Firing On All Cylinders

Hot and frozen dispensed beverages rebound in 2012

The foodservice category continues to generate a lot of excitement in the convenience store industry. It's no wonder given its solid performance year after year. Coming off a 6.2-percent gain in per-store sales in 2011, the category posted another strong 6.8-percent increase last year.

The average c-store rang up a total of $188,927 in 2012 foodservice sales. Industrywide, the convenience channel generated nearly $27.6 million in sales from this category alone.

While the prepared food subcategory once again led the pack with average per-store sales rising 8.1 percent, both hot and frozen dispensed beverages saw a rebound from their negative 2011 numbers. Hot dispensed beverages went from a 2.6-percent sales decline per store in 2011 to an increase of 4.3 percent last year. Meanwhile, frozen dispensed beverages went from a 2.9-percent drop in sales per store to a 3.8-percent rise in 2012.

Like prepared food, the cold dispensed beverages subcategory has come to be another reliable performer for convenience stores, posting a 6.3-percent gain in average per-store sales last year. This followed a slightly larger increase of 8.3 percent the previous year.