Gas Station Restaurants and Food

[Alpha8472]

The restaurants and food offerings at gas stations and rest stops is really quite fascinating.

Some of these Subway, burger, and other fast food chains inside the stations seem to have widely different offerings and standards.

[ClownLoach]

Same thing I said about Dairy Queen. After a certain point you must make a decision: is it worth the extra income from irregular locations where the service and experience will not match the brand expectation? Airport Starbucks and McDonald's (operated by HMS or other such conglomerates) are never to the standard of the corporate locations, gas station Subway is not going to meet the (already low) standards of their chain. I have also seen Chipotle moving into mall food court locations where they have no room and I suspect the food is not cooked or prepared fresh/on site and might be prepped at a nearby restaurant location so again it isn't fresh.

This is where I respect brands like In-N-Out that have generally refused these type of arrangements and are very restrictive about how "different" of a location they'll go into - mainly only accepting the oddball location because of barriers that otherwise prevent them from getting into the neighborhood (such as the San Francisco location near Fishermans Wharf, or the Linq on the Vegas Strip).

I find it borderline offensive that brands like Burger King accept these locations and install equipment that isn't even for their system, such as air fryers and such for the burger because they can't install a proper charbroiler in the facility. That is the worst type of compromising and I just don't find it to be acceptable as it erodes trust in the brand when you get a completely different product.

[ClownLoach]

I should mention that the SoCal gas stations acquired by Jackson's are starting to make moves. A surprisingly busy and good Popeyes in a Jackson's Shell in Murrieta was forced out last month so they could expand the food mart; they did open a new build Popeyes as a "replacement" but it is about 7 miles North. I saw another Jackson's Shell that was recently fully remodeled and has evidence of a similar drive through removal. Quite a few of the locations they acquired had a tenant like Popeyes or Subway and I'm going to assume Jackson's is going to evict them all now that they're starting to take direct control of the sites, install their signs on the buildings, and remodel the interiors to use all of the space. Evidently they must think they can make more money off their food mart than rent.

[bryceleinan]

I should mention that the SoCal gas stations acquired by Jackson's are starting to make moves. A surprisingly busy and good Popeyes in a Jackson's Shell in Murrieta was forced out last month so they could expand the food mart; they did open a new build Popeyes as a "replacement" but it is about 7 miles North. I saw another Jackson's Shell that was recently fully remodeled and has evidence of a similar drive through removal. Quite a few of the locations they acquired had a tenant like Popeyes or Subway and I'm going to assume Jackson's is going to evict them all now that they're starting to take direct control of the sites, install their signs on the buildings, and remodel the interiors to use all of the space. Evidently they must think they can make more money off their food mart than rent.

Jackson's in Reno (Red Rock) had TacoTime for a short time, and their Fernley store had Taco Bell Express for many years. Both have long since closed.

[storewanderer]

I should mention that the SoCal gas stations acquired by Jackson's are starting to make moves. A surprisingly busy and good Popeyes in a Jackson's Shell in Murrieta was forced out last month so they could expand the food mart; they did open a new build Popeyes as a "replacement" but it is about 7 miles North. I saw another Jackson's Shell that was recently fully remodeled and has evidence of a similar drive through removal. Quite a few of the locations they acquired had a tenant like Popeyes or Subway and I'm going to assume Jackson's is going to evict them all now that they're starting to take direct control of the sites, install their signs on the buildings, and remodel the interiors to use all of the space. Evidently they must think they can make more money off their food mart than rent.

Jackson's in Reno (Red Rock) had TacoTime for a short time, and their Fernley store had Taco Bell Express for many years. Both have long since closed.

Jacksons handles its own wholesale of their c-store products through a division called Capitol Distribution so they are positioned better to expand their stores than some other operators are.

I am surprised they want all of the space the Popeyes had as those units were actually pretty decent sized.

Jacksons may have made a calculated decision that the various wear and tear all of the Popeyes customers brought their site didn't pan out from the rent. Extra trash, extra restroom use, extra wear and tear on the asphalt, taking up parking for c-store customers, etc. Jacksons has an interesting way of doing business; they are a very smart operator and know how to make money on relatively low sales volumes and relatively low staffing levels. Operating jam packed super busy locations is not their strategy. But their car washes in AZ are sure well staffed.

[Romr123]

yet around Detroit gas station schwarma is a thing...

https://theneighborhoods.org/story/car- ... businesses

There are a couple gas-station/party store oriented pizza concepts as well:

https://originalbuscemis.com/menu/

We don't have any of the east coast or midwest c-store concepts (Wawa/Sheetz/Thorntons/QT) so we just perk along with old- and new-school Speedway stations.

and for your watching pleasure:

[Super S]

Gas station convenience store food is really hit-or-miss. I see this both at established chains such as 7-Eleven and AM PM, as well as local independents, as well as operators bringing in Subway, McDonald's, etc. Not saying that all are bad, but when a convenience store is dirty (a somewhat common occurrence), I question the hot food they are offering and I try to avoid it at all costs. Especially things like self-serve hot dogs that are out in the open, and then the many times I have watched cashiers grab food from cases without gloves and without washing their hands.

[ClownLoach]

Gas station convenience store food is really hit-or-miss. I see this both at established chains such as 7-Eleven and AM PM, as well as local independents, as well as operators bringing in Subway, McDonald's, etc. Not saying that all are bad, but when a convenience store is dirty (a somewhat common occurrence), I question the hot food they are offering and I try to avoid it at all costs. Especially things like self-serve hot dogs that are out in the open, and then the many times I have watched cashiers grab food from cases without gloves and without washing their hands.

I think this is where the problem is - in most cases the fast food chain is a separate tenant, but the customer perception is that the gas station employees are operating everything and as such there will be questions of quality and sanitation. Sometimes they do, I recall a Subway inside a Shell station where the same "sandwich artist" was the cashier for the gas station. It seems that Shell was building stations to house a tenant, at least locally where they have a lot of new builds. Where Jackson's has taken those sites over the fast food site is completely wasted. They absorb the space inside the store and move the registers over there, but the drive thru lane around the building is permanently blocked with pylons and the window is just walled over inside (still visible outside). Seems like a waste of land. Maybe someday they will replace the buildings and take back the drive thru lane left to sit.

Sometimes the standards are excellent; it's been 5 years or so since I visited New Jersey where I went to several Wawa stations that served great food. It was nice to get a bowl of hot soup as a snack in the freezing weather. I wish we had operators like that in California.

[rwsandiego]

...Sometimes the standards are excellent; it's been 5 years or so since I visited New Jersey where I went to several Wawa stations that served great food. It was nice to get a bowl of hot soup as a snack in the freezing weather. I wish we had operators like that in California.

If you ever find yourself in Arizona, try QuickTrip. Their food is pretty good.

[Brian Lutz]

QuikTrip does actually have some pretty decent food and a ridiculous number of drink choices ( the typical QT has an entire wall for sodas and frozen drinks and another wall for teas and coffees), and in the Western US Maverik has pretty good food as well (although I mostly stick to the breakfast stuff there.) Unfortunately I'm in Sheetz territory, and Sheetz is not a place you go for good food. Sheetz is a place you go because it's 2am, you skipped dinner and the last time you went to the Waffle House some drunk guy threw a chair at you. The closest QT is about 60 miles down I-85 heading toward Charlotte, and we generally try to make a stop when we are heading that way.

One thing I've noted recently is that Bojangles has taken to a strategy of building freestanding locations next door to larger gas stations and truck stops, which would presumably get them the traffic from the gas stations (although truckers might need to cross the road) without the hassle of co-locating. There are a few truck stops with Bojangles in them too, but not a lot.