Dive Brief:
- Schmitz Sunoco opened its first Gastro High Octane Eats in-store foodservice location on Monday, employees at the store confirmed by phone.
- The site, inside an A-Plus store at 20435 Broad Overlook Drive in Ashburn, offers a menu of breakfast and lunch items made at the site.
- Schmitz joins companies like Dash In, Twice Daily and Sprint Mart in unveiling new foodservice programs inside their convenience stores.
Dive Insight:
Convenience store foodservice continues to be a way to differentiate a brand and give customers another reason to visit — and boost revenue along the way. While the number of visits food-forward c-stores are seeing fell 3% year over year for the 52 weeks ended in March, according to Circana data, the average check made up for it by growing 7%.
Eric Schmitz, owner of Schmitz Service stations, told local news site The Burn that he added Gastro to the site to stay competitive in the c-store industry, and decided against bringing in a franchised restaurant. He also told the publication that if the first site goes well, Gastro could be added to other locations in the company’s network.
Gastro offers a variety of breakfast and lunch sandwiches all day, including a build-your-own option for both. The menu also includes pizzas, salads, sides and desserts.
New food concepts are being developed by both large and small convenience retailers. Dash In recently opened a second store featuring its enhanced made-to-order menu in Indian Head, Maryland. Tri Star Energy rolled its new brand new foodservice concept out to all its stores in October 2023 after a successful pilot at select stores. And that same month, Sprint Mart augmented its largest-ever store with a new diner named Sadie’s.
Schmitz operates seven c-stores in Vienna, Ashburn and Leesburg, Virginia.
