Discover the Top KPIs for C-Store and Fuel Businesses
As Convenience Stores (C-stores) adapt to ever-changing markets and consumer preferences, foodservice has emerged as a critical driver of profitability and customer retention. In fact, a 2024 Intouch Insight Report found that 56% of people consider convenience stores’ made-to-order food options as “a viable alternative” to offers from Quick Service Restaurants.
Rather than making a second stop at a nearby fast-food joint, C-store visitors are looking for fresh, ready-to-eat meal options at the same place they’re stopping to fuel up.
C-stores must optimize their on-site restaurant operations to stay competitive and support these customers effectively. The key to achieving this lies in using comprehensive, up-to-date data to track trends, predict demand, and maximize efficiency.
Why On-Site Restaurants Are Vital for Convenience Stores
C-stores have traditionally been known for grab-and-go snacks and beverages, but fresh dining options are becoming more popular among consumers. According to Intouch Insight’s 2024 report, “93% of consumers report trying made-to-order food from a convenience store, up from 76% in 2022."
So, what’s driving this growth?
Today’s consumers want high-quality food options that are both convenient and affordable. The convenience element plays a key role in C-stores' success since a C-store with an on-site restaurant allows visitors to “kill two birds with one stone” by filling up their gas tanks and grabbing a meal during that same stop.
An on-site restaurant is just one part of a gas station or C-store's multi-cash-flow operations, but it can be an integral part of boosting forecourt conversion rates and delivering a positive customer experience to all types of visitors, from daily commuters to road trippers.
The growing demand for fresh food at C-stores is making a notable impact on operators’ bottom lines. In fact. the NACS State of the Industry Report® of 2023 Data found that foodservice made up 26.9% of in-store sales for the year.
Managing a convenience store restaurant requires precise inventory control, demand forecasting, and strategic pricing — areas where business intelligence (BI) can provide a substantial competitive advantage.
How to Use BI in Your Convenience Store Restaurant
In short, a BI and analytics solution helps C-store operators turn raw data from many sources into a single stream of clear, actionable business insights.
The best choice is a specialized BI tool designed for the convenience and fuel industry, complete with ready-to-use report templates and best practice dashboards to help operators get up and running quickly.
With a dedicated BI solution in place, operators can integrate data into the management of their on-site restaurants through initiatives like:
Demand Forecasting
A BI solution allows you to access and study historical sales trends at the category or product level, which can be especially helpful when deciding which ingredients to order or which prepared food products to keep on hand.
Use sales reports to learn when consumers were most likely to buy a specific food item, what they paired it with, and which products are the most popular overall, so you can stock up to meet future demand.
Inventory Management & Food Waste Reduction
Along with forecasting future demand, you’ll want to take proactive steps to minimize overstock and food waste at your restaurant.
Effective C-store inventory management ensures that customers always find their favorite items available and prevents items from going bad before they can be used. BI tools help you analyze ongoing sales trends to determine precise order quantities and keep inventory moving through your restaurant so that perishable items are neither under nor over-ordered.
By combining insights on things like peak store traffic times, market trends, and historical sales data, operators can make informed purchasing decisions that reduce waste and increase profitability.
Seasonal Trend Analysis
Store and restaurant sales inevitably fluctuate during holidays and special local events. Business intelligence data helps operators anticipate these shifts and respond accordingly.
C-stores can proactively adjust inventory and staffing levels to meet increased or decreased demand. This approach prevents stockouts during peak times and avoids excess inventory during slower periods.
For example, you might analyze the previous years’ data to see how sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas compared to sales the rest of the year. Or you may reference historical data to see if more customers visited your store and on-site restaurant during the week of an annual local festival compared to the week after it.
Up-to-Date Performance Monitoring
If your reporting runs through Excel or a similar tool, you might only get to look back at various Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) at the end of each quarter. But what if you could get a complete view of how your business is performing on a daily or even hourly basis?
Automated reports and BI dashboards give you and your employees instant visibility into KPIs related to sales performance, staff productivity, foodservice profitability, and more, so you can adjust right away — not months after the fact.
If a particular menu item is underperforming, you can quickly create targeted promotions or discounts to drive sales. Conversely, if an item is selling out too fast, you can immediately order more inventory to avoid lost sales opportunities.
Personalized Promotions
Promotions have the potential to boost sales and build loyalty amongst your customer base, but only if they align well with your customers’ buying habits and perceptions of good value for money.
Understanding customer preferences enables targeted promotions, and understanding your customers starts with digging into the wealth of data in your POS and other business systems.
Detailed sales data allows you to identify the best-selling menu items at your restaurant and pair them with complementary products to boost basket size. For instance, if data reveals that customers frequently buy a breakfast sandwich with a coffee, you can create bundled deals to encourage more diners to buy both.
Workforce Management
Just like with any other part of your business, labor inefficiencies and shrinkage can significantly affect your on-site restaurant’s profitability.
If you have double the staff required on hand, your revenue will take a heavy hit. What’s more, employees may be preparing extra food for personal consumption or giving away product by offering customers larger portions than they should.
BI tools help track employee performance by monitoring production levels and sales patterns to ensure that food preparation matches up with demand. This prevents employees from making excessive food (which they eat for free later) or underproducing due to staffing shortages or general inefficiencies. Additionally, BI detects inconsistencies in inventory that may indicate theft or waste, so managers can take corrective actions right away.
Drive Success Across Your Entire C-Store and Fuel Business With TARGIT
As C-stores continue to evolve into foodservice destinations, integrating data into daily operations and strategic decisions will help operators work efficiently, meet customer demands, and drive higher profits.
Foodservice is just one element of your operations, which means your BI and reporting strategy should also cover things like retail, fuel, labor & staffing, and more. TARGIT’s end-to-end BI solution offers ready-made reports and dashboards for every part of your business, so you can track the KPIs that fuel your daily operations.
Download our guide, How to Make Data-Driven Decisions in Your C-Store and Fuel Business, to see which metrics you should be tracking across departments.
