customers. Because of the range of retail footprints, coolers will need to come in a variety of configurations to meet the growing demand for beverage alcohol, both to keep it cool—for beer sales, as an example—and to display the drinks in an attractive manner.
“Yes, you need the space to be able to sell beverage alcohol, but you also want to communicate with the customer, to say to them, ‘Hey, this is now available here in our store. You can purchase your beer or wine here with us.’”
