As if the competition between multiple QSR brands were not hot enough, they are getting a shove from their neighbors across the street – convenience stores.

C-stores are innovating to convince customers who are already in the store to purchase a meal there—instead of at the QSR down the street, tells us NACS in a recent article.

The 2024 Convenience Voices study found that 28.7% of c-store shoppers intended to visit a QSR (a quick service restaurant—for example, a fast-food chain) within 30 minutes of their convenience visit. The figure stood at 27.5% in 2023

A limited c-store menu was the most frequently cited reason why consumers said they would go to a QSR. 37.9% of those surveyed said they wanted to purchase a food item that the c-store didn’t offer. A close second, 27.3%, said that while they purchased food at the convenience store, they wanted additional food options that weren’t available.

Burger restaurants were the top foodservice leakage destination. This was consistent across all NACS regions, but digging deeper into the data showed that regional preferences emerge when it comes to the second restaurant type most likely to be causing foodservice leakage. In the Northeast and Southeast, fried chicken chains were cited as the No. 2 destination for food, while in the Midwest, Central and South Central regions, Mexican fast food was ranked second. The West region was the only one in which pizza chains came in second as a food leakage destination.

The simple conclusion we can make from this information is that having good-tasting, hot and fresh food is a must today for attracting and retaining your customers. And as these customers all have various food preferences, it is important to conduct the KYC through a comprehensive market assessment and demographic reports.

KYC is a rule that came from the world of finance, where it mostly focuses on potential fraud indicators. But in retail, KYC means knowing the things about your customers that will help you better satisfy their needs and wishes.

In addition to traditional retail demographic reports by radius, and trade area analysis, you can now also get Traffic Flow Demographics, a set of data describing the drivers in the flow of traffic that passes by your store. Ticon’s new products are available with nationwide coverage and high granularity, at Ticon’s industry-leading accuracy and precision.