Pastrami-bacon-jam burgers and salmon sandwiches: Gas stations are going gourmet

Fast-food companies, beware: Gas stations and convenience stores are coming for your customers.

Fireside Market, a Wisconsin convenience store chain, announced a new store concept in Slinger, Wisconsin, designed to sell more burgers and less gas. It has a drive-through, curbside pickup area, and gourmet menu items—and it’s a model of the convenience store of the future.

Fireside Market’s burger and sandwich menu is several steps up from the outdated idea of day-old taquitos spinning on a rotating food warmer at the local convenience store. Instead, its menu has items like a burger topped with bacon, pastrami, and balsamic-onion jam, and a grilled-salmon sandwich.

Falling demand for gas, tobacco, and lottery tickets has upended the business model convenience stores once relied on. In a world with fewer smokers and more Teslas, it’s no longer enough for convenience stores to be an afterthought for drivers stopping to fuel up on gas or soda. They need kitchens.

The percentage of in-store sales that comes from food service—a category that includes prepared foods, commissary, and beverages—is on the rise. It grew from 23% of in-store sales in 2021 to nearly 29% today, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores trade group. That trend is especially noticeable at breakfast time: Sales from morning-meal traffic at food-forward convenience stores grew 9% in the third quarter this year, compared to just 1% at fast-food chains, according to data from market research firm Circana.

Fireside Market’s 9,700-square-foot Slinger location, its first with EV chargers, is designed for this new reality. 7-Eleven closed more than 400 stores in North America last year, but it’s looking to grow its fresh prepared-food offerings as part of its comeback. Meanwhile, food-forward chains are in expansion mode.

Buc-ee’s opened its largest location ever in Luling, Texas, last year, while convenience store chain Sheetz opened its 800th location in Raleigh, North Carolina, in August. Casey’s General Stores, known for its pizzas, has broadened its menu to include burgers and sandwiches, while Fast Stop, a Louisiana-based convenience store chain, is taking the trend a step further, spinning off its made-to-order menu of Cajun-inspired foods into its own restaurant with nary a gas pump in sight, according to trade publication C-Store Dive.

In a world that runs on less gas, gas stations have to adapt to survive. Many are finding food is the answer.