Local food is opportunity for petrol stations worldwide

Developing a local food offer is a future opportunity for convenience forecourts, according to leading expert on petrol station design.

David Davis, partner at design agency, Minale Tattersfield London, said offering local foods on the forecourt could be a key differentiator in times of economic uncertainty and change.

“Globalisation has been a feature of the last 10-20 years but may be there is an opportunity for more localisation to happen,” he said.

“One common theme across the world is that everyone loves their own food. McDonald’s is omnipresent and people are always happy to sample western food but they always prefer what they’ve been brought up on.”

While most food offerings on forecourts tend to be of the fast-food variety, Davis said there was no reason why fresh food with a local taste and flavour could not be prepared on site.

“A lot of retailers are looking for what to do next,” he said. “The projections are pretty bad for the next few years so a focus on local products, while still offering the big brands, is a good way forward.”

Davis recommended retailers create a corner of the store to feature a farmer’s market-style offer or feature seasonal fruit and vegetables or a local snack, which could be franchised out.

“For me it’s guaranteed to work as long as the big operations can manage it effectively. They might have to alter their business model to allow local operations to happen.”

Smaller forecourt operators may be more nimble in this respect, said Davis.

“Smaller operators may be able to change and now is all about change. The winners will be those that embrace change. The losers are the big, monolithic companies that are unable to change.”

Sustainability

Davis said a focus on localised products linked well with sustainability, energy efficiency and reducing overheads.

“Those are all key business objectives that companies will have to follow to survive,” he said.

However, environmental issues have different degrees of relevancy around the world.

“The developing world is keen to catch up and environmental issues are not on the agenda. They are just keen to build a nice pretty petrol station. It’s not about saving the planet but if the business is profitable or not,” said Davis. “In the developing world environmental issues are very much on the agenda.”

Davis applauded leading forecourt operators such as BP and Esso, which have visibly expressed their environmental strategies with solar canopies and wind turbines and commitments to reduce energy consumption.

Initiatives such as Tesco’s inclusion of recycling banks on forecourts also found favour.

“It’s a win, win,” said Davis. “It’s good for the environment and attracts more people to the store so people are going to buy more stuff.”

However, Davis said a “degree of management” had to take place with initiatives such as these to ensure good maintenance.

Healthy eating

Healthy eating is another future opportunity for the convenience forecourt sector, said Davis.

“It’s a big issue in many supermarkets in the UK and in western Europe too. A lot of convenience food is really quite dreadful in terms of sugar, salt and fat content.”

Davis said that in markets such as Russia, where fast food chains and convenience stores have entered the market, people were starting to eat badly,

“It’s a key marker for the future,” he said.

Branding

A further pointer for convenience forecourt operators is branding, said Davis.

“To give a facelift to a c-store is a relatively low expense,” he said.

Davis said investing in interior redecoration, new graphics and colours, increases revenue.

“Some brand review is worthwhile at a time of change,” he said.

“Price is becoming a much bigger factor but presentation of a brand is very important. Turnover after a rebrand always does increase.”

Davis highlighted two forecourt operators which are innovating in terms of retail design and format: BP in the UK and Petronas in Malaysia.

Davis praised BP for taking food seriously with its Wild Bean Café concept including the launch of a standalone Wild Bean Café at a ferry terminal.

“It’s quite innovative, they have broken the mould in many respects,” said Davis.

Petronas, meanwhile, has developed its Mesra convenience format, introducing post offices, banks and McDonald’s into stores on a selective site basis.

“Mesra has become an umbrella brand and it’s been a successful way of generating more revenue,” said Davis.