Dinner is a missed opportunity for retailers.

According to Datassential, just 6% of consumers order prepared food and beverages from convenience stores during traditional dinner hours.

Ann Golladay, senior director, Datassential, Chicago, noted that dinner tends to be the largest meal of the day for most Americans. Consumers are much more likely to eat a main entrée at dinner (36%) compared to having a main entrée for lunch (24%) or breakfast (16%). “For other dayparts like breakfast and lunch, consumers turn more towards items like handheld sandwiches or burgers,” she said.

That puts c-store operators to a decision: Do they expand their menu to get a larger piece of the dinner pie, adjust their marketing message to convince consumers that their current menu is a good fit for dinner, both, or neither?

About half of the foodservice business at Curby’s Express Market, a single-store operator in Lubbock, Texas, occurs at dinner time. That’s by design, as the retailer has placed a lot of emphasis on this daypart.

Richard Cashion, chief operating officer of retail at Curby’s, said it’s important to start by offering a few things you’re really good at, then branch out from there.

Curby’s offers pizza, wings, sandwich melts, made-to-order sandwiches, made-to-order beverages and is looking into paninis and other adult-friendly meals, Cashion said. When Curby’s opens its second store, which is planned for 2025, it plans to have Mexican food and other items like pretzel bites. “We are going to have an arsenal of foods for different taste buds,” he said.

Huck’s Market, which has 130 stores and is headquartered in Carmi, Illinois, offers proprietary breaded chicken (tenders and bone-in), sauced wings, sides such as mashed potatoes and mac and cheese, and Godfather’s pizza. Around 20 stores offer rotisserie chicken—whole, leg quarters or individual pieces. Everything but the pizza is available through delivery and most products are made from scratch.

The most important element to a dinner program, said David Grimes, Huck’s vice president of foodservice, is that the food is portable.

York, Pennsylvania-based Rutter’s launched two new pasta dinners this fall and is “working towards a fuller menu,” said Philip Santini, senior director of advertising and foodservice. Other items include french fries and chicken fingers. Key to growing dinner business, he said, is bundling items together to provide value, such as pizza, pasta and a salad.

At Kwik Trip, headquartered in La Crosse, Wisconsin, 22% of foodservice business is at dinner and sales are strong from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. The bestsellers are pizzas (47% of dinner business); fried chicken items (bone-in, tenders, boneless wings and crispy sandwiches), which constitute 32% of dinner business; and take-home meals (36%) such as beef stroganoff, chicken alfredo and a chicken enchilada bowl. To keep things exciting, the stores have a rotating menu, with offers such as whole chickens on Mondays and boneless wings and crispy sandwiches on Tuesdays.

A lot of add-on business comes along with dinner items, said Carrie Wiggins, director of foodservice at Kwik Trip. Dinner customers are also picking up egg rolls, coleslaw, fries and cheesy breadsticks, and often grocery basics like milk, bread and eggs.

Semi-Prepared Foods

One way convenience stores can boost their dinner business is by offering semi-prepared elements of a meal that require some minimal effort from the consumer, said Kay Segal, founder and managing partner, The Business Accelerator Team, a convenience store advisory firm in Phoenix, Arizona.

Many Americans want a home-cooked meal in the evening, she said, but they also want simplification and to be in control.

Stores can offer simple foods from their cold case, Segal said, from pizzas ready to go in the oven, to chicken, meatloaf, meatballs and sirloin steak complemented by salads—leafy or coleslaw or potato salad—or vegetables ready to heat.

Ready-to-heat meals sell best in more rural convenience stores, said Jonna Parker, fresh foods market research expert and thought leader for market research company Circana, because there aren’t many other options nearby.

Each c-store should tailor its dinner offerings to the surrounding market, said Parker. But what’s key is that meals can be ready in under 30 minutes, and prep and cleanup are minimal.

These foods are most likely to resonate with older and younger shoppers, who tend not to have children living at home, so offering one- or two-portion sizes works well, she added.

And for seniors who have been used to cooking from scratch for years, it’s a great idea to offer ingredient-based meals because it’s what they’re used to, she said, adding that it can be smart to offer cuisines that are harder to make at home, such as Mediterranean or Indian.

