2016 Results So Far Bode Well for C-store Industry: Part 6
NATIONAL REPORT — Foodservice sales continue to drive much of the convenience retail industry’s success. For the first half of this year, foodservice sales grew by 5.6 percent to more than $18 billion, a 5.6-percent increase. That’s on top of last year’s robust gain of 5.2 percent at the mid-point, and nearly as good as the remarkable 6.2-percent gain of 2014.
Foodservice sales rose at almost twice the rate of sales of other in-store merchandise, according to the annual Convenience Store News Mid-Year Report Card. Overall merchandise sales were up 2.7 percent to about $95 billion for the first half of this year, an increase slightly less than the 3.2 percent achieved at last year’s mid-point.
Prepared food, in fact, generated the largest percentage gain of any segment with the exception of two much smaller subcategories, wine and liquor and ice. Sales of prepared food in the first half of 2016 rose 7.3 percent to more than $12.5 billion. During the first half of 2015, prepared food sales rose 6.2 percent.
Sandwiches (both for breakfast and lunch) accounted for a little more than a quarter of first-half 2016 prepared food sales. Hot dogs comprised about 17 percent, followed closely by pizza (16.7 percent) and chicken (12 percent).
In the hot dispensed beverages category, sales increased by 2.1 percent in the first half. This was mostly driven by a similar increase in hot coffee sales.
Cold dispensed beverages lagged behind hot beverages, with a 1.8-percent sales gain. But that increase was still about a percentage point better than the gain achieved in the first half of 2015.
The entire 2016 Convenience Store News Mid-Year Industry Report is available at:
Part 1: Total Convenience Store Sales
Part 2: In-Store Category Analysis
Part 3: Cigarettes & Other Tobacco Products
Part 4: Packaged Beverages & Beer
Part 5: Candy & Salty Snacks
Part 6: Prepared Food & Dispensed Beverages