Will US convenience stores find the secret to selling better food?

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans who think of petrified hot dogs, frozen burritos and salty snacks when they imagine getting food at a gas station or truck stop may be pleasantly surprised during their next road trip: U.S. convenience stores are offering them more and better — though not necessarily healthier — choices.

From 7-Eleven to regional chains like QuikTrip, the operators of c-stores, as they're known in the trade, are looking overseas for grab-and-go inspiration, adding sit-down seating at some locations, expanding their coffee menus to rival Starbucks and experimenting with made-to-order meals for busy families.

The moves are happening as convenience stores seek ways to offset slowing sales of cigarettes, maps and soft drinks. By tempting customers’ palates with fresh deli sandwiches and build-your-own burgers, the humble food marts want to become an alternative to fast-food restaurants for busy Americans who crave easy, interesting and less expensive eating options.

“It has been a decades-long journey to go from food that was perceived as desperation to destination,” Jeff Lenard, vice president of strategic industry initiatives for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said.

Once known for breakfast and lunch, convenience chains like Wawa, with more than 1,000 East Coast locations, as well as small operators like York, Pennsylvania-based Rutter's, have moved into dinner time with soup, chicken and fish dishes. Rutter's, which operates 90 stores, plans a new store format with expanded seating as it adds 50 new locations in the next five years.

Casey’s General Stores, the nation's third-largest convenience store operator with 2,500 outlets mostly in the Midwest and the South, introduced warm chicken, pork and hamburger sandwiches on brioche-style buns this year. The company, already known for serving pizza that customers enjoy, created a limited-time menu that included pies and sliders made with smoked pulled pork, barbecue sauce and pickles.

“We really are approaching this like a restaurant as we always have, but more so now,” Carrie Stojack, the Iowa-based chain's vice president of brand and strategic insights, said. “Prices have gotten really high. So what’s happening is that convenience stores are becoming a real viable option for guests.”

In keeping with their quest, convenience stores are expanding delivery services to build on a customer base they found during the COVID-19 pandemic. 7-Eleven plans to take its 7Now delivery app nationwide, allowing users to have pizza, the chain's signature Slurpees and thousands of other items brought to their doors.

The nation's largest convenience store chain, owned by Japanese company Seven & i Holdings, offers select Japanese items like chicken teriyaki, rice balls, miso ramen and sweet chili crisp wings at some U.S. locations and at its recently acquired Speedway and Stripes stores. Visitors to Japan and Hawaii often respond with envy and astonishment when they taste what’s on offer at a 7-Eleven in Tokyo or Honolulu.

The chain's North American subsidiary said it works with some of the same food manufacturers and commissaries that serve Seven-Eleven Japan. That includes Warabeya, which is expanding its U.S operations to help deliver fresh food to stores and provide an assortment of offerings to suit regional tastes.

“Our team draws inspiration from around the world to introduce new items like mangonada donuts with Tajín, barbecue pork sliders, chicken curry bowls and everything breakfast sandwiches," the subsidiary said in a statement after declining interview requests.

Seven & i Holdings disclosed earlier this month plans to close 444 U.S. locations amid slowing sales, inflationary pressures and an accelerated decline in cigarette purchases. The company also is fielding a buyout offer from Alimentation Couche-Tard, the Canadian owner of the Circle K convenience stores.

Appealing convenience store food isn't entirely new and has varied widely by region. Buc-ee’s, the Texas-born chain with 50 stores in the South, has a cult following among fans who regularly stop for breakfast tacos and snacks like caramel-coat corn puffs called Beaver Nuggets.

Pennsylvania residents, meanwhile, happily debate the relative culinary merits of the food from Wawa (Try the Gobbler, a hot turkey sandwich with stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce, they advise), Sheetz (the expansive menu of hot and customizable food includes breakfast bagels and quesadillas) and Landhope Farms, beloved for its hand-dipped ice cream cones and milkshakes.

