Baking & Snack - November 2015 - 53

The c-store channel and portion control trend have accommodated this, according to Ms. Axelrod Siegelwax. "We grab our
meals on the way to the gym, the train and the office," she said.
"We eat in airports, at our desks, at school and in between meetings. We feed our kids on the ball field or in between activities."
The easy pre-portioned snacks at these gas station pit stops can
help satisfy people as they live their lives.
"People are looking for quick, nourishing bites that they can
get for immediate consumption," Ms. Panfil said. "Consumers
have less free time and are spending more time in transit, so they
are looking for portable foods that allow them to keep satiated,
either as a snack or as a meal replacement."
And portability goes hand-in-hand with portion control.
"A smaller portion is portable and convenient," Ms. Marchok
said. "Convenience stores have the opportunity to take advantage
of the portion-control trend and offer a wide variety of products
to meet the needs of today's consumer."
Such individually packaged snacks and sweet goods make it
easy to not only control portions but also come back for more.
"Portion-controlled items further benefit consumers because they
are generally at a lower price point and more portable and carfriendly," Ms. Kees said.
General Mills' slampacks are single-serve portions in resealable
pouches, making them easy to eat on-the-go, such as in the car. The
company offers slampack packaging across several platforms: nuts,
seeds, trail mix, pretzel and salty snack mix. General Mills recently
launched products exclusive for the c-store channel: Chex Xtreme
slampacks in Spicy Sriracha and Hot Chili & Lime flavors.

Bundles of opportunity
When it comes to opportunities in the c-store channel, bakers and
snack producers can benefit from bundling their new products
into these stores' existing foodservice programs. By complementing these, products have a better bet of being picked up by c-store
operators and their customers.
Hill Country Bakery approaches its c-store customers in this
way: If a store focuses on fresh-baked goods, such as donuts, Hill
Country Bakery can then offer flash-frozen, pre-portioned cake
products that, once thawed, give the appearance of fresh-baked.
"If you take our products and unwrap them in the fresh bakery
case with donuts, it gives the consumer the perception that those
are just as fresh," Mr. O'Donnell explained.
This bundling approach could also be as simple as pairing
consumers' morning coffee purchase with a breakfast sandwich.
"C-stores certainly get a lot of food traffic in the morning coming
in for gas or coffee," Mr. Gonnella said. "If they can bundle that
with a hot breakfast sandwich, that's a win."
Consumers are constantly on the lookout for snacks that will
satisfy their hunger as well as their nutritional needs, but they
are increasingly seeking indulgences that won't blow their calorie
counts. And all of these needs have to be met on-the-go. Portioncontrolled products in the c-store channel are the perfect intersection of form and function.

The Pride Stores in Chicago take c-store foodservice to a new level of quality.
The Pride Stores

A quality one-stop shop
The c-store channel is on the verge of a revolution.
One-stop shopping that takes a step up in foodservice
may soon eclipse the c-store of the past with its cheap,
gut-stuffer food and Big Gulp fountain drinks. The Pride
Stores in the Chicagoland area are at the forefront of
this revolution. With 12 locations, the company recently
revamped the way it does food.
With two foodservice concepts - Urban Counter and
Pride Café - the chain offers its customers sandwiches,
salads and wraps, all made onsite. Urban Counter
is more like a fast-casual restaurant while Pride Café
focuses heavily on the open-air cooler selection.
"We try to surprise people and beat that back with
quality food, made-to-order, fresh items that they won't
see in other convenience stores," said Mario Spina,
CEO, The Pride Stores. "There aren't a lot of people
doing what we do where we do it all in-house or a restaurant concept is all made-to-order and fresh."
Initially, the company outsourced all its food preparation, but managers were unhappy with the quality of
ingredients being used, so they brought food preparation in-house. Immediately, The Pride Stores looked
for better quality ingredients, starting with the bread.
"Whenever you make a good sandwich, no matter
what it is, you need good, quality bread," Mr. Spina
said. "Especially in an open-air cooler, the first thing
you see is the bread, so if you don't have a nice wheat
bread or bread roll for a sub, it's just not going to work,
and people won't buy it."
The Pride Stores partnered with Gonnella Baking
Co. to supply these breads. Mr. Spina liked not only
the quality of the products but also the fact that
Gonnella was a local bakery. Today, The Pride Stores
not only uses Gonnella's breads for its foodservice
menu items, but it also sells Gonnella bread loaves
and buns in its retail aisles.

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