CHICAGO - Today€™s convenience stores offer a wide array of fresh, innovative lunchtime offerings, Advertising Age reports. Recent research has found that convenience stores are luring customers away from fast-food restaurants.

"It's on," said Tim Powell, Technomic director of research and consulting. "It's been very competitive. C-stores will say the No. 1 concern for growth over the next two or three years is [quick-service restaurants]."

Chains like 7-Eleven, Circle K, QuikTrip, Wawa, Sheetz, Thorntons and Quick Chek have focused on foodservice as a way to garner more in-store traffic and boost sales. "The total foodservice category continues to grow and now makes up a larger portion of Thorntons' overall business than ever before," said Melina Patterson, senior foodservice category manager at Thorntons. She expects with "better focus and execution, the category is expected to become an even bigger part of the business."

Since 2005, QuikTrip has been revamping its locations to improve its foodservice menu, which now includes fresh sandwiches, fruit, salad and pastries, with an eye to increasing its grab-and-go selection. But even QuikTrip knows convenience store have an image problem to overcome when it comes to foodservice. "There's no question there's a perception issue," said Mike Thornbrugh, spokesman for QuikTrip. "I don't think it's aimed at QuikTrip, but that's the nature of the industry. Those kinds of thoughts by the general public are going away. It just takes a long time."

That is changing faster now that more people are visiting convenience stores for foodservice. "Convenience stores have been able to [compete] because they've taken a cue from fast food in that it's all about convenience and gaining frequency," said Bonnie Riggs with The NPD Group. "They were not ones to historically do promotional activity. ... But now they've really tapped into the value-conscious consumer."