TikTok and YouTube videos of people eating nothing but convenience store food for a day or comparing the dishes from different chains have helped drive interest in food on the road.

Anderson Nguyen, 26, a TikTok content creator based in San Francisco, tried the chicken and macaroni and cheese from Krispy Krunchy Chicken, which operates most of its locations inside gas stations and convenience stores.

“I generally don’t buy too much stuff from these convenience stores,” Nguyen said. But he said his experience at Krispy Krunchy Chicken would make him reconsider.

The coronavirus created a unique role for the sector. Most restaurants closed temporarily at the height of the pandemic, while many convenience stores remained open.

Non-fuel sales at U.S. convenience stores increased 36% between pre-pandemic 2018 and last year, growing from $242 billion to almost $328 billion, according to a National Association of Convenience Stores analysis of sales data from roughly 20,000 locations. During the same period, cigarettes as a percentage of those sales fell from 31% to 20%.

In upping their food offerings, convenience stores now threaten to take business from fast-food chains like McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s, which used summer deals to revive sales, experts said.

Jonathan Raduns, CEO of food merchandising at retail consultancy Merchandise Food LLC, did a spot check online of similar items offered at specific fast-food restaurants and convenience chains that showed convenience store food was actually cheaper.

For example, a large pepperoni pizza at a Casey's in London, Ohio, cost $13.99 versus a similar version at a Domino's, which cost $14.99. And a large coffee at convenience store chain Parker's Kitchen in Savannah, Georgia, sold for $2.49 versus $3.48 for similar size at a Starbucks in the same area.

Virginia-based convenience chain Arko, which operates stores under such banners as 1-Stop and ExpressStop, has focused on being an affordable alternative. At the beginning of the year, it rolled out what it described as an “inflation-busting” 12-inch pizza that cost $4.99 for members of Arko's free loyalty program and $7.99 for non-members.

“It took us months to come up with good quality and something people can actually afford,” Arko Corp. CEO Arie Kotler said.

Nutritionists and organizations like the American Heart Association encourage service station retailers to focus on fruit and other fresh food that's healthy.

Kristen Lorenz, a registered dietitian with a private practice in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said convenience food operators have been adding healthier options like lettuce wraps and yogurt parfaits. Previously, the prepared food consisted of meat on a roller and pizza that looked “dry and wrinkly."

Among Lorenz's favorites: customized sandwiches at Sheetz and Wawa.

“Everyone has to get gas and everyone has to eat,” she said. “So offering a variety of healthy choices that Americans can choose from is good. And what’s great about these stores is they still have the traditional items that can make a road trip fun. You could get a small bag of chips.”

AP Food Writer Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to the report.

A Sheetz employee prepares a taco order at the convenience store, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Bethlehem, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

A Sheetz employee prepares a breakfast sandwich at the convenience store, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Bethlehem, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Brian Blair, of Akron, Ohio, enters his food order at a Sheetz convenience store, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Bethlehem, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Brian Blair, of Akron, Ohio, enters his food order at a Sheetz convenience store, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Bethlehem, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Pre-packaged sushi rolls are seen at a Sheetz convenience store, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Bethlehem, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Sheetz employee Dylan Sachs prepares a breakfast sandwich at the convenience store, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Bethlehem, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

A customer walks through a Sheetz convenience store, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Bethlehem, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Customers checkout at a Sheetz convenience store, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Bethlehem, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes on multiple homes in the northern Gaza Strip overnight and into Sunday left at least 87 people dead or missing, the territory's Health Ministry said.

It said another 40 people were wounded in the strikes on the town of Beit Lahiya, which was among the first targets of Israel’s ground invasion nearly a year ago. The Israeli military said it carried out a precise strike on a Hamas target.

Israel has been carrying out a large-scale operation in northern Gaza for the last two weeks, saying Hamas has regrouped there. Palestinian officials say hundreds of people have been killed and that the health sector in the north is on the verge of collapse.

