This article is brought to you by Lower Family Foods. 
A challenge that c-stores continue to face is competition from surrounding QSRs.
The NACS State of the Industry Report® of 2024 Data revealed an alarming trend: the national foodservice leakage rate, or the percentage of shoppers who plan to purchase food from a QSR within 30 minutes of their convenience store visit, is 28.7%, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the prior year.
The data showed that of the 28.7% of shoppers, 37.9% planned to buy food elsewhere due to a lack of appealing menu options and 18.9% shared that they went to a QSR because they perceived higher quality food options were available elsewhere.
“Ultimately, many convenience stores are losing customer share to QSRs down the street. But they don’t have to,” said Michael Mortensen, SVP of operations and supply chain at Lower Family Foods. One of the best ways to keep the customer in your stores, said Mortensen, is to “elevate your foodservice offerings in order to better compete with the QSRs.”
The first step is for operators to evaluate their current offerings. “There are a couple of things a retailer should do when they consider their own menu. First, look at what the national QSRs are doing, as well as what competitive foodservice-focused c-stores are doing. Then, use those observations to edit and promote your own menu,” Mortensen advised.
He suggested three strategies that operators could implement to quickly elevate their foodservice offerings:
“LTOs are a great way to both test market trends and also keep menus refreshed. They can keep drawing customers in to try something new,” Mortensen noted. Lower Family Foods often works with c-stores to create LTOs. One recently successful program was a round of summer smoked meat LTOs.
Retailers should also take note of current trends, Mortensen said. “Don’t just copy what everyone else is doing. Find a way to make the product unique to you—that way people will go out of their way to get your product instead of a meal from a QSR.” Some current trends Mortensen noted include multicultural fusion items, food drawing from Hispanic cuisine, BBQ smoked meats and value—high quality items for fair prices.
Another way to draw people in with your foodservice is to play with over-the-top menu items, Mortensen said, like Mile High nachos with all beef taco meat, Szechuan ribs with hickory smoked baby back ribs or diced pork chili verde protein bowl.
Learn more about how LTOs can improve your operations in part two of this two-part series brought to you by Lower Family Foods. Learn more about Lower Family Foods in the November 2025 NACS Magazine article “Protein Possibilities.”