NACS SHOW REWIND: Ways to Win at Dinner

According to Stillman, there are three "BIG" rules for winning more of the dinner daypart:

• Be known for something.
• Interrupt the routine.
• Grow with existing shoppers.

La Crosse, Wis.-based Kwik Trip Inc. followed these rules when it launched the major "No Ordinary Chicken" campaign for its fried chicken program. The six-week promotional period included alternating sales on different chicken items and was designed to help the company determine what did and didn't work well in terms of price and profitability.

One part of the promotion's success came from providing a retail coworker kit of decorations stores could use, including stickers, danglers, paper hats and in-store posters featuring "coworker faves."

Achieving buy-in from store employees is particularly helpful in boosting sales. At Kwik Trip, all levels of leadership created excitement, with a special fun factor coming from some leaders wearing chicken costumes and a district competition that resulted in one district leader getting a cream pie to the face.

"You don't have to spend a lot of money to do that," said Carrie Wiggins, director of foodservice at Kwik Trip.

The convenience retailer also invested in out-of-store advertising, including digital/social media promos and billboards, but success didn't come solely from good marketing. From a practical perspective, succeeding with a signature product must be a companywide effort, Wiggins noted. Marketing, buying, warehouse, transportation and retail departments all worked together.

"You can't come up with a great concept and not get your buying department in charge of it as well," she said. "Or if you are working with a supplier, getting them involved to know that you're really going to be pushing chicken."

At Curby's Express Market in Lubbock, Texas, making inroads into the dinner daypart involved transitioning from flatbread pizza to New York-style pizza with 18-inch pies. The retailer settled on a pizza program that featured four core pies and one limited-time offer.

Richard Cashion, chief operating officer at Curby's, reiterated the need for vendor and supplier buy-in. "That's the most important part of it, getting the right tools for success as an independent operator," he said. "If you say you can't do it, you can do it. You just have to do the research. It takes time, it takes effort."

Curby's marketing plan included promotion through its loyalty program, email, text messaging, in-store marketing and other areas. Its video and social media promotion paired specific types of food and beverage together, and static images focused on the food first.

A key advantage came from the company's loyalty program, which is easy to control and develop custom campaigns and programs for, Cashion explained.

"The result is that our sales have grown in foodservice tremendously," he said.

To grow their dinner programs, convenience retailers should think about what they want to do, not what they think they should do.

"Think outside the box. Stop doing what the industry dictates," he said. "Don't be afraid you're going to mess up. I messed up like 500 times on this — you just get to see the good parts of it."