Inside the Consumer Mind: Seeking a Recipe for Recovery

While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every convenience store product category, the foodservice category in particular has been upended, according to an exclusive c-store shopper study conducted by Convenience Store News on changes in shopping frequency and behavior in the convenience channel during the pandemic.

Along with decreased foot traffic — more than half of consumers say they’re shopping at c-stores less now than before the pandemic — many retailers in the early days of the health crisis either opted to or were forced to shut down their fresh food and dispensed beverage programs. While these programs have started to come back online, it's proving to be a slow climb to get the foodservice category back to where it was previously.

The shopper study revealed: