CSP Information Group

RaceTrac Upgrading Foodservice

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

ATLANTA — To bring customers into its stores, RaceTrac Petroleum Inc. has launched a new line of sandwiches, salads and coffee at its 270 locations, according to a report by The Atlanta Business Chronicle. RaceTrac has 525 stores nationwide, some of which are under the RaceWay brand.

Gone are the days when the wrapping around the convenience store sandwich tasted the same as the food itself, said the report. "That's been the historical perception," Simon Osborn, RaceTrac's vice president of logistics and foodservice, told the newspaper. "You could grab something quick, but not quality. That's not what the consumer wants any more. They want more selections, healthy choices. They want to know that they are buying a quality product."

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Refiners Hit Brake on Gas

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

CHICAGO -- Some of the nation's biggest oil companies are looking at permanently reducing how much gasoline and diesel fuel they make, a move that analysts say would almost certainly trigger higher prices for drivers, reported The Chicago Tribune. Energy companies are suffering huge losses from refining because of slumping gasoline use—a product of the economic downturn and changing consumer habits and preferences. Energy experts say refining cutbacks have begun and will accelerate as corporations strive for profits.

Major refiners have been circumspect about their plans, saying that they are considering options that could include closing refineries, selling parts of their operations, laying off workers and slashing spending. "Refineries will have to be closed," Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst with Oppenheimer & Co., told the newspaper. "Unless this excess capacity is permanently shuttered, a recovery in refining margins is unsustainable."

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Born to Be...Not Wild

Mitch Morrison — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

LAS VEGAS -- To the thump of "Born To Be Wild", the cartoon-generated Baby Boomer couple have found the fountain of youth with turn-back-the-clock remedies Viagra, tummy tucks, fitness clubs and a plethora of pick-me-ups to heal all of life's ills. This is not your grandparents' generation, and this song is certainly not the Steppenwolf version made famous in the '60s epic Easy Rider. No, this is the 2007 MySpace uproarious cult classic "Born...Tubby...Mild" by Ambrosia LeAnne.

And the point? "Consumer trends constantly change and evolve.... Your challenge is to be ahead of the trend." This was Phil Lempert's message before a largely Baby Boomer crowd at the annual American Wholesale Marketers Association (AWMA) Show in Las Vegas.

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Not in Kansas Anymore?

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

TOPEKA, Kansas -- Proposals to increase taxes on cigarettes, tobacco and alcohol would hit convenience stores hard, Thomas Palace, executive director of the Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association of Kansas, told The Topeka Capital-Journal. As the Senate Taxation Committee considered hikes to the state's cigarette and tobacco taxes Wednesday, he joked that he considered wearing a big bull's-eye to the Capitol.

Kraft Foods Partners With NCAA, CBS Sports

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

EAST HANOVER, N.J. -- Kraft Foods' U.S. Snacks business has teamed with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and CBS Sports to become an Official NCAA Corporate Partner for several of its flagship snack brands, including Planters, Ritz, Oreo and Wheat Thins. The partnership includes promotional and marketing rights for the NCAA and all 88 of its men's and women's basketball championships.

Judge Orders Medford Stations Reopened

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

MEDFORD, Mass. -- Three gas stations shut down by the City of Medford, Mass., earlier this month have reopened for business after a Middlesex Superior Court judge ruled that closing the stations would cause irreparable harm to the business, reported The Boston Globe. Superior Court Justice Thomas Murtagh granted a preliminary injunction against the City of Medford, stating that withholding the station's license to sell and store gasoline and locking the pumps "has the effect of shutting down a major aspect of the plaintiff's business and threatens plaintiff's ability to pay obligations and to function at all."

Judge Reinstates Higher N.Y. Tobacco Registration Fees

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York convenience store operators were "stunned" last Friday when State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Feinman reinstated the large increases in retail tobacco dealer registration fees enacted by Gov.David Paterson and the legislature last year, said the New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS). Unless NYACS and its allies can now obtain a stay pending appeal, c-store operators who in the past paid $100 annually face registration fees of $1,000 to $5,000 per location per year depending on the store's annual gross sales of all products, the group said. This represents an increase of 900% to 4,900%.

Sheetz Rolls Out DVD Kiosks

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

ALTOONA, Pa. -- As expected, NCR Corp. announced yesterday that it is continuing the expansion in the DVD-rental kiosk market, adding Sheetz Inc. convenience stores to its roster of retail partners. By the end of March, consumers can visit NCR's Blockbuster Express-branded DVD-rental kiosks at nearly all 365 Sheetz locations open 24 hours a day. This represents NCR's first major Blockbuster Express kiosk deployment in six new markets located throughout North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Competition Heats Up for Breakfast Dollar

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

CHICAGO -- The most important meal of the day has become the hottest area of competition for the foodservice industry. Mintel, a leading market intelligence firm, reports that restaurants added more than 460 new breakfast items to their menus in 2009, more than in 2007 or 2008, respectively. The problem? Half of consumers surveyed by Mintel in November 2009 said they are spending less on restaurant breakfasts compared to 2008.

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