Convenience stores borrow from the restaurant playbook, turning signature menu items into traffic drivers

Convenience stores are increasingly developing signature menu items. | Photo: Diane Adam.

Food historians credit Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York City with creating the first signature menu item, the Delmonico Steak, somewhere between 1840 and 1850. 

A wave of signature dishes followed in the Gilded Age, from Oysters Rockefeller (1889, Antoine’s Restaurant, New Orleans) to Waldorf Salad (1896, Waldorf Astoria, New York City) to more-modern creations like the Big Mac (1967, McDonald’s) and the Blizzard (1985, Dairy Queen), both dreamt up by franchisees. 

Being known for a dish that nobody else can execute, of course, gets butts in seats. 

Or, in the case of a growing number of convenience stores, signature menu items can drive cars to the gas pump and get feet in the door. 

7-Eleven on Wednesday officially debuted its Japanese-Style Egg Salad Sandwich in U.S. c-stores, though, according to social media, it has already been available for several weeks. Long sold at Japanese 7-Eleven locations, the sandwich is known for its pillowy soft milk bread and creamy egg salad made with Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise. 

An editor from RB sister publication CSP Daily News picked up one of the sandwiches Wednesday near Chicago for $5.29, a solid deal for 19 grams of protein.

The country’s largest c-store chain, which is based in Japan with U.S. headquarters in Irving, Texas, announced plans in August to double down on foodservice, saying it would open 1,100 new restaurants in its U.S. stores by 2030 and that it would invest in equipment to create a “distinctive food offering.” 

In addition to 7-Eleven, the company operates and franchises Speedway and Stripes c-stores and the Laredo Taco Company and Raise the Roost Chicken and Biscuits restaurant brands.

And adding the Japanese-Style Egg Salad Sandwich to signature items like the Slurpee is one way to drive sales as fuel margins shrink. 

“Signature items have long been the calling card for several of the foodservice-forward operators, but the trend is growing in the c-store segment,” said Donna Hood Crecca, senior principal for research firm Technomic. “Operators understand they need to (as I like to say) ‘own and be known for’ something, whether it’s great fried chicken, craveable pizza, high-quality coffee, innovative coffee drinks or satisfying breakfast sandwiches.”

In 2024, foodservice (prepared food, commissary and hot, cold and frozen dispensed beverages) made up nearly 28% of in-store sales at convenience stores, up from 26.9% the year before, according to industry association NACS. Prepared food accounted for the bulk of those sales, at 68%. 

In recent years, convenience stores in some parts of the country have become dining destinations, driven in large part by their signature food creations. Some examples:

Regional c-store chain Buc-ee’s, based in Lake Jackson, Texas, is known for its bags of caramel-coated corn puffs known as Beaver Nuggets, as well as fresh-made BBQ brisket sandwiches. 

Altoona, Pennsylvania-based Sheetz drives traffic early in the day with its customizable breakfast sandwiches known as Shmuffins (along with Shmiscuits and Shmagels). 

Wawa, headquartered in aptly named Wawa, Pennsylvania, has become well known for its hot and cold hoagie sandwiches, prepared on site with toppings like pulled pork, cheesesteak, tuna, roast beef, fajita veggies and more. 

In many rural Midwest towns with a Casey’s location, the convenience store is one of the only foodservice games in town. The Ankeny, Iowa-based retailer bills itself as the country’s fifth-largest pizza chain and is especially well known for its Breakfast Pizza, topped with scrambled eggs, melted cheese and a choice of bacon, sausage or veggies. It’s also available for delivery. 

Ballston Spa, New York-based Stewart’s Shops, which got its start in the 1940s as a dairy and ice cream business, hasn’t strayed far from its roots. The c-store chain is still known for making dozens of ice cream flavors, using milk from New York farms. 

“Signature items differentiate the brand and make it a destination for consumers,” Hood Crecca said. 

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Heather Lalley is the managing editor of Restaurant Business, Foodservice Director and CSP Daily news. She previously served as editor in chief of Winsight Grocery Business

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