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C-store pizza posing 'competitive threat' to QSRs, study says

C-stores' double-digit growth of pizza servings compared to flattening growth at QSRs is evidence of the segment's increasing focus on foodservice, and its competitive threat to traditional QSRs.

May 7, 2015

Convenience stores are stocking up on pizza and pizza dough, The NPD Group, a global research firm, reported. The company's research found a 27 percent rise in cases of pizza crust and dough shipped to convenience stores from broadline foodservice distributors and a 20 percent increase in servings of pizza ordered by c-store customers in the year ending February 2015, compared to year ago.

Pizza crust and dough cases shipped from broadline distributors to c-stores increased dollars by more than 30 percent, NPD's SupplyTrack, a monthly tracking service following products shipped from major broadline distributors to their foodservice operators, found. The research also found a 4 percent increase of pizza box case shipments to c-stores in the year ending February 2015, compared to 2014.

C-stores' double-digit growth of pizza servings compared to flattening growth at QSRs is evidence of the segment's increasing focus on foodservice, and its competitive threat to traditional QSRs, NPD said.

Foodservice visits at convenience stores also increased by 2 percent compared to a 1 percent gain at QSRs for the same period, sending the category to the top in terms of in-store gross profits, followed by foodservice sales, according to NPD's Growing in a Fragmented Market report.

"Convenience stores, particularly food forward convenience stores, are increasing their foodservice footprint and rapidly gaining share from traditional quick service operators," said Annie Roberts, vice president, SupplyTrack, in a statement. "Foodservice manufacturers and distributors should understand the dynamics that are currently at play between retail and traditional quick service restaurants in order to fully serve the needs of the changing foodservice marketplace."