Listen to the article 4 min

This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback.

For food-focused c-stores, there’s no escaping the comparison to restaurants. And while the convenience retail industry is making strides, only about a quarter of the respondents to a Tillster survey earlier this year said they buy gas station grub more than they did a year ago. 

But according to Dunnhumby’s recent QSR retailer preference report, people who avoid c-store menus are really missing out. The report looked at the overall customer value proposition of 58 restaurants and c-stores. Convenience stores claimed the top two spots and four of the top 10 spots in the ranking.

Bottom line: If QSRs don’t protect their lunch, it might get eaten.

“This underscores the point that the traditional QSR space is ripe for disruption from convenience store chains that go all-in on blurring these lines and do it with the right areas of focus,” Dunnhumby said in the report.

In this week’s “3 Big Numbers,” we look closer at the report and where these c-stores are standing out from the dining crowd.

Buc-ee’s took first place not just among c-stores, but across all companies included in the report. With a total score of 96, eight points ahead of second place Kwik Trip and 14 more than top-rated QSR In-N-Out Burger, it’s fair to say it dominated.

The report then compared Buc-ee’s to Starbucks, since both companies stood out in similar ways. 

“They have both become leading fourth places — the fourth place being the mindspace occupied by social media reels and conversations,” Dunnhumby said in the report. “They are also both in the top 3 on private-brand variety.”

The reason Buc-ee’s came out ahead of everyone else is clear. On a scale of 1-100, Buc-ee’s earned a 98 for the quality of its experience and products and 99 for variety. The latter comes as no surprise, given those huge stores filled with everything from barbecued meat to merchandise. 

Despite having less than 100 sites, Buc-ee’s also outranked Starbucks for visibility. 

Buc-ee’s has long been a marketing leader not just in the c-store space but in retail more broadly, and this ranking shows just how strong those efforts are.

While Buc-ee’s has made its name as a unique destination, second-place Kwik Trip earned its spot through doing what customers expect of a c-store exceptionally well.

The retailer scored a 79 for convenience and speed, the top rating out of all 58 companies. Looking closer, Kwik Trip was the top scorer for convenience of its locations, how quickly customers can complete their shopping trip and how fast customers got their food orders. 

That’s right, the fastest order fulfillment time wasn’t a QSR. It was a c-store.

A letter to Kwik Trip that Dunnhumby’s AI put together using customer feedback highlighted the retailer’s consistency across locations: A “fair and thoughtful” pricing strategy that regularly drops prices on staples and a loyalty program that “builds loyalty without making me jump through hoops.”

In fact, according to the report, the perception of Kwik Trip’s loyalty program is 33% better than that of the average QSR. Customers were also 24% more likely to think the store has a good atmosphere and 17% more likely to say the staff is friendly.

It might seem obvious that c-stores, with their assortment of meals, snacks, dispensed and single-serve beverages and more, would win on variety. But these companies were all being evaluated as restaurants. With Tropical Smoothie Cafe and Sonic in the top five, it’s clear you didn’t need thousands of SKUs to rank. 

“Variety matters differently to different customers, and winning retailers Buc-ee’s, Wawa and Sonic know how to deliver it,” Dunnhumby said in the report.

Looking closer, Buc-ee’s, Wawa and Kwik Trip were the three top-rated sites for the variety of food, while Sheetz replaced Wawa in the top three for overall variety of products. QuickChek joined Buc-ee’s and Sheetz in the top three for beverage assortment.