FIT CHECK · SALAD BASES WITH PRICEY ADD-ONS

Would a cheap salad with pricey add-ons work at your stores?

H-E-B, Wegmans and Sprouts price salads to compete with the cheapest lunch nearby, then sell single protein portions right next to them. We're confident the concept works beyond US supermarkets, in c-stores anywhere. A free Fit Check shows which of your stores look like the places where that works.

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4 quick questions · no sales data needed · free

SPOTTED · H-E-B, Wegmans and Sprouts

What we saw

Salads priced to compete with the cheapest lunch nearby, with single protein portions sold right next to them.

What we learned

Shoppers who want more protein pay extra for it, and the same salads suit low-carb, low-calorie and GLP-1 diets. Each shopper builds the salad they want, faster than in a salad chain's line, and they can tell it costs less.

Who it's for

Stores that already sell any kind of salad, in busy lunch areas or in towns with no health grocer nearby.

The salad cocktail

What made it work at H-E-B, Wegmans and Sprouts

Healthy-food demand (where health grocers and salad chains open), the breakfast and lunch crowd (workers, students and the traffic on the store's road), the cheapest lunch nearby, and proof that shoppers pay for fresh food: a health grocer within 3 miles, or a USDA low-access area, where the salad could be the only fresh lunch.

What has to be true in a c-store

Your answers, plus 2 conversion factors: about 1 in 5 c-store food trips are meals, so a salad has to win shoppers who already come in for a meal, or turn a drink-and-snack trip into one, and a c-store meal costs about what a fast-food meal costs, so the base salad has to compete with fast food.

In your full Fit Check

What reviews say about your food, and your menu prices.

You see every input and how each store ranks on it. How much each factor counts is shared only with you, privately, in your full Fit Check.

What comes back

Where to try the salad first, store by store, each with a twin.
The cheapest lunch near each store, for setting the base salad's price.

The Foodservice read →The field note →The Pre-Launch Pilot Read →

What a Fit Check analyzes around each store

Demographic profile in a 2-mile radius

Population, median household income, ages and bachelor's degrees from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (2019-2023 5-year estimates), for every census tract within 2 miles.

Breakfast and lunch crowd

People who work within 2 miles, from the Census Bureau's LEHD (2023), and the daily traffic on the store's road, from the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 counts.

How built-up the area is

Residents per square mile of land, from the same census tracts.

The mealtime competition

Fast food, sandwich, burger, pizza, chicken, taco, deli and bagel places within 1 mile and within a quarter mile, the cheapest lunch nearby, and the restaurant brands inside c-stores nearby, from Overture Maps place listings (September 2026).

Health grocers and salad chains

36 health grocers and salad chains, from Whole Foods and Sprouts to Sweetgreen and Cava, plus salad bars, within 3 miles.

Food access

Whether the store sits in a low-income, low-access area, from USDA's Food Access Research Atlas (2019).

Colleges, schools and gyms

College students within 2 miles who aren't online-only (NCES IPEDS, fall 2023), high schools within 1 mile, and gyms and fitness studios within 3 miles.

Registered competitors in the ZIP code

Limited-service restaurants (NAICS 722513), supermarkets (445110), convenience stores (445120) and gas stations with convenience stores (447110) in each store's ZIP code, from the Census Bureau's ZIP Code Business Patterns (2022). We show them next to each store in the quick read, as a check on the map listings.

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Other Fit Checks you can run

A sign on a TotalEnergies pump island in Berlin promoting the hot snack of the month, a Leberkäse roll

Snack of the month promoted at the pump

Any store with fuel, especially near a highway.

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A graphic of 9 Wawa menu items made with Dill Pickle Ranch, from burgers and a turkey sandwich to a flatbread and wraps

Trending toppings

Stores with their own hot food, even just a roller grill.

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A wall of instant ramen packets in a CU store in Seoul, labeled Ramyun Library

Becoming a ramen destination

Any store with hot water and 4 to 8 feet of shelf, especially near schools, colleges and nightlife.

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A self-checkout at a Shell station in Orono, Maine, with a sign: Go ahead, check yourself out! Skip the line and save time!

