Triple S Petroleum/Signature Austin, Austin, Texas

While restaurants typically make the bulk of their profits during dinner hours, the same doesn't necessarily hold true for convenience stores with strong foodservice programs.

Case in point is Austin, Texas-based Triple S Petroleum, operator of 19 Signature Austin convenience stores.

Triple S only began focusing on foodservice when Salinas joined the company a little more than three years ago. At that time, only three of its 10 company-owned stores had prepared food programs. “These had been in place for about four years, but sales were not up to par,” he says. The offerings at that time mainly consisted of fried foods, including hot wings, potato logs and chicken.

About six months prior to Salinas coming onboard, Triple S set out to transform seven of its Signature Austin stores with Sub Express, a branded foodservice program created by Philadelphia-based Omni Service. Then, Salinas made more changes, catering the chain's menu to its customers. “When I joined the company, we moved away from fried items and more towards Mexican plates,” he says.

Fried food was replaced with 16 different varieties of breakfast and lunch tacos, including chorizo and egg, sausage biscuits, and egg and bacon selections. “Some people call these breakfast burritos. Here in Austin, we have a lot of Mexican culture, and our customers like the authentic taste from their homeland,” Salinas explains.

The stores' demographic is mainly Hispanic and blue-collar workers who regularly stop by on their way to work for gas, cigarettes and a breakfast sandwich. “We rotate between our 16 breakfast tacos because we get many of the same customers in each day. This system allows us to provide a changing variety,” Salinas says. Although branding has worked well in the deli program, Salinas says the non-branded breakfast menu has also been a hit with customers.

After joining Triple S, Salinas soon discovered a shopping pattern among the c-store's patrons. Breakfast customers were typically stopping back in later in the day or simultaneously picking up lunch items. “In our experience, stores that have a strong breakfast program typically develop increased lunch sales,” he says.

This is not the case for the dinner daypart, which Salinas admits has been more of a struggle to develop. Triple S unsuccessfully attempted to position its pizza and sandwich programs as evening meals about three years ago. “Consequently, we don't offer many dinner selections. Also, because our stores are located in metro areas, there is a lot of competition in this segment,” he says.

Signature Austin plans to change this strategy, though. After finding its groove with breakfast and lunch items, Signature Austin will try once again to capture the dinner dollars. However, this time the c-store will use the simple approach that has brought it success with its morning and afternoon meal programs.

“We plan to start offering barbecue sandwiches, pizza and sausage wraps in the 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. time slot,” Salinas says. “Our chicken wings also are strong sellers. We market these items with the cold beverages.”

Signature Austin strives for consistency, not just with its offerings, but also in taste and quality. Extending simplicity to its preparation, all prepared food is delivered precooked. In fact, the only raw product the chain uses in its foodservice program is pasteurized eggs. “I told my vendors we needed to make production as easy as possible,” Salinas says.

Yet, the company doesn't always settle for the status quo in terms of taste. “Although it helps having precooked product, and our chicken and beef fajitas are pre-seasoned, my vendors allow me to adjust the flavors when I request it,” Salinas says.

Sub Express provides par-baked white and wheat bread for making the dozen hot sub sandwiches Signature Austin offers. In the interest of speed and storage limitations, sandwiches are the only foodservice item made to order.

Even with limited on-site preparation, one of the two full-time employees arrives at 5 a.m. to hand-chop bell peppers, onions, lettuce and tomatoes for the breakfast tacos. “Labor tends to take care of itself. Employees pitch in wherever they are needed during downtime,” Salinas says.

In terms of equipment, microwaves and steam table warmers play a big part in Signature Austin's foodservice business. A conveyor oven also is center-stage, preparing everything from pizza to tacos and tortillas to sandwiches.

Cooking equipment is set up directly behind the service counter, so customers have a bird's-eye view into the kitchen. The sandwich counter, including a refrigerator for vegetables, faces patrons. Behind this area is another counter or cookline that contains the conveyor oven, microwave, steam table warmer and gravity-fed warmer. The grab 'n go food in these warmers is accessible to customers, and a menu above lists the daily offerings.

In the past, Signature Austin stores only utilized food warmers for pizza. “We discovered that grab 'n go items sell 10 times better for us than made-to-order food,” Salinas says. He attributes this to the majority of his clientele, who are hurried convenience store customers. “Customers buy with their eyes and tend to make different food purchases with grab 'n go items vs. full service,” he adds.

All stores have roller grills for preparing four types of hot dogs, tornados and other products. Triple S places these near the fountain area, about 20 feet from the register. “When our delis shut down in the evening, customers have this option,” Salinas says.

While some stores feature two walk-in freezers for storage, other smaller locations contain two-door freezers that reside in the service area behind the counter for easy access. “We also have single-door undercounter freezers and single-door undercounter refrigerators,” Salinas says.

Because convenience store sales center on cross-merchandising and impulse-selling, Signature Austin benefits from knowing how to properly market and position its foodservice items. “A lot of our foodservice sales are made in conjunction with more traditional convenience store items, like chips or cold beverages with sandwiches,” Salinas says.

Although it may not offer the selection of the nearby restaurants, Signature Austin has an edge being a one-stop shop. “We have bad automobile traffic in this area, and most people don't have time to stop at two or three places to pick up what they need,” Salinas says.

This has created expectations for its stores, some of which do not yet offer foodservice. “We have had instances where customers come into these locations and will comment that there is no breakfast,” Salinas says. One of these stores recently instituted a downsized version of its breakfast and lunch taco program, resulting in what Salinas says was a drastic improvement in sales.

One thing the store can do that many of its foodservice competitors won't is provide sampling to entice its shoppers. “Any time I offer a new product, I will provide samples to my customers,” Salinas says. “This is how many items have become successful in our stores.”

The benefits of a sampling program outweigh the additional costs. “It does cost us in labor, but you don't start a business without spending money,” Salinas says. “Also, many times our vendors will assist us by sending a company representative to conduct the sampling at our stores. Vendors want us to succeed because if we do, than they will, too.”

With an average of 300 foodservice transactions per day at each Signature Austin location, Salinas says it is evident that foodservice works in convenience stores. “We are looking to offer these items in 90 percent of our stores in one form or another,” he says.

Maintaining consistency and finding the appropriate people to help run each location represent the two biggest challenges Triple S faces. “It is like the McDonald's effect. We want all of our stores to offer the same items and keep everything the same so customers know what they are going to get. So far, we've done well with this,” Salinas says.

He credits the stores' employees, who, despite the simple menu, are provided with a bit of latitude when it comes to the salsa. “We let them make their own hot salsa for the tacos, which provides a signature touch,” Salinas says.

Salinas attributes much of Signature Austin's substantial sales increases over the last three years to its expanded foodservice program. “It has increased our bottom line very well,” he says.

For this reason, the company will continue to focus on expanding the foodservice program, possibly increasing or changing the hours it is available. “We are now concentrating on adding dinner items. But we will continue to emphasize consistency, which is one of the hardest things to do. It is important, however, because foodservice really has to sell itself,” Salinas says.