Fast-Feeders Pale compared to 7-Eleven® For Quick Breakfast and Strong Coffee
October 17, 2007 // Franchising.com // Dallas, TX, - Fast-food restaurants have added coffee drinks. Coffeehouses have added breakfast sandwiches. And both are promoting their early hours to respond to "commuter creep," the constant encroachment of the morning commute timeframe that has workers leaving home earlier to beat the ever-lengthening traffic rush. North Texas commuters are getting an earlier start for good reason. In a national mobility study just released by the Traffic Institute of Texas A&M, the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area has the fourth worst traffic congestion in the country.
Meanwhile, 7-Eleven, Inc., which began 24-hour operations in the 1960s and was the first retailer to introduce fresh-brewed to-go coffee to Americans more than 40 years ago, has hundreds more products to offer the morning rush crowd in addition to coffee and breakfast sandwiches. Strengthening their early morning offerings, 7-Eleven® stores in the south central part of the United States introduce Exclusive Bold coffee, the strongest brew ever sold in its stores. In addition, the convenience giant has added breakfast on the grill, with breakfast variety Go-Go Taquitos® and Hot Pockets to complement its current hot breakfast menu of heat-and-eat breakfast sandwiches.
To encourage customers to try its new Exclusive Bold coffee, 7-Eleven is holding a free sampling day on Wednesday, Oct. 17, in its Central Division, which includes 7-Eleven® stores in the greater Las Vegas, DFW and Austin-Temple-Killeen, Texas, areas, Colorado. Utah and Arizona. In Texas, 7-Eleven stores also will giveaway a free banana with each purchase of a 24-ounce hot beverage. That the convenience store offers fresh cut and whole fruit is a point of differentiation from other breakfast purveyors that Steve Keane, 7-Eleven sales and merchandising director, believes may surprise some.
"When it comes to morning products, we've got them all," Keane said. "Consumers have wide-ranging breakfast preferences, but may think they have only one or two options when it comes to breakfast on the go. Whether it's a hot, hearty breakfast sandwich or chorizo Hot Pocket and orange juice, a protein bar and energy drink, coffee and a donut, yogurt and fresh fruit, bagel and herbal tea, or cereal and milk, or a newspaper, energy drink and a fuel fill-up, 7-Eleven has something for everyone."
Clearly, 7-Eleven must be doing something right in the mornings. More than 30 percent of its customers shop between the hours of 5 and 10 a.m.
"7-Eleven offers multi-tasking in a shopping format," Keane said. "Customers can begin fueling their car, run inside, pop a bagel in the toaster, pour a cup of Exclusive Bold, add syrups and creamers to their liking, grab their bagel, a piece of fruit and the morning paper, and be out the door. Best of all, you don't get stuck waiting in a slow-moving drive-through or for an overwhelmed barista after an onslaught of complicated drinks. It's both multi-tasking and do it yourself. The customer maintains control."
As teens and young adults have joined the country's coffee-drinking masses, taste preferences have changed, moving toward darker, stronger varieties and specialty drinks. According to the National Coffee Association, people between the ages of 18 and 24 are the fastest-growing segment of the coffee-drinking public. Other surveys show double-digit growth in coffee consumption among teen-agers. And when the two groups aren't drinking coffee, they turn to energy drinks for their caffeine intake.
"Young adults and teens have great affinity for our stores, and we listen to them," said Donald Driver, 7-Eleven category manager for hot beverages. "While their tendencies are to lean toward stronger and darker brews, our morning coffee-drinkers are all ages and we're finding they like strong coffees, too. Sales of the darker varieties have doubled at 7-Eleven stores. Flavored coffees are very popular at 7-Eleven stores and vary by region. Our stores have the ability to change their coffee selection to match their customers' preferences."
On the breakfast front, 7-Eleven has added three new grill items for an easy-to-eat, on-the-go breakfast – Sausage, Egg and Cheese Go-Go Taquito, Chorizo and Egg Hot Pocket, and the Three Meat-n-Egg Hot Pocket. At a suggested retail price of $1.09, the grill items are one of 7-Eleven's best breakfast values and available during the morning rush.
"The number of people eating breakfast out or on the go has more than doubled in the past decade," said Kathy Humphries, 7-Eleven category manager for grill. "Taquitos and Hot Pockets are hot, a great value, and especially easy for commuters to eat on the run."
While the breakfast grill items are only offered in the morning, breakfast sandwiches on croissants, biscuits and English muffins; fresh fruit; and fresh-baked pastries, muffins and donuts are available at participating 7-Eleven stores all day or while supplies last. Because the stores order all fresh foods daily, some items may be unavailable until the next day's early hours to capture the first early-risers on their way to work or shift-workers on their way home.
"Many of our morning customers are planning beyond breakfast and the day's commute," Keane said. "They purchase snacks and lunch items, ice for a cooler at an outdoor job site, get cash at our on-site ATMs, forgotten school supplies, a Fantasy Football magazine for an evening meeting and lottery tickets. Bottled water, batteries, sunglasses, headache-medicine, gift cards and tobacco – our goal is to have what customers need and get them on their way quickly."
About 7 Eleven, Inc.
7 Eleven, Inc. is the premier name and largest chain in the convenience retailing industry. Based in Dallas, Texas, 7-Eleven operates, franchises or licenses more than 7,300 7-Eleven® stores in North America. Globally, 7-Eleven operates, franchises or licenses some 33,200 stores in 17 countries and one U.S. territory. During 2006, 7-Eleven stores worldwide generated total sales of more than $44 billion. Find out more online at www.7-Eleven.com.