7-Eleven rolls out new foods for Colorado

Regional goodies placed on display at yearly meeting

By Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 10, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Linda McConnell / Special To The Rocky

Signature hot dogs bearing the 7-Eleven logo are shown at the Colorado Convention Center on Wednesday.

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Even 7-Eleven is going local.

The ubiquitous convenience store is cooking up specialty foods for Colorado palates - such items as carnitas pita sandwiches, beef and green chili burritos and sugar cinnamon twist pastries.

The regional creations were on display for the annual "University of 7-Eleven" gathering at the Colorado Convention Center on Wednesday, a traveling food and beverage show that gives 750 store managers and franchisees a sneak peek of new products and services.

"When I came to Colorado, the first thing I heard people talk about was the green chili," said Jason Yada, a fresh food manager with 7-Eleven. "We wanted to make our burritos really authentic."

The Colorado specialties are the latest way for 7-Eleven, once known primarily as a pit stop for sodas and smokes, to continue to expand into fresh foods such as sandwiches, salads and fruits. The Dallas-based chain, which has 220 stores in Colorado, last year posted nearly $47 billion in sales.

"What customers see at a grocery store, they want to see here," said Raj Singh, merchandising manager for 7-Eleven, pointing to a 24-pack of bottled water.

But there were also plenty of items on display that won't be at a supermarket anytime soon: a Monster energy drink Slurpee the color of tar, hot dogs imprinted with the 7-Eleven logo and self-dispensed iced mocha coffee drinks.

The University also featured a mock store display - right down to this week's issue of People magazine - to give store managers ideas on the best places to display products, like offering fresh fruit in baskets at the ends of store aisles.

The typical 7-Eleven customer spends just 90 seconds in the store, said John Vaughan, fresh food manager.

That means that food "has to be portable, and it has to be easy to eat," he said. "I'm not sure anyone sits down and eats three meals a day anymore."

Sandip Mali, a franchisee who owns stores in downtown Denver and Thornton, said he expects that the fruit parfaits and new burritos will go over with customers.

"The burritos have a good kick to them," he said.

Even as 7-Eleven touts its new items, store owners know that most of the experimentation initially takes place on the edges.

"Our top-selling items we don't mess with," Yada said. "We tell our stores that they don't want to never, ever be out of glazed doughnuts and eclairs."

davisj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2514

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