Rutter’s kicked off the summer season with the launch of their 2021 VIP Summer Sweepstakes. The Central Pennsylvania-based chain will be giving away over $50,000 in cash and prizes to their VIP customers over the next four months. “We love rewarding our loyal customers with the chance to win prizes, while enjoying some of their…
7-Eleven Collects Shelf-Stable Goods for Food Banks
7–Eleven will collect and donate non-perishable food items during the month of April for local communities throughout the Northeastern U.S. 7-Eleven is encouraging customers in the participating states to donate shelf-stable food items to their local participating 7-Eleven store. Donations will be divided between five Feeding America member food banks in the Northeast. The initiative…
Analyzing the Future of Hard Seltzer
There is quite a buzz around RTD Cocktails and its boom on the scene in 2021. Some analysts are studying social media conversations to predict the growth potential of the new segment. According to Barron’s, Instagram conversations about prepared cocktails is at about 40% of hard seltzer, but higher than the take off period. RTD…
Positioning Smokeless Tobacco
Smokeless sales, driven by the spitless segment, are trending up at convenience stores with help from ongoing innovation in the segment. Dollar sales in the convenience channel rose 8.9% for the 52 weeks ending Feb. 27, 2021, totaling $7.37 billion, up from $6.77 billion for the previous year, according to data from NielsenIQ. Unit sales…
PDI Acquires GasBuddy
PDI announced that it has acquired GasBuddy. With this acquisition, PDI extends its capabilities in direct-to-consumer delivery of promotional offers and communications, and engagement of consumers in convenience store and petroleum loyalty rewards programs. GasBuddy has five million active mobile users, representing billions of fuel gallons and hundreds of millions of dollars of convenience retail…
GPM Expands DoorDash Partnership
Richmond, Va.-based GPM Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of ARKO Corp., is expanding its DoorDash program to an additional 300-plus stores as of April 19. First introduced in July 2020, DoorDash is currently available in 348 participating locations spanning across 19 states and several brands in the GPM portfolio, including Village Pantry, fas mart, Town…
OnCue Steps Up for Big Brothers Big Sisters
OnCue convenience stores raised $12,500 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma through the sale of limited-edition co-branded cups. For every cup sold, OnCue contributed 50 cents to local mentoring programs. As the nation’s largest donor and volunteer-supported mentoring network, Big Brothers Big Sisters makes meaningful mentor matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”),…
Daypart Focus Brings Foodservice Success
Vaccines are rolling out, but the pandemic and its effects are far from over. Across all dayparts, c-stores continue to adjust their foodservice offers to reflect evolving consumer habits and set themselves up for success on the other side. The breakfast daypart in particular took a hit at the start of the pandemic for many…
S. Abraham & Sons Launches DeVinci’s Pizza Program
S. Abraham & Sons, Inc. a subsidiary of Imperial Trading Company, has introduced The DeVinci’s Pizza Program for 2021. DeVinci’s is a turnkey pizza program offering four varieties of 12” pre-made pizzas that can be sold whole or by the slice. Five Cheese, Pepperoni, Four Meat and Breakfast are the flavor offerings. Each pizza has…
Energy Shots Look to Bounce Back
Energy shot sales faced a challenging year in 2020, but c-store operators have an opportunity to grow their energy shot business in 2021 with smart promotions, merchandising and product selection, as well as larger package sizes, better pricing and even suggestive selling. IRI figures for the total U.S. convenience store channel for calendar year 2020,…