Pepperoni and sausage may still reign supreme as pizza toppings, but some c-store retailers are using on-trend bolder, authentic flavors and customized combinations to pique consumer interest in their pies.
By Marilyn Odesser-Torpey, Associate Editor
Tasty, transportable and easy on the wallet, pizza is a natural foodservice fit for convenience stores and their customers. According to a March report on c-store foodservice from Mintel research, 52% offer some pizza offering.
In a research report on the U.S. pizza market published in February 2016, Packaged Facts confirmed the dominance of pepperoni and sausage over other toppings across all restaurant segments, with these premier proteins appearing on 73% of all menus.
But, the report said, other toppings such as chicken and bacon do well.
At West Des Moines, Iowa-based Kum & Go convenience stores, for example, a limited-time-offer (LTO) combination of chicken and bacon with a kick of chipotle and a base of creamy ranch dressing created such a demand that the pie was promoted to the permanent menu, said Greg Tornberg, the company’s vice president of food service.
Pump-N-Pantry stores also counts its own specialty chicken, bacon and ranch pizza as a top seller, noted Wade Robinson, food service supervisor/digital marketing manager for the Montrose, Pa.-based chain.
Other poultry-centric specialty pizzas at Pump-N-Pantry include one topped with chicken, Buffalo wing sauce, blue cheese and ranch, and another called chicken spiedie that features marinated and grilled chicken strips. The chicken spiedie is an authentic regional favorite in stores located in the northern Pennsylvania stores just across the border from Endicott, N.Y., where the popular preparation originated.
“At some of our stores the chicken spiedie pizza outsells pepperoni,” Robinson said.
He also explained that “anything with bacon” sells extremely well.
LTOS INCREASE INTEREST
The Mintel report suggested that pizzas topped with egg, meat and cheese combinations “can be a unique offering that may increase breakfast visitation.” Both Pump-N-Pantry and Kum & Go (which also brings hash-brown potatoes to the toppings party) have achieved substantial success with their breakfast pizzas.
“Breakfast is a big pizza daypart for us,” said Kum & Go’s Tornberg. “We sell most of it by the slice because it fits nicely for customers who are coming in for coffee and other drinks in the morning.”
Pump-N-Pantry has been offering breakfast pizza for at least 18 years, Robinson pointed out. It is available all day both whole and by the slice.
“Some of our customers buy breakfast pizza for dinner,” he said. “Our Pike’s Creek store sells at least six whole breakfast pies every Tuesday evening.”
Thinking way outside the box can also shine a light on a pizza program. Kum & Go runs an innovative LTO (a recent one was a taco pizza) every three to four months. Along with the standard pepperoni and sausage, which are available every day, slices of the LTO pizza rotate daily with other specialty pizzas for sale by the slice.
During Lent for the past three years, Pump-N-Pantry has offered a pizza topped with pierogies, onions, cheese and garlic butter. The idea came from the stores’ pierogi supplier.
“Before Lent, customers ask us when we’ll be bringing back the pierogi pie,” Robinson said.
Mintel emphasized that “possibly the most important development in the pizza restaurant landscape is the growth of fast casual pizza chains (that) specialize in fresh build your own personalized pizzas.
In addition to an assortment of proteins, retailers could offer a variety of cheese and vegetables as potential toppers. Packaged Facts stated although mozzarella is the most common type of cheese used, with 71% penetration on restaurant menus, trends suggest a growth in other varieties such as ricotta, parmesan, goat, gorgonzola and fontina.
“Utilizing more interesting cheeses is one way to denote premium positioning as well as to help differentiate menu items from traditional pizza variants,” the Packaged Facts report stated.
To ramp up the flavor without amping up the calorie count, retailers can use herbs such as basil, which has increased in use by 20% since 2010. Other increasingly popular herbs include cilantro and oregano.
“These ingredients have a strong alignment with authentic Italian flavors and communicate ‘fresh,’” Packaged Facts said.
PROMOTIONS ENTICE
Pizza is a “foundational offering” in Kum & Go’s foodservice program. It is available in over 300 of the company’s total 415 locations spanning the states of Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri.
Even after 20 years, the pizza category has continued to grow for the chain, said Tornberg.
The dough is made in a commissary to the company’s specs and proofed in the stores every day. It takes six minutes to bake the 13-inch pizza in one of three different kinds of ovens—a Lincoln impinger, Turbo Chef conveyor or Ovention.
To consistently promote the pizza, the stores sample the product several times a week. On Fridays, patrons can buy one large pizza and get one free.
Pump-N-Pantry, which has also featured its current pizza program for about 20 years, continues to see growth in the category.
“We’re known in our market areas as the community pizza shop,” Robinson said.
The 16-inch pies are made from fresh, hand-pressed dough that is proofed in the stores and a half pound of cheeses. Seven of the stores have touchscreen kiosks where customers can easily choose from over a dozen toppings.
The pizzas are baked in stone hearth ovens, which are in all but two of the 15 stores located throughout six northeastern Pennsylvania counties.
Pizza, Robinson said, accounts for between 50-65% of total foodservice sales for the stores.
An ongoing promotion is the Tuesday “2-Fer,” buy one large pizza and get one free.
“Our phones blow up on those days,” Robinson said.
Another strong promotion is a combo meal consisting of a pizza slice and 20-ounce bottled soda.
“Pizza is labor intensive so you have to be dedicated to doing it and to be training non-stop,” Robinson said. “Our customers expect our pizzas to look and taste the same no matter which of our stores they go to, so we use strict recipes and expect our sales associates to follow them.”