Dive Brief:
- Sheetz has debuted a new line of freshly made doughnuts at all of its locations, according to an emailed Tuesday announcement.
- Each of the retailer’s new doughnuts is created with a base of sweet European dough, and then fried and glazed with sugar syrup. The doughnuts come in eight varieties, including both traditional and fall-focused flavors.
- Sheetz is one of many c-store retailers that launched new food offerings this summer as the industry continues to find ways to compete with QSRs and gain customer loyalty.
Dive Insight:
With the debut of its new doughnut line — especially its Apple Fest Fritter doughnut, which is made with sweet and tart apples — Sheetz is also hopping onto the annual fall-flavors bandwagon.
Other retailers launching fall-themed options include 7-Eleven, which rolled out its pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin coffee, pumpkin syrup and apple cider doughnuts on Aug. 1; and Stewart’s Shops, which came out with several fall items earlier this season, such as apple cider doughnuts, an apple strip Danish and pumpkin pie ice cream.
Sheet’z new doughnut line was conceived by Master Baker Lee Ann Adams, who formerly was an associate professor of baking and pastry at The Culinary Institute of America.
“Our team is excited to reveal this brand new collection of doughnuts to our customers,” said Adams, who is Sheetz’s manager of bakery development, in Tuesday’s announcement.
Besides Apple Fest Fritter, Sheet’z new doughnuts come in seven other varieties, including Peanut Butter Cup, which features peanut butter icing, chocolate drizzle and sliced peanut butter cups; Cookies N Cream, made with cookies and cream mixed icing and chocolate and vanilla cream cookie sandwich pieces; and Strawberry Shortcake, which features candy strawberry icing, pink and white flavorettes and sweet strawberry clusters.
The doughnuts will be shipped daily to all Sheetz locations.
Besides doughnuts, Sheetz’s “Shweetz” bakery offers cake pops; traditional cookies; the retailer’s famous “Gobbz” cookies; muffins; soft pretzels; and several mini items in a cup, including marshmallows, Muddy Bites, brownies, cookies and doughnuts.
Altoona, Pennsylvania-based Sheetz operates more than 685 convenience stores across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and North Carolina.
