Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images/Reuters
- Midwest fuel stop Kwik Trip has topped the customer satisfaction rankings of US convenience stores.
- Regional favorites like Wawa, Sheetz, and Buc-ee’s rounded out the best brands in the annual survey.
- Convenience stores are evolving from basic pit-stops to focus on better food, service, and rewards.
Watch out, Wawa, there’s a new leader of the C-store pack.
Midwest fuel stop Kwik Trip leapfrogged the competition to top the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index rankings of US convenience stores.
The Wisconsin-based company improved its score by six points from last year to pull ahead of regional favorites like Wawa, Sheetz, QuikTrip (unrelated), and Buc-ee’s.
“The brands rising to the top are doing more than just selling coffee and snacks. They’re building communities inside their stores,” said Forrest Morgeson, ASCI’s director of research emeritus and a Michigan State University marketing professor, said in a statement released Tuesday.
Following Kwik Trip’s 84 points were Sheetz and Wawa (tied with 82), QuikTrip with 80, and Buc-ee’s with 79. The ACSI says the results are based on 8,601 completed surveys, with responses indexed to a 100-point scale.
Survey respondents also put a high emphasis on brands’ mobile apps, store hours and locations, helpfulness of staff, and quality of food and beverage options.
The top brands reflect a trend in which convenience stores are evolving from basic pit-stops to focus on better food, service, and rewards.
Loyalty rewards can lead to big business for brands that get it right.
The survey found that nearly two-thirds of rewards program members visited their preferred chain at least once a week, while less than half of nonmembers visited as often.
“As in-store sales outpace fuel and digital tools become table stakes, the brands that will win are those that double down on quality, innovation, and authentic connection,” Morgeson said.
In short, convenience stores are finding ways to become more than a place people have to go — now they want to go.
“People are actually thinking of convenience stores now as a place to go eat, which didn’t happen 20 years ago,” Wills Group executive vice president of convenience retailing Mark Samuels told Business Insider earlier this year.
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