The case for being a food-forward convenience store is solid: Margins are good, foodservice done well is a traffic driver and growing foodservice sales creates room for growth as fuel gallons fall. In addition, NACS State of the Industry data shows that the most successful retailers in terms of profit per basket tend to sell lots of high-margin foodservice items.

But, as Chris Rapanick, managing director, NACS Research, shared, there are challenges. Food waste continues to grow and foodservice leakage—when your customers leave your store and visit a QSR shortly thereafter—remains real. Depending on the region, about 25% to 30% of customers in your store will visit a QSR within 30 minutes.

Another challenge: Maintaining excellent food safety practices despite having a workforce prone to turnover.

Even if one retailer in our industry has excellent food safety practices, it may be impacted by a foodborne illness traced back to a different retailer. When it comes to illness, “If one of us looks bad, we all look bad,” said David McIntyre, a senior health and safety specialist at EG America. That makes top-notch food safety practices an imperative for the entire industry.

Dr. Jay Ellingson, chief scientific officer at Kwik Trip, shared that “food safety is not a competitive advantage.” He also observed that if a retailer’s foodservice program is growing but its investment in food protection isn’t, there could be a problem.

Some other top insights: In addition to compliance, connections and culture are critical.

When it comes to connections, build relationships with regulators before you need them. Having that trust with regulators can help if an issue arises. But also think intentionally about connections with individual stores. If the food safety team wants to be heard, it has to listen as well and be willing to keep asking “why” to get to the root of the problem.

McIntyre shared an example of a store that had a problem that traced back to the front door always being propped open. Top-down directives didn’t solve the problem. Instead, it took understanding the why—an HVAC that blew directly at the counter, chilling frontline workers who then kept the door open to bring in warm air. The simple solution involved allowing those workers to wear a sweatshirt and moving the louvers on the HVAC unit.

Culture is less obvious but saturates everything related to food safety. It’s the difference between halfheartedly going through the motions and understanding how truly important—maybe lifesaving—food safety is.

Look for more coverage of the NACS Food Safety Forum in the December issue of NACS Magazine. The 2025 NACS Food Safety Forum will take place April 8 in Dallas, Texas, in conjunction with the NACS State of the Industry Summit. Click here to be notified when event registration is open.