Readying for the Future

Caption

Huck’s Market unveils a modern design and extensive foodservice offers in 6,000 square feet

By Danielle Romano

At a Glance Huck’s Market

Location: 7322 Oak Grove Road, Newburgh, Ind. Size: 6,000 square feet

Unique features:

First-ever store of this size; a warm, inviting and comfortable look and feel; the Huck’s Kitchen concept, including Godfather’s Pizza, Cluck’s Chicken, Bigg Bakery, Bigg Breakfast, and Bigg Fresh; Skip the Line technology; self-checkout units IN 2019, Huck’s and retail services provider GSP came together to help the convenience store operator achieve its goal of shifting to a fresh, new look and feel that would resonate with both existing and new customers. Thus, the Huck’s Market concept was born, ushering in an exciting new brand that impacts the entire store from forecourt to foodservice.

Fast forward to September 2021, and Huck’s and GSP again joined forces to bring the retailer’s latest new-to-industry site in Newburgh, Ind., to fruition. Boasting 6,000 square feet, the latest Huck’s Market is the first of its size for the company.

“We participated in many working meetings. The Huck’s team was — and always is — extremely positive and excited through the ideation process. We presented their team with several concepts that offered a positive nod to the past and looking forward to the future,” said GSP Vice President of Business Development Craig Neuhoff, Chief Creative Officer Steven Cohen and Vice President of Design Services Margaret Sotrop. “We took a very close look at the Huck’s existing voice and messaging and how they wanted to speak with their customers.” city of Newburgh is significant for several reasons. For starters, the city possesses a suburban-rural mix with ample opportunity for new development. Newburgh is also home to one of the top-performing Huck’s Market locations, and is part of the larger metropolitan area of Evansville, where the retailer has several stores.

“This location marks the beginning and has helped us establish where the Huck’s brand and image is headed in the future. We have been able to see the benefits of the larger square footage almost immediately, and our new programs in the kitchen took off with a bang,” Huck’s Vice President of Marketing Brittany Bayley told Convenience Store News. “There were several benefits [of] adding more retail space, making our stores more efficient for our associates and more spread out for our customers. We couldn’t be more pleased.”

Foodservice Focused

With overall aesthetics that deliver a warm, friendly, inviting and comfortable look and feel, the design of the Newburgh Huck’s Market is intended to entice and highlight the retailer’s extensive foodservice offerings.

Huck’s maintains five focal points to position it as the best foodservice choice in the markets it serves.

term strategic goals for foodservice, Huck’s has five focal points to position it as the best food choice in the markets it serves. According to Dave Grimes, vice president of foodservice, these value propositions include:

1. Variety: Utilizing its test kitchen, Huck’s will aggressively pursue new product offers. “We will continue developing our Huck’s Kitchen concept, which includes Godfather’s Pizza, Cluck’s Chicken, Bigg Bakery, Bigg Breakfast, and Bigg Fresh. The goals of the varieties offered here are to address all dayparts, a variety of flavor cravings, and healthy eating concerns.”

2. Value: Intelligent buying and effective category management enables Huck’s to offer the highest-quality goods at extremely competitive prices. “Moving forward, our plan is to leverage current relations by treating vendors as business partners and developing new relationships to build new partnerships and ensure that current vendors remain competitive.”

3. Quality: Huck’s recently constructed a test kitchen to aggressively test new products using current cooking methods to ensure the company can produce the quality it desires. “We also tweak current practices to ensure all cooking methods used ensure the highest-quality levels possible. Our goal is to continue to leverage our test kitchen to ensure we regularly improve the quality of our offers.”

4.Consistency: The retailer’s field foodservice leadership team works every day in-store to ensure consistency in operations. “Our goals here include regular corporate training in our test kitchen to ensure we are consistent with our operations in terms of food preparation.”

5. Convenience: The goal is to not only live Huck’s tagline of “Fresh • Fast • Friendly,” but also to be convenient. Where available, Huck’s offers several third-party delivery platforms, including Grubhub, DoorDash, Uber Eats and Godfather’s. “We are also selling time to our customers. Place the order and it comes to your doorstep. No need to go out in the cold or buckle all of the kids in the car.”

These value propositions come to life at the Newburgh Huck’s Market through a number of foodservice options that span all dayparts.

