Couche-Tard's US Food Business Shows Early Results After 18-Month Restructuring

Alimentation Couche-Tard's pursuit of a first-class convenience store foodservice program began in 2017 when the Canadian retailer acquired Holiday Stationstores. Although the deal significantly increased Couche-Tard's store count in the U.S., the company later said that Holiday's food capabilities—especially its breakfast items and sandwiches—were thedriving force behind the acquisition。

In early 2020, Couche-Tard revealed it was piloting a new foodservice program based on Holiday's food offerings. In July of that year, then-President and CEO Brian Hannasch named the program Fresh Food, Fast and told investors that Couche-Tard aimed to roll it out to 1,500 Circle K stores in the U.S. by the end of the year.

The company achieved that goal in November, with Hannasch calling Fresh Food, Fast "the biggest project Couche-Tard has ever undertaken." He also touted plans to roll the program out to an additional 3,000 stores by the end of fiscal 2021.

Those goals sounded ambitious, but the company had the capacity to support such rapid expansion. That may explain why it seems underwhelming that Couche-Tard, the second-largest convenience store retailer in the U.S., will have only about 6,000 stores globally offering Fresh Food, Fast by 2026.

At its annual investor meeting on February 11, management acknowledged that Fresh Food, Fast had hit a plateau in its North American operations over the past few years—and that adjustments were needed.

"When we first launched the food program, it was too complex," President and CEO Alex Miller said at the meeting. "There were too many SKUs and not enough discipline in the processes."

Over the past 18 months, Couche-Tard has been in what Miller calls a "reset" of its North American foodservice program, during which it reduced the number of menu items and tightened processes. According to the company's investor presentation, thanks to these and other adjustments, Couche-Tard's food penetration rate (as a percentage of revenue) increased by 72 basis points over the past year.

"We have learned from our mistakes... and now we are taking action," Miller said.

Selling what customers actually want

At the start of the reset, Couche-Tard's foodservice program in Europe was performing as expected. Louise Warner, Executive Vice President of North American Operations and Global Commercial Optimization, said during the presentation that this prompted the company to examine why its North American offerings were not meeting expectations.

Warner noted that, first, Couche-Tard needed to meet the needs of customers in different communities across North America, especially in the U.S.

"We also know from decades of retail experience that not all regions have identical needs," Warner said. "We knew we needed to tailor our products and operations to local markets."

Couche-Tard began segmenting its customer base based on how frequently they purchased food from its stores. It then tailored new food offerings to existing food buyers and frequent in-store shoppers (as opposed to fuel customers or new customers).

"There are potential food customers all around us, but we want to ensure we win with those who are most likely to convert or become our food customers," Warner said.

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"We realized we were trying to sell customers products they didn't actually want to buy."

Louise Warner

Executive Vice President of North American Operations and Global Commercial Optimization at Alimentation Couche-Tard

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Couche-Tard committed to improvements in four key areas: operational execution, more targeted menus and promotions, innovation, and better control of its food supply chain. According to the presentation, over the past 18 months, its SKU count decreased by 50% and its shrink rate fell by 230 basis points.

The company also ensured it began offering customers the food they wanted—which had not always been the case.

"We realized we were trying to sell customers products they didn't actually want to buy," Warner said.

The winning formula

Thus, Couche-Tard's value meals were born and have become the face of its Fresh Food, Fast program over the past 18 months.

These meals launched in September 2024,with three options—priced at $3, $4, and $5—each including a meal and a drink. For example, for $3, customers can get a Taquito roll-up with a 2-ounce bag of Frito-Lay chips and a Pepsi. For $5, they can upgrade to two slices of pizza and a 20-ounce Pepsi.

In late 2025, Miller told investors that within the first year of the program's launch, Couche-Tard's global store networksold over 10 million meal deals, with North American weekly sales exceeding 1 million units.

During an investor call earlier this month, Warner emphasized that Couche-Tard has "gone all in on meal deals across all regions."

"This allows us to innovate and pilot the different programs we are working on," Warner said.

Beyond meal deals, Couche-Tard is also focusing on "hero items" within its Fresh Food, Fast program. These are products the retailer is either known for (like Casey's pizza) or is highlighting to drive traffic. For example, in Warner's home state of North Carolina, Couche-Tard's hero items are spicy chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, and freshly baked cookies.

According to the presentation, over the past 18 months, Couche-Tard's hero item availability in North America increased by more than 1,800 basis points.

"We looked at our hero items, ensured they were the focus of our menu and our sales, and made sure they were available during the times customers wanted to buy them," Warner said.

Warner said the reset has been effective, and Couche-Tard recently set a goal to grow food revenue in the U.S. at four times the rate of merchandise revenue. While she acknowledged that not every new rollout will be successful, Couche-Tard's multiple business units allow the company to experiment to learn what customers like, thereby determining which programs to ultimately roll out.

"We believe we have the winning formula," Warner said.