The United States is meanwhile investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel’s plans to attack Iran, according to three U.S. officials. A fourth U.S. official said the documents appear to be legitimate.

The documents, attributed to the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency and marked top secret, indicate that Israel was moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1.

The U.S. officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The U.S. is urging Israel to press for a cease-fire in Gaza following the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week. But neither Israel nor Hamas has shown any renewed interest in such a deal, after months of negotiations sputtered to a halt in August.

Iran supports Hamas and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, where a year of escalating tensions boiled over into all-out war last month. Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon at the start of October.

The Lebanese army said three of its soldiers were killed in an Israeli strike on their vehicle in southern Lebanon. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on Sunday’s strike.

Lebanon’s army has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and the Hezbollah. The military is a respected institution in Lebanon but is not powerful enough to impose its will on Hezbollah or defend the country from an Israeli invasion.

On Saturday, a drone targeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s house, causing no casualties. It wasn’t clear if the house was hit. The military said Hezbollah fired around 160 projectiles into Israel on Sunday. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Israel has meanwhile ramped up strikes on southern neighborhoods of Beirut known as the Dahiyeh, a crowded residential area. Hezbollah has a strong presence there, but it is also home to large numbers of civilians and people unaffiliated with the militant group.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, has called civilian casualties in Lebanon “far too high” in the Israel-Hezbollah war and urged Israel to scale back some strikes, especially in and around Beirut.

Among the dead from the strikes in Beit Lahiya were two parents and their four children, and a woman, her son and her daughter-law and their four children, according to Raheem Kheder, a medic. He said the strike flattened a multi-story building and at least four neighboring houses.

The Israeli military said it used precise munitions against a Hamas target and rejected casualty figures published by the Hamas-run government's media office, which is separate from the Health Ministry. It said the area is an active war zone and that it is trying to avoid harming civilians.

Mounir al-Bursh, director general of the Health Ministry, said the flood of wounded from the strikes compounded “an already catastrophic situation for the health care system” in northern Gaza, in a post on X.

Doctors Without Borders, the international charity known by its French acronym MSF, called on Israeli forces “to immediately stop their attacks on hospitals in North Gaza" after the Health Ministry said Israeli troops had fired on two hospitals over the weekend.

The military said it was operating near one of the hospitals but had not fired directly at it, and that it was looking into the other incident.

“The ever-worsening escalation of violence and non-stop Israeli military operations that we have been witnessing over the past two weeks in northern Gaza have horrifying consequences,” said Anna Halford, an emergency coordinator for MSF.

“When hospitals are attacked, their infrastructure destroyed, and the electricity cut off, the lives of patients and medical staff are under threat.”

Internet connectivity went down in northern Gaza late Saturday and had not yet been restored by midday Sunday, making it difficult to gather information about the strikes and complicating rescue efforts.

Israel has been carrying out a major operation in Jabaliya, also in northern Gaza, for the last two weeks. The military says it launched the operation against Hamas militants who had regrouped there.

Over the course of the war, Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to Jabaliya, a densely populated urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

The north has already suffered the heaviest destruction of the war, and has been encircled by Israeli forces since late last year, following the deadly Hamas' attack on Israel.

Israel ordered the entire population of the northern third of Gaza, including Gaza City, to evacuate to the south in the opening weeks of the war and reiterated those instructions earlier this month. Most of the population fled last year, but around 400,000 people are believed to have remained in the north.

Palestinians who fled the north at the start of the war have not been allowed to return.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 captives are still being held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish combatants from civilians. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Zeke Miller, Mike Balsamo, Eric Tucker and Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Smoke rises to the sky as fire burns in a site next to houses after a rocket, fired from Lebanon, hit a location near the town of Rosh Pinna, northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A Israeli police officer walks past site of a fire after a rocket, fired from Lebanon, hit an area near the town of Rosh Pinna, northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Workers clean a street as smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A worker cleans a street as smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Workers clean a street as smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Workers clean a street under a giant portrait of the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, as smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)