Convenience stores with fresh food are no longer a step behind their step-cousins in the quick-service restaurant world. 35 of OnCue’s 75 stores have in-store kitchen offerings and growing, in no small part due to its expanding menu. It is adding four or five stores in 2025, which will include made-to-order kitchens and drive-thrus. It has also been retrofitting existing stores; it did 10 renovations last year. This is clearly a C-store brand with more to offer than hot dogs on roller grills.
OnCue prepares and serves everything from breakfast tacos and biscuits to burgers, chicken strips, pizza, salads, and wings. It’s still a C-store, which means it relies heavily on consumers stopping in on their way to work. The dayparts are the crucial parts.
“Breakfast is king for sure,” said Brad Essary, assistant director of food service, in an interview. “Our breakfast biscuits are a big item for us. And last year we rolled out a waffle sandwich that’s gaining in popularity. Those are our top two performers.”
The brand doesn’t prepare all of its food on-site. It still makes some of its menu items, such as its baked goods, at its production facility in Stillwater, OK, and delivers them to stores each day for heating in high-speed ovens.
OnCue allows customers to use its app and website to customize meals, schedule pick-ups, and pay in advance. OnCue works with local tech provider TapTapEat to manage some of these functions. While take-out makes up the largest share of the brand’s digital orders, delivery is growing.
“TapTapEat built out our online platform years ago and has been a wonderful partner,” said Emily Fate, public relations head for the brand, noting how effectively the vendor’s online-ordering and customer-feedback systems work.
OnCue has survived as a family-owned brand since 1966, with some of the same ownership in place, by knowing what it stands for: grab-and-go food that is reliable, tasty, and now, more than ever, nutritious.
“In the last 10 years we’ve been working to hone the menu and optimizing it a bit more,” said Fate, “and we’re always looking to figure out our audience and simplify things. We’ve gone from using a wide net to get people to try our food to understanding that now we have a reputation and we can focus on figuring out what our hero items are and what people are seeking from our stores. We’re excited for this part of our business to evolve.”