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Hello, convenience store owner/operators! It’s Thursday and as always, the industry keeps on moving. Staying on top of the latest trends and news isn’t just about being informed; it’s about being prepared, adaptable, and ready to seize new opportunities. Today, we’ve got some fascinating insights from across the convenience retail landscape that I believe are particularly important for you to consider. From optimizing your foodservice to understanding shifts in key categories and even leveraging employee development, these 5 (plus one bonus!) news items offer practical takeaways for your business. Let’s dive into what you need to know and, more importantly, what you can do about it.

1. And the Foodservice Winner Is… You: The Power of a Simplified Menu

CSP Daily News highlighted that simplifying your foodservice menu can be a game-changer for convenience stores. The core message is clear: less can truly be more. By streamlining your offerings, you reduce operational complexity, minimize labor training, and cut down on inventory sprawl. This leads to improved consistency, faster service, and an enhanced customer experience – all critical factors in today’s competitive environment.

Why It Matters to C-Store Owners/Operators: For years, foodservice has been a primary growth driver for our industry. However, an overly complex menu can quickly become a drain on resources, leading to higher labor costs, increased food waste, and slower service times. A simplified menu boosts efficiency and profitability. It also makes your marketing and promotions clearer, allowing for stronger limited-time offers (LTOs) that can create buzz and drive traffic. Guests crave simplicity, and a focused menu allows you to excel at what you do best.

What You Should Be Doing:

• Audit Your Menu: Regularly review sales and margin data for every menu item. Identify and eliminate slow sellers or redundant offerings that tie up inventory and kitchen space.
• Optimize SKUs: Look for opportunities to reuse ingredients (SKUs) across different dayparts or menu items. This reduces inventory, improves purchasing power, and simplifies preparation.
• Keep it Flexible: While simplifying, ensure you maintain flexibility for snacks, drinks, and LTOs. These categories offer high-frequency and high-margin opportunities and appeal to younger demographics like Gen Z and Millennials.
• Focus on Consistency: A simpler menu means your team can master preparation, leading to a consistently high-quality product every time, which builds customer loyalty.

2. Tobacco: Navigating the Shifting Sands

CSNews.com’s 2025 Deep Dive Industry Report on Tobacco, along with recent news from CSP Daily News, paints a picture of a category in flux. While cigarette sales continue their decline, they remain a significant revenue driver for convenience stores. Key concerns for retailers include the rising impact of excise taxes, which can drive cross-border purchasing, and the proliferation of illegal vapor products. The segment is still a top seller, but its dynamics are rapidly evolving.

Why It Matters to C-Store Owners/Operators: Tobacco products historically represent a substantial portion of in-store sales and often serve as a gateway for customers to purchase other items like snacks and beverages. Declining cigarette sales and regulatory pressures mean you can’t rely on this category as a passive income stream. Understanding these shifts is vital for protecting your margins and adapting your overall product mix. The rise of other tobacco products (OTP) and novel nicotine products like Zyn presents both challenges and opportunities.

What You Should Be Doing:

• Monitor Regulations Closely: Stay informed about local, state, and federal excise tax changes and flavor bans. These directly impact your pricing and profitability.
• Optimize OTP Assortment: Focus on a strong and diverse assortment of other tobacco products (e.g., cigars, smokeless tobacco, newer nicotine pouches) that appeal to evolving consumer preferences.
• Combat Illicit Products: Work with industry associations and local law enforcement to report and combat illegal vape sales, which undermine legitimate businesses.
• Engage with Customers: Understand your customers’ purchasing habits within the tobacco category and be prepared to offer alternatives or complementary products as preferences shift.
• Cross-Promote: Leverage tobacco purchases to encourage sales of higher-margin items like coffee, energy drinks, and snacks.

3. Stinker Stores & Costa Coffee: Elevating the Beverage Experience

C-Store Dive reported on Stinker Stores’ strategic partnership with Costa Coffee, bringing a variety of high-quality, fresh-ground coffee and specialty beverages to select locations. This move is part of a broader industry trend where convenience retailers, including giants like Casey’s General Stores and QuikTrip, are significantly refreshing their beverage programs. The focus is on offering more customization, premium options, and an enhanced experience.

Why It Matters to C-Store Owners/Operators: Beverages, particularly coffee, are a high-margin, high-frequency category that drives customer visits. As consumers become more discerning, they expect quality and variety beyond standard drip coffee. Partnering with a recognized brand like Costa Coffee (owned by Coca-Cola) or investing in your own premium program signals a commitment to quality and can draw in new customers seeking a better coffee experience. This also positions you to compete with quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and dedicated coffee shops.

What You Should Be Doing:

• Assess Your Beverage Program: Honestly evaluate the quality and variety of your current coffee and dispensed beverage offerings. Are you meeting customer expectations?
• Explore Partnerships: Consider partnerships with established coffee brands or explore premium equipment and bean suppliers to elevate your in-house program.
• Focus on Customization: Offer a range of syrups, creams, and toppings to allow customers to personalize their drinks, mimicking the QSR experience.
• Promote Innovation: Introduce seasonal or limited-time specialty drinks to keep your offerings fresh and exciting, driving repeat visits.
• Beyond Coffee: Look at your entire dispensed beverage set. Are your fountain, tea, and frozen drink options modern and appealing?

