Breakfast Wars: Four Areas Where C-Stores Aren’t Keeping Up

There’s never been more hype for all-day breakfast. McDonald’s is driving awareness and other big players like Taco Bell and Subway are taking it to the next level with innovative breakfast offerings and some fun marketing.

As a C-store brand, you need to remember that these competitors are a threat to your breakfast program and your profits. Your customers want more from your menu. In fact, according to Technomic:

  • 52% of C-store customers want higher-quality breakfast items.
    43% say C-stores should offer more unique items such as tacos, burritos and flatbread sandwiches.

The “Breakfast Wars” are on!

At Bongards we believe you can fight and win the battle by enhancing your breakfast program in four specific areas:

Variety of lineup – shake things up with some prep-friendly culinary innovation – explore new flavor profiles, sandwich carriers and on-trend ingredients to give your menu a kick of excitement.

Fresh factor – like it or not, you have to overcome the perception that your offerings sit endlessly under heat lamps. Try adding time stamps to show the fresh-made quality of your items, and add “fresh” language to your signage.

Packaging – newly designed trays, sleeves and paper wraps can make a world of difference in generating a more artisan, premium image for your C-store brand and elevate your fare above commodity perceptions.

Item naming – steal a page from the Taco Bell playbook and rename your menu items to give them a more intriguing and memorable appeal; focus your theming around the item’s unique properties – fun flavors, ethnic influence, home-style quality or portable convenience.