In the morning, the store offers Bigg Breakfast, including the choice of biscuit, croissant or bagel sandwiches and breakfast burritos. Breakfast orders can be completed by Ronnoco premium coffee served from bean-to-cup

A wide variety of dispensed and packaged beverages are available to complement food purchases.

machines that ensure freshness, in addition to Stok Cold Coffee and a variety of cappuccino flavors.

Lunch and dinner options include Godfather’s Pizza and Cluck’s Famous Fried Chicken. Also on the menu are rotisserie chicken, salads, burgers, and chicken and tenderloin sandwiches.

In-between-meal fillers and snacks are provided by the retailer’s Bigg Bakery and include such fare as doughnuts, turnovers, croissants, muffins, cookies and brownies. Also available are fresh jumbo pretzels; the Nutty Bavarian, a selection of candy-coated almonds, cashews and pecans; Fresh Blends frozen beverages; and f’real milkshakes.

Additional amenities available at the latest Huck’s Market are:

• 16 fueling stations; • Huck’s Bucks Bigg Rewards program; • Skip the Line technology, whereby customers can pay via their mobile phones; • Two self-checkout units; and • Outdoor seating.

An Evergreen Evolution

From new builds to legacy travel centers, GSP has worked with Huck’s on its entire portfolio of stores. Each project is an evolution of the brand, according to the executives at GSP. The design approach for Huck’s is “evergreen,” meaning it will continue to look great five to 10 years from now.

“It’s important to note, however, that once a brand is in place, you must allow it to breathe and evolve while always following those set brand standards,” the executives told CSNews.

In the meantime, Huck’s and GSP will monitor the new 6,000-square-foot concept and work together to make any necessary changes to better accommodate guests and employees. The pair is also exploring pointof-purchase solutions to support a total remodel strategy.

“We are pleased with the locations’ efficiencies, but are always looking at ways to make things better. No idea or creativity gets shot down here at Huck’s — no matter how crazy the idea may be,” Bayley expressed. “We are always working together as a team to make our stores and our business the best it can be. We are truly thankful for our Huck’s team, our vendors, partners and our people. They are the ones that make the Huck’s Market culture and brand what it is today. The future is bright for Huck’s Market!”

Carmi, Ill.-based Huck’s currently operates more than 120 convenience stores in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. The retailer was slated to kick off the new year with a grand-opening celebration for a new store in Hannibal, Mo. CSN

Dining Out, But In

Food delivery aggregator platforms are very popular among the highest-spending, highest-frequency restaurant customers

Consumers turned to multiplatform aggregators such as DoorDash and Uber Eats during the COVID-19 pandemic, but even as restaurants have reopened, the convenience and time-savings offered by these platforms remain attractive, according to a new research report released by Paytronix Systems Inc. and PYMNTS. The report is based on a survey of 2,000-plus U.S. restaurant customers — defined as those who purchase food from restaurants at least once a month — that asked about their spending and ordering preferences. The findings include:

ONE-QUARTER

of all restaurant patrons fall into the high-spending, high-frequency category, defined as those who purchase food from restaurants at least once a week and spend more than $40 per purchase on average. HIGH-SPENDING, HIGH-FREQUENCY CUSTOMERS REPRESENT THE RESTAURANT SECTOR’S MOST IMPORTANT CUSTOMER SEGMENT.

58%

of high-spending, high-frequency customers used DoorDash in the past 15 months — the most-used platform among all respondents. Runners-up were Uber Eats and Grubhub.

HIGH-SPENDING, HIGH-FREQUENCY CUSTOMERS ARE MUCH MORE LIKELY THAN OTHERS TO USE FOOD DELIVERY AGGREGATOR PLATFORMS.

These customers accounted for 36% of those who ordered delivery from a quick-service restaurant via an aggregator in the past three months, and 44% of those who ordered delivery from a table-service restaurant via an aggregator.

Larger shares of high-spending, high-frequency CUSTOMERS CARE ABOUT ACCESSING DEALS, DISCOUNTS AND LOYALTY PROGRAMS WHEN

ORDERING DELIVERY vs. those in other groups, whether placing their order via an aggregator or directly from a restaurant.

“The Digital Divide, Aggregators and High-Value Restaurant Customers,” a Paytronix and PYMNTS collaboration, examines the spending habits of U.S. restaurant customers, focusing specifically on the critical high-spending, high-frequency customer segment.