CHICAGO – The era of convenience store and gas station food being the butt of jokes is long over, Beverage Industry magazine reports. Today, more than half of U.S. consumers buy foodservice items from convenience stores, said Susan Viamari, editor of Information Resources Inc.’s (IRI) Times & Trends. Beverages have a huge role in spurring sales, with 19% of consumers purchasing foodservice items at convenience stores because of the outlet’s beverage selection.

Last year, foodservice grabbed close to 16% of in-store sales at convenience stores, according to the NACS State of the Industry. Sales of cold dispensed drinks jumped 11.3%. Coffee took around 13% of beverage sales in 2012.

“Instead of just focusing on packaged beverages, there’s a lot of focus on dispensed beverages, and coffee is one of the things that we are seeing tremendous growth in,” said Jackie Gray, director for Willard Bishop. “Certainly [convenience stores] have an opportunity to really present a good coffee offering at a reasonable price, and it is a great traffic driver for the morning beverage.”

Also driving sales are beverages in the health-and-wellness section. “More than two-thirds of consumers are trying to eat healthier, but generally convenience stores index lower than the industry average on healthier options,” said Viamari.

Convenience stores have also proven to be prime real estate for sampling. “Convenience stores also are probably the best place to sample a new product than any other channel because you can buy a single item as opposed to other channels where you have to buy a four-pack, a six-pack, a case or some other bigger volume,” said Jeff Lenard, NACS spokesman.

With convenience stores offering a wide variety of both packaged and dispensed beverages to great success, other channels, such as supermarkets, are taking notice. “There’s this diversification happening across American beverage consumption where we’re seeing segmentation throughout different categories where a family is choosing multiple beverages as opposed to one specific drink that the entire family is consuming,” said Jonas Feliciano, beverage industry analyst at Euromonitor International. “That has a lot to do with the variety that convenience stores have offered and have exposed consumers to.”