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“I tried placing salads in the open-air cooler and ended up tossing it out.”

“We put in some better-for-you grab-n-go a couple of years ago, and guess what?”

Yes, the stories are real and frustrating and rightly give pause for operators to be skeptical about positioning better-for-you in their stores.

Or, as Technomic Senior Principal Donna Hood Crecca put it in her opening question to three-dozen retailers and nearly two-dozen suppliers at CSP’s Foodservice Forum: “Whose been burnt by investing in better-for-you options?”

About two-thirds of the room raised their hands or nodded in agreement.

So why was Crecca making a pitch for retailers to look at healthier with fresh eyes?

First, a recent Technomic-exclusive consumer study showed more than half of consumers today are seeking out healthier alternatives and raising concern about the many additives in our foods.

More urgently, younger consumers are clearly trending toward healthier and less-bad-for-you.

Crecca cited a slide that has shown a clear, albeit incrementable shift in favor of healthier between 2019 and 2025.

2%—the percent of all c-store consumers seeking better for you and cravings with “real” ingredients (rather than lots of preservatives)
3%—percent of millennials wanting their foodservice to be healthier and better ingredients
4%—percent of Gen Z seeking similar demands

And then there’s breakfast, where Technomic data reports that 44% tend to choose healthful items, up from 28% in 2022.

Crecca’s presentation underscores a broader trend we are seeing: it’s not so much about the “Nos”—no sugar, no fat. Rather, it’s about the “Yeses”—more protein, more functional benefits, more healthier additions into the foods I crave, like adding whey and ginger into a latte or a slice of a portobella mushroom into a cheeseburger.

Or as Crecca puts it—more “stealth health,” by adding functional fare “for your physical, mental and emotional health.”

Who could be against that?

—Mitch Morrison

Consumers are increasingly concerned about what they eat, convenience-store expert says
‘They’re looking for ingredients that they recognize as being better for them,’ Donna Hood Crecca says at CSP’s C-Store Foodservice Forum

Boost entertainment to attract families, improve convenience-store foodservice sales
Offerings like the Happy Meal create emotional connections, drive brand loyalty, create buzz and more, experts from C3 Brand Marketing say

Convenience-stores: How easy is your job recruiting process?
As labor market shrinks, retailers should make it simpler for potential employees, economist Arjun Chakravarti says at CSP’s C-Store Foodservice Forum

Foodservice trips down, dollar sales up at convenience stores
Food-forward c-stores have outperformed others in 7 of the past 8 quarters, David Portalatin of Circana says at CSP’s C-Store Foodservice Forum

To win in convenience-store foodservice, simplify your menu
But don’t compromise on variety, Supper Co. owners say at CSP’s C-Store Foodservice Forum