One of the unexpected benefits of changing the way we’ve held meetings over the past year because of the pandemic has been the opportunity to have engaging conversations via video with people we might not get to chat with in a bustling physical venue.

During NACS Day on the Hill in March (see our Inside Washington coverage this month), I had the pleasure of talking with legislative staff members of the Hawaii congressional delegation, and in one meeting, the conversation turned to Spam—the food, not the email variety.

The past year hasn’t been entirely kind to c-store foodservice.

As it turned out, I’d just returned from a trip to Oahu and got to experience a Hawaiian-style breakfast: white rice, eggs over easy and fried Spam from convenience retailer ABC Stores’ Duke’s Lane Market & Eatery. Now, this Virginia native grew up eating the canned pork staple, just never with rice as a side dish. Although I didn’t try another local staple—Spam musubi—I did enjoy açaí bowls with chia pudding and fresh mango, poke bowls and Kalua pork tacos. That’s not to mention malasadas from Leonard’s Bakery, a Honolulu landmark since 1952. I’d fly six hours cross-country, take a COVID-19 test and another five-hour plane ride to Oahu to sample a sugar-sprinkled, custard-filled Portuguese doughnut any day.

The past year hasn’t been entirely kind to c-store foodservice as we share in “Back on the Menu,” which covers the category’s metrics at the NACS State of the Industry Summit. (Look for exclusive coverage of the entire SOI Summit in June.) As Heather Davis, director of foodservice, Parker’s, says, “The reality is that we’re still climbing a mountain with foodservice in some ways to where people don’t realize the amount of work and effort that we are truly putting into the quality of our food, and I think one of the benefits of the pandemic is that we became that trusted place that you could get a hot meal from.”

Part of the turnaround hinges on innovation. “Food is really going to be the champion that we can lean on to drive us into the future,” Davis said. Whether that’s chicken sandwiches or a pizza program like Casey’s or housemade tortilla chips and queso (see our Q&A with TXB’s vice president of foodservice operations), the convenience retail sector is embracing a culture of high-quality, great-tasting food.

Back to virtual meetings. Although Zoom has brought us all closer, I can’t wait to rub elbows with you all in Chicago at the 2021 NACS Show, October 5–8. Did you hear? It’s on!