---
title: "C-Store Foodservice Gains Ground With Younger Consumers"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/239659b5-cb2c-437e-bbae-8ccdf9268feb
source: "CStore Decisions"
original_url: https://cstoredecisions.com/c-store-foodservice-gains-ground-with-younger-consumers/
category: "C-store & fuel"
industry: "Retail"
segment: "C-store & fuel"
published: 2026-09-09T18:28:30.000Z
modified: 2026-10-31T13:16:16.177Z
image: https://cstoredecisions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Turkey-Avocado-Sandwich.jpg
---

# C-Store Foodservice Gains Ground With Younger Consumers

**TL;DR:** Convenience stores are gaining ground with younger consumers, such as Gen Z and Millennials, who are increasingly choosing them for meals over traditional quick-service restaurants. Datassential's Q3 C-Store Quarterly Tracker found that 25% of consumers visited a convenience store in-person for a meal away from home at least once in the past month.

*originally published in CStore Decisions on 2026-09-09. [Read the original](https://cstoredecisions.com/c-store-foodservice-gains-ground-with-younger-consumers/).*

## Story

Datassential data shows younger consumers are increasingly choosing convenience stores for meals, highlighting the channel's growing competition with QSRs.

With foodservice on the rise and consumers increasingly seeking value from their purchases, the gap between convenience stores and quick-service restaurants (QSRs) is closing each year. Customers are looking to c-stores for restaurant quality food at a lower price than their QSR counterparts, and retailers are delivering.

Younger consumers are leading the charge, which signals continued momentum for c-store foodservice in the coming years.

Datassential’s Q3 C-Store Quarterly Tracker found that roughly 25% of consumers visited a convenience store in-person for a meal away from home at least once in the past month. Of those 25%, Gen Z had the highest visitation rate at 31%. This was followed by Millennials (30%), Gen X (29%) and finally Baby Boomers, which came in at a shockingly low 11%.

The report also found that men are purchasing c-store food at a higher rate (28%) than women (23%).

Regionally, the South is leading foodservice visits with 28% of southern consumers reporting that they had purchased food from a c-store in the past month. Following the South is the Northeast (26%), the Midwest (25%) and the West (21%).

Low income consumers are visiting the most (27%), once again demonstrating the importance of the value proposition in 2026. Twenty-five percent of medium income consumers reported buying food from a c-store at least once in the past month, followed by high income consumers at 24%.

Datassential’s C-Store Quarterly Tracker uses data from 1,518 “gen pop” U.S. consumers and 445 foodservice decision makers, 17 of whom operate convenience stores.

The report analyzes a variety of key metrics like the perception of c-store prices, top challenges for retailers, profitability strategies and more.

## Entities

- Retail (sector)
- CStore Decisions (publication)
- quick service restaurants (topic)
- consumer trends (topic)
- Datassential (company)
- value proposition (topic)
- Gen Z (location)
- Millennials (location)
- convenience store foodservice (topic)
- Baby Boomers (location)
- Gen X (location)
- generational demographics (topic)

---
Originally reported by CStore Decisions (https://cstoredecisions.com/c-store-foodservice-gains-ground-with-younger-consumers/). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/239659b5-cb2c-437e-bbae-8ccdf9268feb).