Dive Brief:

• Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores unveiled a Jamba by Blendid smoothie kiosk on Wednesday at its Corning, California, location, according to a press release.
• The autonomous robotic kiosk — the second one installed at a Love’s store — allows for customizable orders, as customers can use the Blendid app to order ahead or in-store, change the amounts of ingredients in their smoothie order and add boosts.
• The smoothie machines augment the chain’s food offerings, which also include breakfast and lunch tacos and sandwiches.

Dive Insight:

This smoothie kiosks allow for customers to get the best of grab-and-go snacks and customized, healthy options in one place, as they can order in the app and have the drink waiting for them when they shop in, allowing for a quicker pit stop. Love’s already hosts a variety of name-brand eateries at its travel stops, including Burger King, Hardee’s, Subway and Wendy’s.

Love’s opened its first Jamba by Blendid kiosk at a store in Williams, California, in September. Jamba and Blendid said that once the machine was developed, they worked with Gestalt Brand Lab to create a specific look and persona for the machines, because of how customers had interacted with their kiosks in other locations. 

“The adoption rates of smoothies have been great, which demonstrates the need for refreshing on-the-go food for our customers,” said Joe Cotton, vice president of food service for Love’s, in a statement.

The addition of these automated smoothie machines follows the trend of shoppers broadly looking for healthier food options.

A NielsenIQ report from earlier this year found that 61% of people expect to do more to improve their health in 2022. The report also mentioned that in c-stores, “growth is expanding beyond traditional categories like alcohol, processed meat, and household care to less-processed food items.” 

Offering better-for-you choices are becoming a growing focus at many c-store chains, from companies like Kum & Go broadening their healthy food assortment to chains like Choice Markets bringing fresh, local items to consumers. 

There are currently seven of these Jamba-branded robotic smoothie kiosks in operation, including one at a Walmart in California. 

“As we continue to scale and set the standard for the future of food service, we hope our robotic kiosks can give consumers, including motorists, fast, customizable and delicious food choices at a wide range of new locations across the country,” said Geoff Henry, president of Jamba Juice. 

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based Love’s Travel Stops owns more than 600 locations in 42 states, as well as 430 truck repair locations, and has more than 38,000 employees.