Two-Thirds of C-stores Expect Higher 2013 Foodservice Sales

8/14/2013

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Almost two-thirds of convenience store operators -- chains and single-store owners -- expect to see their foodservice sales increase by the end of this year, up slightly from 2012, according to the Convenience Store News 2013 Foodservice Study. This number jumps to 75 percent for chains alone.

CSNews conducted its annual Foodservice Study in June to collect in-depth data on foodservice and build upon the category data collected for the CSNews 2013 Industry Report, published in June. The Foodservice Study asks c-store retailers to review their current year’s sales, as well as their sales and profits from the previous year.

Only 4.4 percent of retailers predict 2013 sales will decrease, while one-third expects them to hold steady with last year’s sales. Profitability is up for operators, as 60.3 percent expect to find an increased bottom-line foodservice profit this year, compared to 54.7 percent in 2012. Nearly 30 percent expect to match last year’s profit numbers.

As reported in the CSNews 2013 Industry Report, foodservice accounts for 14.3 percent of in-store sales and 24.2 percent of in-store gross margin dollar contribution industrywide. Overall, foodservice sales grew 7.6 percent in 2012, with prepared food leading the way.

The lunch daypart, which falls between 11 a.m. and 1:59 p.m., is still bringing in the majority of foodservice sales in the c-store industry (32.5 percent), followed by breakfast from 6 a.m. through 8:59 a.m. (23.7 percent). Dinner also remains a popular daypart, capturing 15.7 percent of sales.

In addition to bringing in the most sales, the lunch daypart also saw the most sales growth.

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