Whole Roasted Chickens at Convenience Stores

[Alpha8472]

Kwik Trip is having success with its chicken program due to automation.

Whole roasted chickens seem to attract customers just like at Costco.

https://csnews.com/csn-exclusive-kwik-t ... en-program

[storewanderer]

Kwik Trip is having success with its chicken program due to automation.

Whole roasted chickens seem to attract customers just like at Costco.

https://csnews.com/csn-exclusive-kwik-t ... en-program

Kwik Trip runs with 10-20 employees on shift all day (they go down to 4-5 employees overnight). They have fried chicken and various other hot food as well. They prepackage everything into small portions and it is grab and go with strict time markings on the packages. This is a bad comparison but if you remember the old AM PM 90's hot food program it reminds me of that- but the difference is this stuff at Kwik Trip you actually do want to eat... it is actually appetizingly presented.

They sell a lot of groceries in their stores. They have a lot of dairy products and promote them heavily, as well as bakery products.

Their chicken is every bit as good as an above average supermarket deli if not better due to the freshness timing being so strict. Price is a little high, I think they push an extra .20-.30 but they are cheaper than fast food. I think they have figured out the sweet spot on pricing. They move a high volume of these products.

[Romr123]

KT/KStar is really a phenomenon--legitimately good prepared food, good dairy deals (they own a dairy so do loss leaders all the time especially for butter) and intriguing in-and-out promotions (believe last time I was there they had case-ready center cut loin pork chops in smallish (one or two) Cryovac that looked legitimately terrific. That, along with the kind of immaculate gas islands you can get with a heavy staffing model and ubiquity (seems like they're at every exit/major intersection) make for a really nice experience.

I'd say QuikTrip (Tulsa), Sheetz and Wawa are liked; but KT/KStar is loved in its area.

[storewanderer]

In Des Moines you have both Kwik Star and Quik Trip... in my view the two compliment each other. I would frequently visit both but for different reasons.

QT has a different offer. Stronger on dispensed beverages and has a different variety of ready to eat foods. You can get in and out of QT a lot faster. QT to me is just a much much better 7-Eleven.

Kwik Star is more focused on being a small grocery store and just so happens to have a lot of gas pumps. They have a lot to offer. This is where Kroger was going with its c-stores before they sold them, an unfortunate loss. I wonder how many sales they take from grocery stores and fast food. My suspicion is a lot, based on how well staffed they are.

[Alpha8472]

In Des Moines you have both Kwik Star and Quik Trip... in my view the two compliment each other. I would frequently visit both but for different reasons.

QT has a different offer. Stronger on dispensed beverages and has a different variety of ready to eat foods. You can get in and out of QT a lot faster. QT to me is just a much much better 7-Eleven.

Kwik Star is more focused on being a small grocery store and just so happens to have a lot of gas pumps. They have a lot to offer. This is where Kroger was going with its c-stores before they sold them, an unfortunate loss. I wonder how many sales they take from grocery stores and fast food. My suspicion is a lot, based on how well staffed they are.

I wish they would expand. These sound like great stores.

[storewanderer]

In Des Moines you have both Kwik Star and Quik Trip... in my view the two compliment each other. I would frequently visit both but for different reasons.

QT has a different offer. Stronger on dispensed beverages and has a different variety of ready to eat foods. You can get in and out of QT a lot faster. QT to me is just a much much better 7-Eleven.

Kwik Star is more focused on being a small grocery store and just so happens to have a lot of gas pumps. They have a lot to offer. This is where Kroger was going with its c-stores before they sold them, an unfortunate loss. I wonder how many sales they take from grocery stores and fast food. My suspicion is a lot, based on how well staffed they are.

I wish they would expand. These sound like great stores.

