Food Innovation at QuikTrip

TULSA, Okla.—A recent Institute of Food Technologists­ article spotlighted the food innovation coming from QuikTrip. The Oklahoma-based convenience store has expanded its offerings, including a full-service kitchen, and is paying close attention to changing consumer demands.

Here are some highlights from the interview with Senior Corporate Chef Nick Powell and Corporate Chef Ryan Boone.

Focus on Grab-and-Go

Powell said the company isn’t necessarily moving away from the made-to-order menu, but it’s prioritizing some more convenient grab-and-go items. Everything you can get on grab-and-go menu, you also can get made to order. While grab-and-go food is QuikTrip’s bread and butter, offering customizable options to customers who have more time also is working.

Optimize High-Quality Ingredients

The two spend “a lot of time talking about price value and quality value” as they consider how to get customers over the “psychological hump” of eating at a c-store. Whether it’s about the price or high-quality ingredients, Powell and Boone sort things out with suppliers and optimize it from a culinary perspective.

Improve “Healthiness”

Because healthiness means different things to different people, Powell said that “the onus is going to be on you, as the consumer, to decide what it is healthful to you and to put that together.”

Using consumer insight data, the duo has identified who their customers are and what they need, which has guided their product development process. Boone said that one item that’s popular right now is the breakfast scramble that is customizable to different diets.