Plant-Based Meals: Lessons from QSRs to C-Stores

But c-store retailers expressed cautious optimism given ongoing market trends.

“Everybody’s experiencing the same thing: supply chain issues, labor issues — people spending less money,” said Eric Patterson, merchandising manager for Beacon & Bridge Market, who, after speaking with colleagues throughout the U.S., found others’ experiences are mirroring his own.

At the 25-store Michigan-based chain, numbers in the candy, gum and mint category have been skewed over the past couple of years due to shifting trends since the pandemic began. “When we still had the mask mandates in effect, gum and mint (sales) were way down,” Patterson said. “I think that was largely (because) people didn’t like to chew gum or smell that minty breath behind the mask.”

Remote work has also had an impact on candy sales at the c-stores.

“A good chunk of the gum and mint business comes with our morning traffic — people looking to cover up the morning breath, the coffee breath,” said Patterson. “Because they’re working remotely, then naturally that business goes down.”

SALES GROWTH

Now that more customers are returning to prepandemic norms, Beacon & Bridge is starting to see healthy numbers coming out of the gum and mint segments again.

Candy Dollar Sales Rise

Dollar sales for the candy, gum and mint category were up across segments in convenience stores for the 52 weeks ending July 30, 2022, per NielsenIQ.

Description

Candy, Gum and Mints Chocolate Confection Gum Mints

Dollar Sales

1-Year % Change Latest 52 Wks - W/E 07/30/22 Latest 52 Wks - W/E 07/30/22

$6.71 B $3.01 B $2.60 B $783 M $213 M 11.4% 8.1% 13.9% 16.1% 11.6%

Source: NielsenIQ Total U.S. Convenience data for the latest 52 weeks ending July 30, 2022

Candy Sees Big Summer Gains

Candy dollar and unit sales were up across all segments of the category in summer 2022 compared to summer 2021, with gum and mints seeing the biggest percentage increases. Customers are most likely to purchase candy with soft drinks.

AUG 2022 NRS INSIGHTS — INDEPENDENT SMALL FORMAT CANDY, GUM & MINT TRENDS

Category $ % Chg $ Shr of Category Chg Unit % Chg Units per Store per Week Chg % of Times Purchased Only Within Category

Top Purchase #1

Top Purchase #2

Top Purchase #3

Confections Chocolate 18.6% 49.1 -0.3 7.9% 18.8% 37.0 -0.2 7.1% 4.6 2.9

Gum Mints

24.3% 10.8 24.1% 2.3 Snack Mixes 22.3% 0.8 0.4 14.1%

1.8 0.1 16.0% 0.5 0.0 14.9% 0.1 19.5% Soft Drinks Chocolate Fruit Drinks 18.1% Soft Drinks Confections Potato Chips 26.6% Soft Drinks Confections Fruit Drinks 24.6% Confections Soft Drinks Cigarettes 17.5% Soft Drinks Confections Chocolate

Total Candy, Gum & Mints 19.3% 100.0 0.0 8.4% Soft Drinks Fruit Drinks Potato Chips

Source: National Retail Solutions (NRS) scan data of 13,618 stores selling candy, gum, & mints. All change measures are same-store sales (8,200 stores) June 1, 2022 to Aug. 31, 2022 vs. June 1, 2021 to Aug. 31, 2021

“We were actually up for the first time in two years in gum and mints, according to a couple of the suppliers,” he said. NielsenIQ confirmed the trend across the cstore industry. Candy, gum and mint dollar sales at convenience stores hit $6.71 billion for the 52 weeks ending July 30, 2022, up 11.4%. While all segments were up, gum saw the largest growth in dollar sales, up 16.1% for the period. At Rutter’s, candy across all subcategory groups has been thriving in 2022 with a most notable resurgence in gum and mints, noted Joseph Bortner, center store category manager, Rutter’s Cos., which operates 82 locations in Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia.

“Through the first half of 2022, (gum and mints) have nearly doubled,” said Bortner. “I’d attribute a portion of that to consumers fully returning to pre-Covid norms in our trading area, such as return to office work, little to zero mask wearing and movement to and from activities.”

MERCHANDISING MATTERS

Candy on its own is struggling a little bit, mainly due to ongoing supply chain issues, Patterson explained. “We’re having some big-time issues with some take-home candy,” Patterson said. “A lot of the major manufacturers with king-sized and standard bars have taken an approach where they’re cutting their assortment a little bit to focus more of their manufacturing power on some of the better sellers.” Those cuts have included a few SKUs of popular candy brands. “They’re focusing a lot of their energy on the top 10 in their brand portfolio,” he explained. “That causes some situations at store level when you’re talking about out-of-stocks and having to pivot a little bit with merchandising standards. We’ve gone to a lot of double facing for that candy size (i.e. king-sized and standard bars) because we just can’t get the product.”