By james art 
The new stores will include Laredo Taco Co., a Mexican quick-service brand. | Photo courtesy of 7-Eleven
Convenience store giant 7-Eleven plans to open 500 food and beverage-focused locations in the U.S. from 2025 to 2027, according to an investor presentation from parent company 7 & i Holdings on Thursday.
The stores will feature a new format called New Standard, which continues the chain’s shift toward larger, higher-tech stores with expanded food options, including in-store restaurants.
It builds on an earlier prototype that included Laredo Taco Co., the 600-unit Mexican quick-service brand 7-Eleven acquired when it bought most of c-store chain Stripes in 2018. (Add the remaining locations in April .)
The new stores will be larger and offer fuel. They will also have more digital touch points to enable a “seamless” shopping experience.
Photos of a New Standard store included in the presentation showed a Laredo Taco Co. counter, a hot food box, a fresh-to-go area and a self-serve machine.
The chain found that these stores were performing better than existing locations. Average sales per store per day at existing 7-Elevens were about $5,500 in the first half of this year, while New Standard’s average store did $6,300 — a 13 percent difference.
And after a New Standard store has been open for four years, the chain expects average daily sales to be over $8,200, or 30% better than those stores currently.
The presentation indicated that Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven will have 115 New Standard stores open by the end of fiscal 2024. It expects to build 125 more next year, 175 in 2026 and 200 in 2027, for a total 615.
The news follows the announcement earlier this month that 7-Eleven plans to close 444 underperforming stores in North America. The chain is working to improve its traffic and sales, which have suffered from inflation and declining demand for cigarettes.
Tokyo-based 7 & i is also facing a takeover bid from rival Alimentation Couche-Tard, the owner of Circle K. The deal would combine the two largest c-store chains in the US
7-Eleven’s scale and hot food offerings have made it a longtime competitor for restaurant visits. But the growing emphasis on restaurant-style food and service has intensified this threat.
Laredo Taco Co., for example, now has about as many stores as Del Taco. If the Laredo is included in all new builds, it will nearly double its footprint over the next three years.
7-Eleven also operates about 100 locations of Raise the Roost, a fried chicken and biscuit concept. It has more than 13,000 locations in the US.
Pushing the foodservice chain is part of a a broader trend in the c-store and grocery industry to offer more prepared food, which has been a growth area for these businesses.
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