Road Trip Coffee

Road trip coffee…

Don’t you drink road trip coffee when you are driving? I think we all do. It’s a kind of driving ritual. We grab a cup when we stop for gas.

Gas station road coffee sucks for the most part. Although it is improving.

Every time I travel by car, I remember why I like really good coffee.

One thing about a road trip…

A road trip is like a refresher course in coffee appreciation. It always reminds you how much you like your coffee when you get back home or back to your favorite coffee shop.

Whatever you drink at home is probably better than the coffee you drink at C-Stores and gas stations along the highway as you drive long distance.

Here’s a funny take on road trip coffee: Chefs Couldn’t Survive Road Trips Without This Coffee

The Way Road Trip Coffee Smells

For years, decades really, the standard format for brewing coffee at gas stations and c-stores was a version of pour over coffee. The typical use included a glass coffee pot, the kind that waitresses would carry around the diner and “refill” customers’ coffee. Originally, when that style of brewer hit the market, it revolutionized the coffee business for restaurant chains and gas stations nationwide. It made the process of brewing coffee fast and consistent.

But over the years, with those glass pots, you could smell the coffee when you walked by them at a c-store or gas station.

You knew that the coffee has been sitting on the burner for an hour or two and the coffee would taste burnt. Tending to the coffee gradually became something you addressed when a customer complained – not as a standard operating procedure – to prevent the complaint.

It seemed like staff really didn’t care.

That is shifting as the norm as operators convert from glass pots to  airpots and more automated drip coffee production at volume locations.

Coffee at Home This Morning After My Road Trip…

What a difference. As I took the first sip of my second cup of coffee this morning, I thought and then said out loud to myself:

“Darn that tastes good. That is a delicious cup of coffee.”

Immediately I was reminded how each cup of coffee we drank two days ago on a 900 mile road trip tasted. And it became clear to me how much better “my favorite cup in the morning” tastes than the very best cup I had traveling the other day. This is where the comparative created by one of my mentors “less worse” comes into play.

Road Trip Coffee = C-Store Coffee or Gas Station Coffee

C-stores (convenience stores) and gas stations are sort of synonymous with road trips and coffee. When you are traveling by car, you stop for gas and grab a coffee. When it’s right by the freeway exit, it’s usually gas station coffee. But convenience stores play a significant roll in road trip coffee too.

Road trip coffee is still pretty bad for the most part. Like airline coffee. Generally, it’s swill. Brown water that’s bitter.

That is changing as people become more educated about coffee and are beginning to demand better quality coffee.

The World of C-Stores and Gas Stations Is Changing

More recently, the world of travel coffee has been changing.

On the east coast, WAWA, a privately held chain, has set new standards for c-store coffee. In WAWA’s case. many of those c-stores are also gas stations. WAWA is expanding and continuously adapting their marketing to the rapidly changing world “food customers”.

To meet that demand and to retain customer loyalty, coffee is getting better at both c-stores and gas stations. To maintain and expand market share, they have to.

On the east coast, WAWA has 965 stores in 6 states and D.C. with plans to build another 54 stores in 2022 alone. The annual revenue is in the $13 Billion range.

They have a sophisticated distribution system with truck deliveries every other day at many locations.

“Its distribution partner, McLane, runs what Wawa calls the supplier’s only dedicated warehouse in the U.S., in New Jersey. Last year, the CEO oversaw the launch of an oil barge and tug to bring 7.8 million gallons of gas from the Gulf of Mexico to Florida stores three times per month.” – https://www.inc.com/magazine/201806/maria-aspan/wawa-convenience-store-pennsylvania.html

They have pre-measured pouches of coffee for their brewing machines and multiple drip coffees that are consistent from location to location. Their coffee program is well organized and a very profitable segment for the chain.

About ten years ago they got into blended coffee drinks as well and that business is growing steadily as well.

If you are traveling up and down the east coast – from New Jersey to Florida – WAWA is a good bet for consistently decent road trip coffee company wide. The espresso needs help. But their drip has moved the standard higher within the realm of gas stations and c-stores. They use airpots as dispensers and to retain heat. The company policy is to brew fresh pots of each flavor at a minimum of every thirty minutes.

As a customer, if the coffee is not hot when you dispense some in your cup, you can request a fresh pot and they will make it for you on the spot.

Customer service is a big component of their success – although in my experience – Florida customer service in 2022 does not match that of the Virginia and Pennsylvania customer service that I experienced in 2012 and 2013. (Maybe their staff training has gone downhill since they converted from in-house training with a personal instructor to online module training in 2012 or 2013.  I remember how Starbucks barista quality tanked after they eliminated some of their mandatory, off-site training in Washington state. Similar?  Maybe, maybe not. That is pure conjecture on my part.)

BUC-EES is Another Example of Major Changes in The C-Store – Gas Station Industry…

BUC-EES is another pioneer in the C-Store/Gas Station world.

They currently have 43 locations in 7 states with plans for locations in 5 more states.

There is a real element of showmanship in these stores with lots of movement, staff activity and space. The customer service is excellent and the people are friendly.

They are very large gas station venues inter-connected with large c-stores designed for massive volume of customers traveling the highway by car (or truck).

It kind of feels like a county fair or a circus when you walk in a location. In a funny way it is comforting like walking into a relative’s house you really like.

Massive is probably an appropriate descriptor.

The volume capacity for food service is stunning really.

Each location has:

• a wall of coffee dispensers loaded with fresh, hot coffee to go
• a meat carving/sandwich/barbecue station,
• multiple bakery display cases
• food, food, food.
• walls of coolers full of drinks to go
• all the typical display racks of standard c-stores
• extensive gift shop (with high quality gifts)
• extensive travel supplies
• lots of BUC-EES souvenirs
• a large number of gas pumping stations
• lots of parking

One of BUC-EES locations in New Braunfels, Texas, is 66,000 Sq FT with 120 gas pumps and 1000 parking spaces for customers. Two more are in the works exceeding 74,000 sq ft.

The coffee is abundant, fresh and hot.

These places are fun and a place to refresh and “restore” as you travel with the cleanest bathrooms in c-store / gas station history, probably.

Road trip coffee is definitely changing.

Here’s another article about coffee on the road.

Coffee-guy