Overseas Study Tour 2013 review. The future is Food

Jeff Rogut
CEO AACS

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Just back from our 2013 overseas study tour to the USA and what a terrific event it was. One of our largest groups with 43 senior people from major retailers and suppliers and from Australia and New Zealand,

Just a few comments from a few of our participants:

“Thank you all for your great company and positive energy. I found you all an inspiriting and insightful bunch of people. I have had many great conversations over the last 10 days. A very worthwhile and valuable study tour with a fantastic crew that made it just as much fun as it was insightful. This being my 1st tour I was super impressed with the content and the organisation. Thanks very much for the great organisation. Another great result for Australian representation at NACS.”

The tour visited stores which included Hess, Racetrac, Parkers, WAWA, and the newly opened Daily’s Dash – Yum on the run. The developments in foodservice have been very focused and noticeable, even in the twelve months since I was last in the US. Quality, presentation, a focus on healthy options but not ignoring the basic high volume products as well as excellence in customer service are all very evident.

Alcohol is freely available in the stores we visited with great displays as well as large beer caves. The US industry manages this category very well and it is something we will continue to work at for our local industry.
Retailers are all looking at upgrades and competing very successfully against QSR’s with the various offers. Another noticeable feature was the very high standards stores have with their customer facilities. Toilets are in the main spotless and their upmarket presentation would not be out of place in some hotels. This has been a major plus in attracting customers, especially females.

The NACS Show in Atlanta with almost 400000 sq ft of exhibition space again highlighted trends in products and equipment.

From our colleagues at NACS comes the following which will further highlight the foodservice importance:

A focus for the US going forward for us is communicating our industry’s positive food offer, especially related to healthy options. And great foodservice is part of that messaging.

Over the past three weeks we’ve worked on three high-profile foodie stories focused on gourmet gas stations. USA Today is the latest to cover the trend of gourmet food found at the gas station

Here are the several recent stories:

First, a link to today’s USA Today article that ran today on page 8B (right now it only links to pictures, not the full story):
http://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/travel/destinations/2013/10/17/gas-stations-go-gourmet/3000639/

Second, a CNBC segment that aired on 10/15:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101114781

Third, The Washington Post ran a nice front-page article on the trend last month:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/gas-station-restaurants-are-becoming-the-next-big-thing-in-cuisine/2013/09/28/a49a6124-26e9-11e3-ad0d-b7c8d2a594b9_story.html?hpid=z5

And it was followed up today with a rave of another place that we profiled in the 2013 Ideas 2 Go:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/the-20-diner-fill-er-up-at-thai-pan-in-leesburg/2013/10/16/c0e221d6-3207-11e3-89ae-16e186e117d8_story.html

AACS will continue sharing up to date insights with you, and we look forward to catching up again soon.