7-Eleven wants to be more than just the place that sells you a Slurpee and a roller dog while you’re getting gas. The chain has been stepping up its food offering as it upgrades stores nationwide.
The chain plans to remodel more than 7,000 stores by 2030, according to comments made during its April Investor’s Day, and improving its food options will play a major role in those changes.
“Inside stores, the company seeks to reach $1 billion in incremental fresh food sales and 1,100 new restaurants by 2030, building customer loyalty and brand trust. Seven & i plans to accelerate hot foods, expand the roller grill, reinvent the open-air case, and become a flavor destination, all while investing in fresh food quality and innovation, improving food perception, and optimizing the value chain,” Convenience Store News reported.
Not every store will make the cut. The chain plans to shrink by about 640 locations, but not every closure is the same.
7-Eleven has different types of closures
7-Eleven shared updates on its store closure plans for the year in its first-quarter earnings presentation. It plans to close 645 locations, but close actually means two different things.
Some stores will actually be shut down while others will be converted to wholesale locations. Those are stores where 7-Eleven sells gas to an outside operator, which takes over running the store.
In addition, 7-Eleven has converted some stores to franchised operations. A franchised store operates fully as a 7-Eleven. Wholesale locations are not required to carry the full assortment of branded 7-Eleven products or operate under the company’s standard merchandising model.
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The chain’s wholesale stores are not counted by the chain in its store count.
The chain converted 43 company-owned sites to franchised locations and another 72 to wholesale sites during the first quarter. It additionally closed 45 underperforming stores and opened 30 new ones, according to the presentation.
7-Eleven shares store closure plan
While 7-Eleven’s plan to close over 600 locations has been public since April, the chain had not shared the details of those plans.
“In its Q1 presentation, the retailer listed a full-year goal of closing 200 underperforming stores and converting 350 sites to wholesale. The company will close the remaining 95 locations for non-performance-based reasons, such as franchise terminations and other contractual situations, a 7-Eleven spokesperson told CStore Dive in an email.
7-Eleven also expects to convert 390 company-owned stores to franchised sites throughout the full fiscal year as part of its plan to convert roughly 2,600 stores to franchise locations through 2030.
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Food will drive 7-Eleven’s growth
“Fuel and tobacco products remain essential categories for the nation’s 150,000-plus convenience stores, but sector growth is being led by store formats that feature higher quality and greater variety of prepared foods and beverages,” NIQ shared in The 2024 State of Convenience.
Food offerings have been improving as well.
Prepared foods enjoyed a 12% increase year over year, according to the NACS 2023 State of the Industry Report.
7-Eleven has closed stores as part of a broader effort to evolve its business to lean into food more. EMarketer Senior Retail Analyst Blake Doersch explained the chain’s changes in a recent podcast.
“I think I don’t really see it as much of an expansion as it is sort of a transformation of their business model…. And I think it’s really because they are completely shifting their business model from just convenience store to convenience store, plus restaurant or food service outlet plus grocery,” he said.
7-Eleven is simply leaning into a broader trend.
How Americans use convenience stores has changed, Shell’s Global Manager of Convenience Retailing Operations Richard Garcia told Nielsen NIQ.
“The historical model for convenience, particularly in the U.S., is that you use fuel to attract people to your location,” he shared. “That is absolutely changing to the store becoming the destination, and while they’re there, you hope they might buy fuel. Now it’s already happened.”
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