Retailers should also provide healthy options, added Parker, though she points out that “what appeals is different generationally. Older consumers are more likely to be following a diet like high fiber, low sugar. Younger generations are looking for functional benefits like energy or wellbeing of the mind. They both want food as medicine. Overall, fiber is the top-sought claim among the older generation,” she said.

Another driver is that “everyone in the same household doesn’t like the same ingredient,” said Parker, “so it’s a good idea to let shoppers choose one or two curated ingredients like noodles versus rice, or carrots versus broccoli. It’s an even better idea to offer a bundled meal, which appeals to c-store shoppers,” Parker said. “We know people want bundled discounts and they are used to it from QSRs.”

Parker said separating out the elements of a meal helps consumers “mix and match. They pick their main, they pick their side.” And having a rotation where certain meals are offered on certain days—Taco Tuesday, Indian Wednesday, etc.—can draw customers in “and gives people a reason to come back.”

This also offers a great opportunity for convenience stores to build baskets between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., which is when around 40% of c-store visits happen, said Segal.

Some items could be complemented by center store items, too, she points out. Stores could sell hamburgers from the cold case, then complete the meal with the buns, ketchup, American cheese and six-pack of beer from elsewhere in the store.

If you offer ready-to-cook meals, it’s important to promote them. “It takes re-educating the consumer about what you have in your store,” said Segal. “There is a market of people who want to prepare their food at home. It makes people feel like they are cooking.”

Segal also noted that the marketing strategy must focus on being a solution for dinner and not on highlighting the products themselves. And stores can play up their advantages, too, she pointed out. Let customers know they can multitask by getting dinner while refueling their car, or that a convenience store has shorter lines than the supermarket.

Marketing Dinner

Marketing is a pivotal part of increasing your dinner daypart sales.

Dinner is the meal most likely to be planned in advance, said Golladay, so “getting on the radar early is important to making the consideration set.”

Most Rutter’s stores have 15 or more screens through which the chain promotes its products. The retailer frequently photographs every foodservice item in a professional studio and rotates this bank of images through the screens or on self-ordering kiosks. The spotlights are a mix of dynamic (slightly moving) and static visuals and the occasional video. “Dynamic content tends to capture more attention, especially during high-traffic times,” said Santini.

Huck’s highlights enticing images of its food on entry/exit door strips, with die-cut images on different areas of the doors to highlight food items. It also features food messaging on pump toppers and scrolls through different images on in-store screens “with the goal of being enticing,” said Grimes. Images might show “a pizza with cheese oozing off it or wings glistening.” Some are straightforward photos, some are dynamic images and some are short videos.

Over the past year, Kwik Trip has more heavily promoted items that are part of its foodservice program instead of only products that can be supported by its vendors. “This has made a difference,” said Wiggins, because the vendors “often bring us new ideas to try.” That’s how the Kwik 6 idea—a six-pack of a variety of items such as taquitos and cheese-filled breadsticks—originated.

Key to growing dinner business is bundling items together.

“We have a calendar of items that we promote regularly,” said Wiggins, adding that the chain has had many of these promotions for a decade or more, which means “guests know what to expect from us.”

And stores would be remiss not to reach consumers on their phones to promote dinner offerings.

Over the past year, Curby’s has doubled its social media impressions. It first focused on its text and email marketing campaigns, and then drew customers to social platforms. Having all messaging be the same, with the same feel, is important. “We don’t have multiple people touching it. And because it’s one ecosystem with our POS provider it’s easy to manage,” said Cashion.

Huck’s features a fair amount of content on Facebook and is starting to use other social media platforms. It also frequently offers promotions to its Huck’s Bucks Big Reward loyalty app users.

Answering to Dinner Demand

When customers come to a convenience store for dinner, they’re looking for fresh and high-quality foods, according to Datassential. “Other key factors include cleanliness, convenience and visual appeal,” said Golladay.

Dinner is the most challenging daypart for Huck’s, Grimes said. “So that means positioning ourselves in the consumer’s mind as a viable alternative.”

What’s important, he said, is being consistent with hours, product availability and product quality to establish trust. “Trust that we are open for business, trust that the order will be accurate, trust that we are competitively priced and trust that they will get a great product to enjoy.”

Dinner sales are strongest at Huck’s newest stores because they offer rotisserie chicken, Grimes said. Stores in smaller towns with populations under 3,000 also see better dinner business, he said, “because we’re one of the better options.”

