bp Refreshes Menus With a Local Touch
LONDON — bp is expanding its range of food and beverages at locations across the globe.
Consumers can choose from an array of freshly prepared meals and nibbles, with options ranging from customizable sandwiches to new, private label snacks.
"Customers tell us they want tasty and freshly prepared food options on the go," said Tracey Clements, senior vice president of mobility & convenience, Europe. "We are constantly listening to give them what they want, when and where they want it, as we develop exciting, new menu options at our stores. The new dishes I've tasted have had me coming back for more."
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The retailer's menu updates were developed with local tastes in mind, such as the big breakfast bap with sausage, bacon, egg and Gouda cheese; and the avocado, halloumi and egg bap with gochujang-style ketchup, launching at 10 wildbean cafes in the United Kingdom this spring.
In the United States, bp's new offerings include the Dirty Horchata — featuring a mix of horchata and coffee in a frozen slush with a light cinnamon flavor — which launched for summer 2023 and sold five times the anticipated volume, according to bp.
Smash Burgers are also popular, driving an increase in burger sales after replacing the previous burger selection on menus at TravelCenters of America locations last year.
"The U.S. is such a big market, with big differences in how people shop based on their location," said Greg Franks, senior vice president of mobility & convenience, Americas. "Our aim is to give them the food they love and take advantage of our scale and worldwide expertise to expand our food offer even further."
According to bp, the evolution of its fresh food and private label offers is a great complement to "food for later" partnerships, such as its nearly 20-year-old collaboration with Marks & Spencer that introduced high-quality groceries at company-owned retail stores in the United Kingdom, and is the next logical step for its convenience business.
"We expect drivers to spend more time at our sites as the need for EV charging becomes more widespread. Our convenience retail offer enhances our fuel and EV charging offers and it is also, for many people, the only reason they visit a bp store," Tracey said. "In the U.K., more than 50% of our transactions are now shop only, while in Germany, that figure is approximately 25%."
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Two U.K. stores testing the new freshly made menu saw double-digit growth in cafe food sales, while an expanded burger selection in Poland drove an increase in sales of 16% above plan during the first 10 weeks.
bp plans to continue developing exclusive food and drink offers in the coming years, as convenience is one of the company's five transition growth engines.
"Our stores are the part of bp that people come into contact with the most," Tracey added. "We currently process more than 12 million transactions a day and we want to make each experience as high quality as possible, so our customers keep coming back for more."
New selections at bp-owned retail sites in the United States include:
- Thorntons — Fresh pizza made on-site with hand-stretched dough, rolling out this spring.
- TravelCenters of America — A limited-time offer (LTO) Tex-Mex menu that includes tacos, burritos, rice bowls and nachos. Another LTO international menu will arrive this summer featuring chicken tikka masala and Cuban sandwiches.
- ampm and Thorntons — A new range of private label snacks such as milk chocolate peanut butter peanuts and sour worms. These products will also appear at TravelCenters of America stores.
Based in London, the company's U.S. retail presence includes bp, ARCO/ampm, Amoco, Thorntons and, most recently, TravelCenters of America.