CHICAGO, March 27, 2026 - Convenience-store chain Circle K sold more than 13 million meal deal bundles during its third quarter, with more than half selling for just $3.
That’s up from the previous quarter, when the Alimentation Couche-Tard-owned c-store chain reported selling more than 10 million meal bundles globally.
It’s yet another example of how convenience stores are getting increasingly savvy and strategic as they try to steal customers away from quick-service restaurants.
Circle K rolled out its meal deal platform in October 2024, with an assortment of hot sandwiches, sides and drinks at $3, $4 and $5 price points. The tiered pricing approach is a key piece of the retailer’s foodservice strategy, executives told analysts earlier this month.
“Convenience stores have always offered combo deals (e.g. hot dogs/chips/fountain drink or bakery/coffee for incentive price); this is not a new strategy,” said Donna Hood Crecca, senior principal with Chicago-based research firm Technomic, who has long studied c-store trends. “What’s changed is that c-stores are now being more intentional and strategic.”
Take 7-Eleven, the country’s largest convenience chain, which this week launched a “chicken takeover” featuring crispy chicken sandwiches, wings and more. The Irving, Texas-based retailer is selling traditional chicken sandwiches for $4 (or two for $6, for a limited time) as well as a $4 Chicken & Waffle Sandwich topped with Hot Honey butter.
The retailer also added a $5 breakfast meal deal that includes a sandwich, Waffle Tots and a Monster Energy drink.
Some other recent c-store meal deals include:
EG America (which operates banners Cumberland Farms, Fastrac, Quik Stop and more) introduced a $3 breakfast meal deal in early 2025. It featured a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich on a croissant with any size coffee, hot or iced. Customers could add a hash brown for $1. A few months later, the retailer added a lineup of $3, $4, $5, and $6 meal deals.
C-store chain Rutter’s operates a small number of 1747 Bar & Lounge locations in select stores. The sports bar concept will host March Madness viewing parties this spring, with corresponding meal deals. Examples include an appetizer sampler and Red Bull for $11.99; bacon cheeseburger, fries and Red Bull for $9.99; and a deluxe chicken sandwich, waffle fries and Red Bull for $9.99.
SunStop late last year introduced a “Feed the Fam—$5 after 5” meal deal with two chicken tends or two chicken legs, two sides and a roll.
Bundling a signature menu item into a meal deal is a smart strategy, Hood Crecca said, as c-stores look to compete with fast food restaurants.
“The deals also have to be operationally efficient for the store staff to execute and easy for the consumer to find all components (c-stores are different than QSRs in that the consumer typically has to source elements of the meal deal themselves),” she noted.
The surge in c-store meal deals comes amid soaring fast-food prices, as consumers increasingly look for value in making their food-away-from-home decisions.
Growing numbers of consumers are turning to convenience stores as foodservice destinations.
Seventy-two percent of consumers said c-stores represent a “real alternative” to fast food, according to the Convenience Store Trends Report released last June by customer experience solutions and mystery shopping firm Intouch Insight. That’s a significant jump from 2024, when just 56% of consumers said the same. (In 2022, the number was just 45%.)
What’s more, 75% of c-store consumers surveyed said the stores’ made-to-order food was a good value, a 13-point jump from the year before.
Heather Lalley is the director of communications for IFMA The Food Away from Home Association. A lifelong journalist, Lalley has previously worked with industry publications including Restaurant Business, CSP Daily News, Supermarket News and Foodservice Director.