4. What’s Going On in Your Neck-of-the-Woods: Regional Insights & Broader Trends

NACS Magazine’s June 2025 “Coast to Coast” article provided a deep dive into regional performance across the U.S. convenience store industry. It highlighted diverse trends: the Northeast’s strong sales but rising expenses, the Southeast’s growth in fuel and foodservice despite spoilage challenges, the Central region’s strength in foodservice and merchandise, and the West’s reliance on fuel with improving inside categories. This regional analysis underscores that while national trends exist, local market conditions dictate specific opportunities and challenges. Broader industry trends for 2025 also point to the increasing importance of AI, loyalty programs, foodservice innovation, addressing EV driver needs, and leveraging first-party data.

Why It Matters to C-Store Owners/Operators: What works in one region might not work in another. Understanding the nuances of your local market is paramount. This article reinforces that while national strategies are important, granular data on consumer behavior, competition, and operational costs within your specific region or even neighborhood is crucial for effective decision-making. Furthermore, macro trends like AI and enhanced loyalty programs will impact all regions.

What You Should Be Doing:

• Hyper-Local Focus: Beyond national reports, dig into local demographic data, competitive landscapes, and community needs. What are your specific customers looking for?
• Leverage Data: Use your own store’s sales data to identify unique regional patterns in purchases, peak times, and category performance.
• Adapt Strategies: Tailor your marketing, product assortment, and operational strategies to address the specific challenges and opportunities identified in your region. For example, if your region shows high foodservice growth, double down on that.
• Embrace Technology: Consider how AI can improve security, inventory management, customer service, or administrative tasks, regardless of your region.
• Refine Loyalty Programs: Focus on personalized loyalty programs that use first-party data to offer relevant discounts and promotions, fostering “intentional spending.”

5. Is Amazon Primed to Steal Your Grocery and Snacks?

CSP Daily News reported that Amazon’s Prime Day is expanding to four days (July 8-11) and will feature significant promotions on groceries and snacks from major brands like Frito-Lay and Ferrero Rocher. This signals Amazon’s continued aggressive push into everyday essentials, aiming to capture more of the consumer’s wallet, particularly among its loyal Prime members. While other retailers like Walmart and Target often run concurrent sales, most Prime Day shoppers tend to stick with Amazon.

Why It Matters to C-Store Owners/Operators: Amazon’s increasing focus on grocery and snack sales, especially during high-profile events like Prime Day, directly impacts your business. They are competing for the same basket spend. While convenience stores offer immediate gratification and proximity, Amazon’s pricing power, vast selection, and loyalty program pose a significant threat, particularly for planned purchases of packaged goods. The desire among consumers to stock up on essentials due to tariff fears only amplifies this threat.

What You Should Be Doing:

• Emphasize Convenience: Double down on your core strength: true convenience. Highlight your speed of service, easy access, and immediate availability for impulse buys and quick fill-ins.
• Focus on Fresh and Foodservice: Amazon still struggles with fresh, prepared foods. Invest in high-quality foodservice, fresh produce, and grab-and-go options that offer a superior experience to online grocery.
• Curate Assortment: Offer unique or locally sourced items that Amazon doesn’t carry. Focus on the “discovery” aspect that c-stores can provide.
• Loyalty Programs & Personalization: Build strong loyalty programs that reward frequent shoppers and use data to offer personalized deals on their preferred snacks and beverages.
• Community Hub: Position your store as a community hub, offering services beyond just products, creating a sticky customer base that values the personal connection.

Bonus – Do Your Employees Know About These Scholarships?

Convenience.org announced that the NACS Foundation’s Future Fund Scholarship Program for 2025 is offering 16 scholarships of $3,000 each. This fantastic initiative helps convenience store employees—and their children—cover tuition costs for undergraduate or community college programs. The application deadline is June 30, 2025, and recipients will even be invited to the 2025 NACS Show in Chicago!

Why It Matters to C-Store Owners/Operators: In an industry grappling with labor shortages and retention challenges, investing in your employees’ future is not just good corporate citizenship; it’s smart business. Scholarships like the NACS Future Fund demonstrate that you value your team beyond their daily tasks, fostering loyalty and attracting new talent. It’s a powerful tool for employee engagement and retention.

What You Should Be Doing:

• Spread the Word: Actively promote the NACS Future Fund Scholarship and similar opportunities within your organization. Use breakroom posters, internal communications, and team meetings to ensure all eligible employees and their families are aware.
• Support Applications: Offer support and guidance to employees interested in applying. This could include providing a quiet space to work on essays or connecting them with resources.
• Highlight Success Stories: If any of your employees or their children receive scholarships, celebrate their achievements internally and externally (with their permission). This inspires others and reinforces your commitment to your team.
• Consider Internal Programs: Beyond external scholarships, explore if your company can offer its own tuition reimbursement or scholarship programs to further support employee development.

The Bottom Line

There you have it – six key pieces of news from June 18th that underscore the dynamic nature of our convenience store industry. From streamlining operations through foodservice to adapting to shifts in tobacco, enhancing the customer experience with premium beverages, navigating regional market nuances, facing down e-commerce giants, and crucially, investing in our people, the path to success in 2025 is all about agility and foresight.

Remember, every challenge is an opportunity in disguise. By staying informed, acting strategically, and putting your customers and employees first, your convenience store can not only navigate these changes but thrive in them. Keep innovating, keep connecting, and keep delivering that unmatched convenience!