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Sharpening Your Competitive Edge

As the foodservice competitive space shifts, retailers must act strategically to win inside and outside the convenience channel.
Angela Hanson
Tim Powell's "Competitive Differentiation in 2025 and Beyond" CFX session
Tim Powell, Foodservice IP

DENVER — Some aspects of foodservice competition never change. Factors such as consumer perception, food quality and staff friendliness will always play a role in a brand's competitive strength. But as convenience stores increasingly go up against segments such as fast-casual and quick-service restaurants (QSRs) — not to mention unconventional venues like micromarkets and prepared food in universities and healthcare — they need to take steps to leverage their strengths and minimize their weaknesses.

This is particularly true when competing against QSRs, which have taken notice of how c-stores own snacking and are trying to make inroads in that space, according to Tim Powell, a principal at Chicago-based research and consulting firm Foodservice IP.

"We've hit the map," he said during a session entitled "Competitive Differentiation in 2025 and Beyond" at Convenience Store News' 2025 Convenience Foodservice Exchange event. 

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The convenience channel's strength in snacking gives it a collective point of competitive differentiation compared to other foodservice channels. The convenience channel's high number of smaller-sized offerings makes it a natural fit for consumers who are increasingly eating snacks rather than meals.

C-stores also benefit from the retail products they offer, which gives consumers more reason to visit when they might have otherwise stayed home. Disposable income and unemployment levels are key factors in foodservice spending as both impact consumer confidence. When confidence is low, people are likely to cut outside-the-home food purchases first, Powell noted. 

In addition to brick-and-mortar foodservice competitors, c-stores are competing with third-party delivery providers such as DoorDash and Uber Eats. These services offer extra convenience, but have also pushed prices up significantly in recent years, even as standard QSR prices are rising.

"These are opportunities," Powell pointed out.

Foodservice Evolution

C-store foodservice favorites like hot dogs and pizza aren't gone, but what makes sense for the channel is changing. Potential product opportunities today are much more diverse and include international-inspired items — think tacos and boba — as well as elevated versions of classic items like burgers. Indulgence, snacking and portability are also being interpreted in new ways.

Retailers are recruiting those with foodservice expertise who can execute at a higher level and moving from restaurant-style stores to restaurant concepts, such as Twice Daily's White Bison Coffee brand and 7-Eleven Inc.'s Laredo Taco Co. and Raise the Roost Chicken & Biscuits locations.

On the flip side, the QSR channel is building strength through "uber-specialists" who pair c-store-style convenience and product innovation with narrower menus, like Swig's drive-thru soda fountains and Salad And Go's healthy drive-thru offerings.

Recognition of c-stores as a competitive threat is pushing QSRs into rolling out more snacks and specialty beverages; grocers into experimenting with smaller formats; and automated concepts into positioning around optimized convenience.

"They're stealing our stuff right from under us," Powell said, which means "we've gotten on their radar."

C-store operators that recognize this shift in competition and take steps to positively differentiate themselves are more likely to thrive. The good news is there's numerous avenues to do so, such as leaning into limited-time offers, local/regional items, value, better-for-you, made-to-order, bakery, grab-and-go and more. 

"There's a ton of bases of differentiation that you can look at," Powell said.

[Related content: Rethinking Your Value Proposition]

Whatever operators decide to focus on, they should make the basics of fast and friendly service their foundation. These two factors are the ones most likely to prompt consumers to visit a particular c-store vs. another venue, according to Foodservice IP's April 2025 consumer survey. "And that's what we're good at," Powell added.

Having a good selection of grocery staples is also popular with c-store customers and it's not something they can get at QSRs like Taco Bell or McDonald's.

Powell urged attendees to monitor the full competitive landscape and their resources; find a niche; be storytellers around quality and value; look to foodservice for new snacks; lean into customization; and have clear, multifaceted goals for investment.

"Define your value beyond price," he emphasized.

The 10th annual Convenience Foodservice Exchange event, held May 8-9, was an exclusive networking and experience-focused conference that gave attendees actionable knowledge and research to strengthen their foodservice business. 

Sponsors of the 2025 Convenience Foodservice Exchange included gold sponsors Hunt Brothers Pizza, Johnsonville Foodservice, Krispy Krunchy Chicken, LSI Industries, Steritech, Stuffed Foods, Sugar Foods, SupplyIt by Jera Concepts and BOHA!; silver sponsors J&J Snack Foods Corp., Vollrath and Chester's Chicken; and Innovation Zone sponsor Upshop.

About the Author

Angela Hanson

Angela Hanson


Angela Hanson is Senior Editor of Convenience Store News. She joined the brand in 2011. Angela spearheads most of CSNews’ industry awards programs and authors numerous special reports. In 2016, she took over the foodservice beat, a critical category for the c-store industry. 

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