Four Foodservice Mistakes to Avoid

Small mistakes can cost you big in foodservice.

July 26, 2018

By Frank Beard

Last year, I was on a radio show from Dallas to discuss convenience store coffee. My team at GasBuddy had just compiled a list of the top-rated brands for coffee, and the show asked me to call in and discuss.

We were a few minutes into the program when the co-host said something I won’t forget. She had issues with some of the stations in the area, and it had nothing to do with the quality of coffee. Vanilla creamer is her primary concern. On many occasions, however, she had filled a cup with coffee only to discover that the vanilla creamer was empty. This put her in the awkward position of standing there with a product that she no longer wanted, with little or no time to stop somewhere else on the way to the radio station.

I bring this up because it illustrates an important point about foodservice in convenience stores. Although many retailers invest significant resources into expanded offerings and facilities, they sometimes undercut those same investments by making simple mistakes can cost them big.

Here are four mistakes to be on the lookout for.

1. Failure to wipe the tables. Nobody wants to eat at a dirty table. If you’ve worked in a restaurant at some point—as I have—then you understand how cleanliness and presentation are essential to success. Customers demand it, and it’s a quality signal that reflects either positively or poorly on any operation.

But I frequently visit convenience retailers that invest in high-quality, proprietary foodservice programs only to let the indoor seating accumulate crumbs, grease and dried food. Perhaps there are even a few utensil wrappers or napkins scattered about on the floor. 

This is one of the quickest ways to reinforce negative stereotypes about “gas station food.” Imagine for a moment that a customer decides to come inside the store, notices the new foodservice program and decides to give it a try—only to take the meal back to the car after finding dirty tables. This sort of interaction reflects poorly upon the entire operation, and it does little to convince anyone that convenience retailers have become foodservice destinations.

2. No unique products. Few restaurants would open without unique offerings or a fresh spin on common items. After all, this would limit their ability to differentiate their brand and drive visits.

Many convenience retailers, however, offer menus that are largely interchangeable from a consumer’s perspective, especially during breakfast. I often visit stores only to discover the same basic biscuits and croissants with egg, cheese and a type of meat. Nothing is inherently wrong with these options, but it’s hard to turn them into destination products without doing something unique.

For retailers with touchscreen menus, leverage this capability to enable customization. Allow your customers to build sandwiches according to their individual preferences.

And while it’s great to have large, highly customizable menus, success also can be found with more limited, tailored menus. The important part is that retailers think outside of the box and do something that sets them apart from the competition. Like Ricker’s. Its Tex-Mex menu may be limited in size when compared to some other brands, but there’s a reason why I drive out of my way to visit whenever I’m in the area.

3. Inconsistent execution. It’s great when retailers invest in upgraded decor and modern store designs, but it doesn’t end there. I recently went out of my way to visit a new store from one of my favorite convenience retailers. Everything looked great from the outside, but I stepped inside to find dirty tables, wrappers, dried food and disengaged foodservice employees. The online ratings and reviews confirmed that these problems had existed for many months. After reading a review about undercooked chicken, I stopped eating my lunch.

It’s essential to identify when specific stores fall below company standards and take corrective action. Otherwise, retailers not only risk the efficacy of those locations—they risk their entire brand’s reputation.

4. Slow or inadequate Wi-Fi. Many of today’s consumers expect quality Wi-Fi. Indeed, eMarketer reports that 70% say it’s an important factor in deciding where to dine. By 2020, 86% of restaurant operators plan to offer it.

However, slow or inadequate Wi-Fi is often worse than no Wi-Fi. It’s frustrating from a consumer’s perspective. Rather than use your phone’s data plan, you decide to connect to a retailer’s network—only to find burdensome login requirements or an even slower connection. I suspect many readers have dealt with airports that require them to watch ads before accessing free networks, or hotels that charge obnoxious fees for anything over 3 mbps.

Airports in particular get away with this because they have a captive audience. But customers have many choices for coffee, lunch and snacks, and they can go elsewhere if the Internet access is poor.

Frank Beard is a regular NACS Daily contributor who has traveled to more than 1,000 convenience stores in 24 states. He raised awareness of the industry's healthful food options with his “30 Days of Gas Station Food” experiment, and he's an analyst/evangelist for convenience store and retail trends at GasBuddy. Follow Frank on Twitter here.

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