Deploy self-checkout where lines form

Stores where the line at the morning or lunch rush gets long enough that people walk out.

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Touchscreens at a Sheetz counter under an Order Fresh Food Here sign

Order ahead

Stores that make food to order and have a morning or lunch rush.

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A Royal Farms door poster: Hot To-Go 2 for $6, or 2 for $5 with rewards

Promote member prices

Chains with a loyalty program, or about to launch one, since a member price needs a program to join.

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Alltown Fresh in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, at night, its canopy lit green

Store remodel sequence

Chains with older stores and a remodel budget to spend.

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A Casey's PIN pad asking for the rewards phone number, with a Tap here button

Excessive loyalty discount check

Chains with a loyalty program, with or without fuel.

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Want to look around first? See all our field notes →

How a Fit Check works

Pick a concept and answer a few quick questions about your stores.
Tell us your chain's name, any other names, your fuel brands and your website, or paste a list of your store addresses. We find your stores on public maps, and you uncheck any that aren't yours.
We score every store vs. all 207,335 US c-stores and gas stations on the concept's cocktail: what made it work where we saw it, measured around each store, and what has to be true in a c-store, from your answers.
Each store lands in 1 of 3 tiers: "Ready now," "Next wave" or "Not a priority now," with our analysis showing the strongest reasons why. The ready stores that meet the most ingredients are the ones to try first, each with a modeled twin from your own chain, so you can measure the result.
See a quick read in about a minute, or get the full Fit Check by email within 2 business days, with an estimate of the sales lift the concept needs to pay off at each store we'd try it in first.

EXAMPLE

What you get back

Heartland Markets is a fictional chain of 42 stores. We put its stores at real c-store sites around Providence, in Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts and northeastern Connecticut, so the public data around every store is real, and so is what it shows about how well each concept fits each store.

12 ready now, 6 of them to try first · 23 next wave · 7 not a priority now

5075

75 or more is ready now, and the 6 of those that meet the most ingredients go first, each with a twin to compare with. 50 to 74 is the next wave. Under 50, hold off. (The cutoffs differ a little by concept.)

Try it here first (6)Ready now (12)Next wave (23)Not a priority now (7)Twin: select a store to try first

What each icon reads:Healthy-food demandBreakfast and lunch crowdShoppers who pay for fresh foodMore segments filled: a better fit than more US c-stores

Ready now (12)

The 6 to try first are the ready stores that meet the most ingredients. A ready store with a higher score comes after them when it falls short on one.

Try it here first

Store 33 · 457 Benefit Street, ProvidenceScore 98

Healthy-food demand: in the top quarter of US c-stores
Breakfast and lunch crowd: in the top quarter of US c-stores
Shoppers who pay for fresh food: in the top quarter of US c-stores

Shoppers here already buy healthy food: Trader Joe's is 0.1 miles away, so a healthy lunch at a c-store price has buyers
Looks more like the places where health grocers and salad chains open than 96% of US c-stores
A breakfast and lunch crowd: 90,216 people work within 2 miles and 21,400 cars a day pass on Benefit Street

H-E-B prices its salads to compete with the cheapest lunch nearby. Here that's Subway, 0.6 miles away.

Twin: Store 29 · 1003 Mineral Spring Ave, North Providence

ZIP 02903: 55 limited-service restaurants · 5 supermarkets · 7 convenience stores · 4 gas stations with convenience stores

Try it here first

Store 34 · 691 Valley St, ProvidenceScore 96

Healthy-food demand: in the top quarter of US c-stores
Breakfast and lunch crowd: in the top quarter of US c-stores
Shoppers who pay for fresh food: in the top quarter of US c-stores

Shoppers here already buy healthy food: Saladworks is 0.8 miles away, so a healthy lunch at a c-store price has buyers
Looks more like the places where health grocers and salad chains open than 91% of US c-stores
A breakfast and lunch crowd: 100,320 people work within 2 miles and 22,300 cars a day pass on Valley St

H-E-B prices its salads to compete with the cheapest lunch nearby. Here that's Burger King, 0.1 miles away.

