Remember the cupcake craze a few years back? Or how about when every coffee shop suddenly had avocado toast on the menu? Crudo. Acaí bowls. Meat that’s not meat.
Could you plot those food trends on a graph and determine the next big thing in the culinary world? Doubtful. With the quickening of social media, a dish that’s served up one week in Kuala Lumpur could soon be the hottest thing in Cleveland.
But staying ahead of the culinary curve is bigger than just menu items. Today’s c-stores and grocery retailers have to compete with a variety of consumer factors: health and wellness fads, climate change concerns, rising food costs, eco-conscious sourcing, ease of online food ordering and — above all — convenience.
C-stores and grocery retailers are asking themselves: Where can you strike the balance between investments and operational efficiencies?
The answer is foodservice equipment that responds to trends with technology and is designed to adapt to ever-changing customer preferences. The ability to extract value from this equipment hinges on its adaptability to whatever lies ahead.
Let’s look at how state-of-the-art kitchen equipment can compete with today’s space, energy and time needs while always being in position to transform for the requirements of tomorrow — a perpetually moving target.
The role of advanced foodservice equipment
The speed at which customers’ lifestyles and preferences change is forcing c-stores and grocers to accelerate change. Consider what a retailer looked like five years ago, let alone a decade ago. Bigger was considered better.
Today, retail has broken the singular massive space down into smaller, specific areas that focus on fresh products, unique flavors and healthy products. C-stores and grocers devote space to cafés, grab-and-go, restaurants, online pickup, cafeterias and conventional shopping, all under the same roof.
Foodservice equipment needs to be able to support these strategies. This is where advanced technology steps in. For example, merchandising and buffet equipment that can oscillate between hot and cold temperature settings is a major advancement for operators. It is possible to serve warm breakfast sandwiches in the morning and then cold salads at lunchtime without ever changing out the shelves. With convertible drop-in wells that make it easy for operators to switch between hot and cold holding, menus can change on the fly.
Smart foodservice equipment is designed with purpose. Bells and whistles aren’t just there to look pretty. They can help operators streamline workflows, automate cooking and provide real-time data. Programmable cook settings, touchscreens, and USB ports, just to name a few innovations, position c-stores and grocers with the data and analytics to respond to shifting consumer needs and remain competitive.
Expanding menus with Hatco equipment
Hatco is poised to play a significant role in supporting c-stores and grocery retailers as they adopt a shrewd approach to unknown future consumer behaviors. By focusing on foodservice equipment that is agile, resilient and efficient, operators can lay the foundation for whatever lies ahead.
Versatile cooking equipment
By prioritizing quality foodservice equipment that is designed for versatility, c-stores and grocery retailers can execute on just about any menu pivot. Menus can change, but the equipment can remain constant. Here are a few adaptable long-term solutions to consider.
The Intelligent Toast-Qwik® Narrow Conveyor Toaster is fast, reliable and extremely multifaceted. With the touch of a button, it can toast multiple bread products, melt cheese and finish smaller food products. The narrow design allows for continuous single-slice toasting in just about any space.
The Electric Salamander is a single unit that can do the work of much larger and more expensive pieces of equipment. The Salamander automatically transitions from cook to hold mode to prevent burning and gives commercial foodservice operators a single piece of equipment that can be tasked with multiple menu items.
The Hatco/Suntec Snack System is the ultimate piece of multi-purpose equipment. Featuring up to eight replaceable plates, it gives operators the freedom to swap plates and menu items in and out. With this single system, operators can keep up with the latest revenue-driving consumer demands — even ones that haven’t been created yet.
Food preservation and storage
According to research by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), people eat away from home more than ever before. The adaptability of pick-up stations and food lockers has played an integral role in this continuing trend. Flav-R 2-Go® Locker Systems are customizable and secure while appealing to customers’ need for convenience. The most innovative aspect of food lockers and pick-up stations is that they can accommodate any genre of food as long as the items fit in the locker. C-stores and grocery retailers can adapt to the culinary curve in real time.
Customers at c-stores and grocery retailers shop with their eyes. To showcase food at peak freshness — that is to say, with maximum visual appeal — it’s important to use display cases and merchandisers. The advantage for operators is twofold. First of all, display cases and merchandisers can change with the times. Different food can be offered at different times of year, different times of the week and even different meal periods within the same day. They’re ready for any trend. Secondly, display cases and merchandisers are also revenue engines, adding to an operation’s bottom line.
Efficient and sustainable solutions
Customers are more aware of how their food affects the environment than ever before. People’s organic and vegetarian diets aren't just about eating healthier, they’re about saving the planet. And according to a 2024 survey by PwC 80% of customers are willing to pay more for sustainable goods. But they will only pay up to a point, a 9.7% premium is the ceiling. With this threshold in place, c-stores and retailers need efficient foodservice equipment to cut costs. And in the best-case scenarios, cutting costs align with sustainability initiatives — music to any operator’s ears.
Efficient equipment design uses less overall energy and does a better job of capturing the energy that is used. For example, induction cooktops use 85%-95% of the energy they generate, compared to 45-50% from an electric range and only 35-40% with a gas cooktop. That’s a savings of up to 60% of cooking energy. As a bonus, employee and planet health are saved as well, for induction cooktops don’t emit nitrous oxides (NOX), carbon monoxide (CO) or formaldehyde (HCHO).
Any way an operation can save on waste, energy and water is a win for sustainability. Hatco’s Drop-In Induction Dry Well checks all these boxes, hitting the sustainability trifecta for modern buffets. These dry wells can hold different depth pans. A 4-inch (102 mm) deep pan can handle the dinner rush while a 2.5-inch (64 mm) deep pan can be used when business ebbs, cutting down on food waste. Induction technology saves energy because the energy used for heating goes directly to the food without escaping. And, as the name implies, a dry well doesn’t require water to function. This is a huge leap from wet wells that heat water, which is slowly evaporated into the air.
Where function meets innovation.
C-stores and grocery retailers have been increasingly creative and responsive to meet consumers’ needs. And those needs continue to change — a culinary curve.
At the same time, businesses need to remain profitable, so investments in technology cannot go on for infinity. The right piece of restaurant equipment can be that for operators, which is why Hatco designs all foodservice equipment with an innovation-first approach that centers on understanding and addressing the needs of our present (and future!) users. To learn more about Hatco and our top-of-the-line equipment, take a look around on our site.
