Breakfast is not just the most important meal of the day for our health, it can also be the most important for food to go sales, advises independent foodservice consultant Matt Cundrick.
The beauty of the petrol station sector is that we already have a very captive audience at the start of the day, with many sites seeing a majority of their total fuel sales pre-10am, and almost all seeing at least 25% of this business then. But the challenge is getting customers to spend the extra £5 on a grab and go breakfast.
Here are some pointers on how to achieve this:
Customer: Understanding that customer mission can also offer critical success. Seating is the tip of the opportunity iceberg. Even some simple perch stools near a window can make your forecourt a destination for stopping to refuel or recharge. Tapping into the morning meeting, or admin time for workers can stem from this, so consider good wifi, phone charging points, etc. This will also support you well throughout the day. However, making sure the hygiene of the environment and facilities match what the customer needs and wants is the key.
Range: It’s hard to avoid trying to be all things to all customers, but a laser focus on doing a small amount of things really well can bring great success. Concentrate on establishing the core offer. Breakfast baps with sausage and bacon, freshly baked croissants next to the coffee area, ambient porridge and fruit options is a great starter. Developing this further all comes back to knowing who your customer is at the various day parts, and matching them with the products they want.
Coffee: It is a non-negotiable, but poor coffee is not. Really challenging yourself on how you can make the best of your coffee offer can make thousands of pounds of difference throughout the year. Think about how you are highlighting it in the forecourt. Is it visible from the road? What brand are you leading with? Costa Express dominates, and other options with strong customer attraction and loyalty are available, but do your research. Really understanding who your customers are at this time of day will help get this right. Attention must be paid to the daily routines of your customers to drive sales. Use fresh milk (don’t try to cut corners), ensure sugars and stirrers are well stocked, and a regular clean of the machine will help to add sales and loyalty.
Hot food: There is a very careful balance to be made here, but fortune favours the brave and those who invest in delivering something a little bit better. It also opens many doors to vary your breakfast offer to include more than a bacon bap. Bring in breakfast pots, overnight oats and omelettes, something some operators are already trialling and scaling with. Suppliers to the space are constantly trying to innovate to make things easier for forecourts, with touch free solutions, and baked in pack. In highly competitive, high volume sites Greggs clearly leads the way, and with an operationally simple process. Items can be pulled together quickly in a meal deal, giving a significant quality upgrade.
Quality: Skimping on process or product will bite you, or, at worst, stop you from realising the opportunity you have. Noahs Global has done an incredible job in Denmark’s Q8 stores, bringing freshly cooked breakfasts through an in-house kitchen that is open and visible to customers. Quality is significantly increased, and so is customer trust in the brand. By stripping products back to this level and reducing reliance on pre-packed items, it has significantly increased margin as well as quality. This kitchen then functions as a “dark kitchen” for later in the day missions, and has an incredibly strong presence on delivery platforms. It is a model to watch in the coming years.
Inspiration: Internationally, Noahs Global in Denmark, and Snooze in the US are fantastic for how far they’ve taken their set-up and proposition. Noahs has achieved great success in forecourts with its compact, well designed kitchens in the shop area, with open service hatches. Because customers can see their food being prepared, it gives them a direct connection with the chef. The introduction of more advanced cooking equipment has meant the menu can be wide and varied, but importantly fresh and packed with quality. This is then heavily featured on delivery apps, which drives massive increases in sales. Snooze is very strong in travel locations in the US, providing beautifully designed environments as they move further into roadside, with big breakfast/brunch eats, and with seating areas designed for meetings formal and informal, combined with a great setting, including music, wifi and other small touches.
In the UK, Greggs is smashing it from what the customer wants right now. BP Wild Bean does a great job of delivering on the core products and has more in the tank to go further. Also, some operators are already creating their own concepts that allow them to stretch their legs into breakfast and beyond, so watch this space!
- Matt Cundrick, of MKMC Food Business Support, has over 20 years experience in food to go operations across forecourt and convenience outlets, with stints at McColl’s and Rontec. He is now a freelance consultant in the industry, helping forecourt operators “optimise their food to go propositions”.