Twin: Store 32 · 1020 Narragansett Blvd, Providence

ZIP 02908: 26 limited-service restaurants · 9 supermarkets · 7 convenience stores · 6 gas stations with convenience stores

Try it here first

Store 38 · 629 Bald Hill Rd, WarwickScore 92

Healthy-food demand: in the top quarter of US c-stores
Breakfast and lunch crowd: in the top quarter of US c-stores
Shoppers who pay for fresh food: in the top quarter of US c-stores

Shoppers here already buy healthy food: Trader Joe's is 0.6 miles away, so a healthy lunch at a c-store price has buyers
Looks more like the places where health grocers and salad chains open than 87% of US c-stores
A breakfast and lunch crowd: 28,685 people work within 2 miles and 27,200 cars a day pass on Bald Hill Rd

H-E-B prices its salads to compete with the cheapest lunch nearby. Here that's Wendy's, 0.1 miles away.

Twin: Store 35 · 370 Putnam Pike, Smithfield

ZIP 02886: 48 limited-service restaurants · 8 supermarkets · 5 convenience stores · 11 gas stations with convenience stores

Try it here first

Store 21 · 69 Taunton Ave, East ProvidenceScore 90

Healthy-food demand: in the top quarter of US c-stores
Breakfast and lunch crowd: in the top quarter of US c-stores
Shoppers who pay for fresh food: in the top quarter of US c-stores

Shoppers here already buy healthy food: Whole Foods Market is 0.7 miles away, so a healthy lunch at a c-store price has buyers
A breakfast and lunch crowd: 77,904 people work within 2 miles and 17,500 cars a day pass on Taunton Ave
Looks more like the places where health grocers and salad chains open than 84% of US c-stores

H-E-B prices its salads to compete with the cheapest lunch nearby. Here that's Burger King, 1.1 miles away.

Twin: Store 31 · 71 Cedar St, Pawtucket

ZIP 02914: 26 limited-service restaurants · 5 supermarkets · 0 convenience stores · 5 gas stations with convenience stores

Try it here first

Store 20 · 2200 Pawtucket Ave, East ProvidenceScore 85

Healthy-food demand: in the top quarter of US c-stores
Breakfast and lunch crowd: above the middle of US c-stores
Shoppers who pay for fresh food: in the top quarter of US c-stores

Shoppers here already buy healthy food: Whole Foods Market is 1.7 miles away, so a healthy lunch at a c-store price has buyers
Looks more like the places where health grocers and salad chains open than 84% of US c-stores
A breakfast and lunch crowd: 21,428 people work within 2 miles and 21,300 cars a day pass on Pawtucket Ave

H-E-B prices its salads to compete with the cheapest lunch nearby. Here that's Subway, 0.4 miles away.

Twin: Store 17 · 2148 Broad St, Cranston

ZIP 02914: 26 limited-service restaurants · 5 supermarkets · 0 convenience stores · 5 gas stations with convenience stores

Try it here first

Store 37 · 2027 Post Rd, WarwickScore 84

Healthy-food demand: in the top quarter of US c-stores
Breakfast and lunch crowd: in the top quarter of US c-stores
Shoppers who pay for fresh food: in the top quarter of US c-stores

Shoppers here already buy healthy food: Whole Foods Market is 2.2 miles away, so a healthy lunch at a c-store price has buyers
Looks more like the places where health grocers and salad chains open than 80% of US c-stores
A breakfast and lunch crowd: 37,825 people work within 2 miles and 23,300 cars a day pass on Post Rd

H-E-B prices its salads to compete with the cheapest lunch nearby. Here that's Wendy's, 0.1 miles away.

Twin: Store 39 · 888 Main St, West Warwick

ZIP 02886: 48 limited-service restaurants · 8 supermarkets · 5 convenience stores · 11 gas stations with convenience stores

Also ready now, by score

Store 29 · 1003 Mineral Spring Ave, North ProvidenceScore 84

Healthy-food demand: in the top quarter of US c-stores
Breakfast and lunch crowd: above the middle of US c-stores
Shoppers who pay for fresh food: in the top quarter of US c-stores

Shoppers here already buy healthy food: Whole Foods Market is 2.4 miles away, so a healthy lunch at a c-store price has buyers