Dive Brief:
- 7-Eleven has added quesabirria — birria-style beef with cheese — in both a taco and a bowl to its Laredo Taco Company menu for a limited time, the company announced last week.
- The convenience retailer has also updated its private label 7Select Replenish hydration beverage line with a new caramel apple flavor and a new bottle design, 7-Eleven announced on Monday.
- These updates come as 7-Eleven doubles down on its foodservice aspirations, having rolled out the first of over 600 planned larger-format, food-focused convenience stores last month.
Dive Insight:
Laredo Taco’s quesabirria, which will be served with a warm consummé dipping sauce, is one of a handful of updates the retailer has announced for its QSR brands in the last month. The Tex-Mex restaurant brand has also brought back its pork and chicken tamales in three-, six- and 12-packs for a short time, while 7-Eleven’s Raise the Roost and Speedy Café locations revealed special menu items using Mike’s Hot Honey sauce.
Raise the Roost added hot honey chicken sandwiches during all dayparts, while Speedy Café launched hot honey-flavored boneless wings and pepperoni pizza.
“We’re always on the lookout for the next flavor craze,” said William Armstrong, senior vice president of restaurant operations at 7-Eleven.
On the private label side, the Replenish packaging was redesigned to cut down on plastic waste and make the beverages more efficient to ship, 7-Eleven said in Monday’s announcement. The company expects to use 104 fewer metric tons of plastic and reduce the number of truckloads needed for shipping by 25% on this 5-year-old product line.
"This redesign marks a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to innovate and operate sustainably," said Marissa Jarratt, executive vice president and chief marketing and sustainability officer at 7-Eleven.