Curby’s draws customers in at certain times with promotions and deals. It runs a beverage happy hour between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. with 50% off all made-to-order beverages, and it offers $2 pizza slices for loyalty customers. And for members of its pizza club, every tenth slice is free. This also applies to the made-to-order beverages. Curby’s also uses its loyalty program to send a promotion to customers who haven’t been in recently.

LTO Time

If you want to become a regular stop on a customer’s dinner circuit, offering limited time offers can make your store more of a draw.

Huck’s runs LTOs at least quarterly, said Grimes, and Godfather’s runs its own. Always having something new helps business, Grimes explained. Huck’s recently started “one day deals” and runs 15 to 20 per month.

Most of its LTOs are through Godfather’s. Recent examples include a Secret Sauce Burger Pizza and a weekend special of a large, single-topping pizza, a 12-pack of any Pepsi product and large bag of Doritos for $20.

Curby’s has a featured monthly pizza. It’s often something unusual like a dill pickle pizza. “We have a lot of fun with our development,” Cashion said. Curby’s develops the products in store and works with its restaurant suppliers to stay on top of current trends, he said.

Santini expects to run more LTOs at Rutter’s and anticipates that some will be in app-only offerings because “we see people ordering a bit later, so it might be good to add value and excitement to our app.”

Datassential’s Golladay emphasizes that an item just being a short-term offer isn’t enough: “Consumers are most motivated to buy something new by something eye-catching, a new flavor or discounted pricing—all of which could be tied to an LTO, but the fact that a menu item is simply only available for a short time is less likely to drive traffic.”

However, LTOs have their place, she said. She pointed out that they’re an excellent way to test out new menu items and to offer consumers a new flavor, dish “or something at a new price point without the risks that come with putting it on the permanent menu.”

Dinner Goes Digital

The most popular time to order food for pickup or delivery on an app is 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., said Adit Gupta, co-founder and CEO of Lula Commerce, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Even if stores aren’t offering digital commerce for the rest of the day, it’s a good idea to offer it for dinner, he said.

A lot of business for Rutter’s is also shifting towards delivery, “contributing a meaningful share to overall sales, with trends showing continued demand,” said Santini. “Delivery plays an increasingly important role in how we serve our customers,” he added.

It’s largely the younger customers ordering dinner this way, he said. “They’re more inclined to use our apps and are interested in placing an order to have it ready for when they come to pick it up.”

For dinner delivery, Huck’s works with Vroom, a Miami-based aggregator for third-party delivery companies, which “has helped with our dinner daypart because most [orders] are in the evening,” said Grimes. The most purchased item is a large Godfather’s pizza.

John Nelson, CEO and founder of Vroom, sees the busiest time as after work (5 p.m. to 9 p.m.), and said customers often place the order while at work and then pick it up on their drive home.

Pizza is by far the biggest seller, he said, followed by subs, but customers often add to their foodservice order with items like tobacco (the top addition), alcohol or other CPG items such as beverages, which are often upsells through the app.

Digital orders are also much higher in cost than in-store orders, said Nelson. For the month of October, the average first-party delivery sale through Vroom was $44.35.

“The convenience stores who are doing a good job with dinner are making food that no one else does and people are choosing it over a QSR brand—it’s fresh, it’s local and for the quality it comes at a good price point,” said Nelson.

Foodservice Equipment Trends and Ideas That Simplify Prep

Want to do more with less? Of course you do. Here are some equipment ideas and inspiration for making the most of limited foodservice space and staff.

Smart Cooking

The new ImVection oven launched by Blodgett at the end of 2024 provides two different cooking technologies—convection and impingement—in each of its four chambers. Cooking plates automatically switch position depending on which menu item is chosen on the control panel, so the person operating the oven doesn’t have to choose what type of heat is best for cookies, pizza or whatever is being prepared.

Another relatively new addition, the ITW Ibex oven launched in 2022. It uses radio frequency (RF) technology to cook food evenly, eliminating hot and cold spots. The RF technology sends and receives frequencies that are then analyzed by an algorithm, allowing the oven to automatically adjust throughout the cooking process.

Automated Mechanics

New equipment can automatically stop the cooking process so that employees don’t have to stop what they’re doing to respond to a beep.