There are a lot of excellent convenience store operators in many pockets of the US. It is unfortunate what we have out west. Absolutely pathetic situation really. The new build AM PMs are nice, but for me they lack in product mix with all sugar dispensed drinks (no unsweetened tea or seltzers) and they sometimes are not aging well. But I don't see it improving. If the big oil companies had kept more of the west coast stations corporate operated, the situation may be better. Back when CA was going around suing gas station owners for contaminating the ground near stations the oil companies with deep pockets paid out a ton of money and rapidly stopped having corporate stations in CA (except Chevron) and I think that set the stage to spook "better" operators from building new gas stations in CA back in the 90's.

[SamSpade]

It is unfortunate what we have out west. Absolutely pathetic situation really.

I hate literally all our convenience stores. I never go to them, except if I'm desperate for a coffee I might hit 7-Eleven rarely.
I do like how the Portland, Ore. area operator Plaid Pantry has pivoted over the past decade to offer more local products and continue to reward their loyal customers. But, they still have Farmers Bros for coffee (gag) and a limited Pepsi fountain (bleh).

Every time I go back to the intermountain west, it's so nice to finally be back in Maverik country.

[babs]

It is unfortunate what we have out west. Absolutely pathetic situation really.

I hate literally all our convenience stores. I never go to them, except if I'm desperate for a coffee I might hit 7-Eleven rarely.
I do like how the Portland, Ore. area operator Plaid Pantry has pivoted over the past decade to offer more local products and continue to reward their loyal customers. But, they still have Farmers Bros for coffee (gag) and a limited Pepsi fountain (bleh).

Every time I go back to the intermountain west, it's so nice to finally be back in Maverik country.

Portland and Seattle are ripe for a better convenience store. Plaid Pantries are dumps. 7-11 can have decent coffee but they're still mostly dumps. Wawa, Sheetz, Buc-ee's come on guys, head out to the Pac NW, you have clean up on business.

[storewanderer]

It is unfortunate what we have out west. Absolutely pathetic situation really.

I hate literally all our convenience stores. I never go to them, except if I'm desperate for a coffee I might hit 7-Eleven rarely.
I do like how the Portland, Ore. area operator Plaid Pantry has pivoted over the past decade to offer more local products and continue to reward their loyal customers. But, they still have Farmers Bros for coffee (gag) and a limited Pepsi fountain (bleh).

Every time I go back to the intermountain west, it's so nice to finally be back in Maverik country.

Portland and Seattle are ripe for a better convenience store. Plaid Pantries are dumps. 7-11 can have decent coffee but they're still mostly dumps. Wawa, Sheetz, Buc-ee's come on guys, head out to the Pac NW, you have clean up on business.

I don't think you will see these better chains ever on the west coast. The west coast's best hope is Maverik, new AM PMs, and new Circle Ks. I am not impressed with how new stores age for any of these chains though.

There are a variety of reasons why I say these chains will never come out west. Their larger footprint is too costly from a real estate perspective out west. Tobacco use is low out west and tobacco is a significant category for these stores despite ongoing declines in use. Liquor is a significant component of these stores and it isn't easy to get new liquor licenses out west. The difficulties in permitting and approving new businesses out west is problematic and the anti oil mindset being very popular brings out a segment of people who will fight these new gas stations from being approved because they hate oil.

Quik Trip has its Colorado expansion in motion and they are doing their thing in Denver building quite a few stores. Their first Las Vegas store is about to open. So I expect they will expand out into Utah and perhaps Idaho at some point too. Maverik will fight that very hard but they won't be able to "buy them out" the way they did Kum & Go.

[veteran+]

It is unfortunate what we have out west. Absolutely pathetic situation really.

I hate literally all our convenience stores. I never go to them, except if I'm desperate for a coffee I might hit 7-Eleven rarely.
I do like how the Portland, Ore. area operator Plaid Pantry has pivoted over the past decade to offer more local products and continue to reward their loyal customers. But, they still have Farmers Bros for coffee (gag) and a limited Pepsi fountain (bleh).

Every time I go back to the intermountain west, it's so nice to finally be back in Maverik country.

I feel the same way regarding MY area.