The TurboChef Plexor high-speed oven has automatic loading and unloading, pushing items such as pizzas and cookies out as soon as they’re done.

Pitco TorQ fryers include an automatic basket lift feature, so whatever goes in the oil is taken out at the right time. The TorQ fryers also feature continuous oil filtering and automatic top off. A Smart Oil Sensor alerts operators when it’s time for a new filter, which takes less than a minute to change.

Full-Service Option

All Day Kitchens, founded by two former Uber Eats employees, offers a high-speed electric unit with pre-programmable equipment integrated with the company’s proprietary software and frozen foods. Cuisines range from chicken wings to burgers to hearty bowls, with All Day offering five different brands that each have their own menu. Frozen ingredients are shipped to the store, and from there an employee selects the menu item on the pre-programmed screen to cook it.

The food brand that the operator selects determines the right equipment; the oven system takes up 50 to 100 square feet. The all-electric unit also doesn’t need hoods or special ventilation.

“What we were hearing from operators was that they wanted to increase digital sales and delivery, but foodservice can be complicated and labor intensive, and many stores don’t know how to build out a kitchen from scratch themselves. This system helps generate meaningful revenue with just one extra staff member,” said cofounder Matt Sawchuk.

Push-Button Innovation

In addition to aiding in staff training, one-touch recipe capabilities can improve the quality and consistency of products being prepared. Recipes can be programmed to include the type of cooking, the time and the temperature.

A few ovens to look for include:

• Merrychef’s conneX and TurboChef’s Plexor high-speed ovens each feature touchscreens with icons and programmable recipe options. The Plexor multi-cavity offers a different type of cooking in each cavity—impingement, convection and rapid cook—and the control panel tells the operator which cabinet to use. • The XpressChef 3i and Ibex, both high-speed ovens, have touchscreens with digital photo capabilities. The Ibex can remember up to 600 different recipes. • Many combi ovens also feature one-touch, programmable recipe controls with images or icons, including Rational, Blodgett and Vulcan lines.

A New Pizza Shoppe

At the end of 2024, Hunt Brothers Pizza, a start-to-finish pizza supplier, unveiled its fifth generation Pizza Shoppe. The provider focused on enhancements that would optimize the workspace and make the food prep employee’s job easier. “Many of our store owners have one employee to dedicate to foodservice, so we wanted to make sure our pizza shoppe worked well when operated by one employee,” said Dee Cleveland, marketing director at Hunt Brothers Pizza.

Hunt Brothers Pizza added a small caddy behind the employee to give them “everything they need right there at their fingertips, so they didn’t have to go to another place in the store to get gloves or find the pizza cutter for example,” Cleveland said.

“Getting into foodservice can be a big jump for some stores, especially when they’re also dealing with labor challenges. Therefore we want our program to be as simple as possible to operate,” she continued. “From make to bake, our pizza takes less than 10 minutes, and so an employee can make pizzas, pop them in the oven, and go back to the cash register to ring people up. It allows c-stores to be nimble with their foodservice program.”

Robot Revolution

Miso, which manufactures AI-powered robotics for commercial kitchen equipment, introduced the latest generation of its fully automated Flippy Fry Station robot in January. The new generation of Flippy Fry Station automates the preparation of french fries, onion rings, chicken, tacos and any other fried item, the company said. The new Flippy can process more than 100 baskets per hour—almost twice as many as humans.

“At a time of massive labor disruption and restaurants’ inability to hire enough kitchen workers, the new Flippy creates immediate, provable customer ROI, while also unlocking much needed additional pools of labor under federal guidelines by reducing the danger to workers,” said CEO Rich Hull.

Last fall, Chipotle Mexican Grill revealed its new Autocado machine, an avocado-processing cobotic (collaborative robot) prototype that cuts, cores and peels avocados before they are hand mashed to create guacamole. The Autocado is currently operating at Chipotle’s Huntington Beach, California, location.

The company also announced the Augmented Makeline, a cobotic makeline. This machine uses “automated technology to build bowls and salads while Chipotle employees operate the top makeline to make burritos, tacos, quesadillas and kids’ meals. Approximately 65% of all Chipotle digital orders are bowls or salads, so the Augmented Makeline can improve employee efficiency and digital order accuracy, ensuring a more consistent experience for digital guests,” the company said.

—Karen Alley