People pull into a fuel station for fuel. 99% of visitors come for exactly that, and coffee is a side decision they make in ten seconds at the shop entrance. Those ten seconds add up to the second-largest source of earnings for a fuel station chain.
According to NTech, in the first quarter of 2026 the share of fuel in the sales mix of Russian fuel stations fell to 95.4%, against 95.9% a year earlier. The ready-to-eat food segment grew by 24.4% over 2025. Takeaway coffee now accounts for more than a quarter of all non-fuel sales, making it the most visible non-fuel category on the market.
Even so, non-fuel revenue at Russian fuel stations rarely exceeds 15% of turnover. In the US it gives 50-60%, in Western Europe 40-50%, and in Northern Europe it can be higher still, where the fuel station has long since become a roadside hub with a restaurant and a coworking space. The gap is huge, and coffee is the cheapest way to close it.
Fuel-traffic conversion: from 10% to 20-25%, according to RusHolts
The main metric for a fuel station is simple: how many of the people who filled up bought a cup.
If a station simply sets up a decent coffee zone, conversion will be around 10%. A thousand people fill up, a hundred cups are sold. This comes from Alexander Kuzmin, head of the RusHolts group. With deliberate work on the zone, conversion is brought to 20-25%. That means the coffee point's revenue doubles on the same traffic, without a single extra car on the forecourt.
RusHolts estimates that the average fuel station sells 50-100 cups a day, and the market price of a cup at a fuel station is 230-280 ₽. At motorway stations the count runs into the thousands of cups. By comparison, in grocery retail a typical point makes 20-30 cups at a price under 100 ₽ with the same equipment cost. That is why coffee at fuel stations brings a steady profit, while in supermarkets it still works more often as an investment in loyalty.
What pushes conversion up
Visibility from the entrance
The driver walks into the shop with one task: paying for fuel. If the coffee zone does not fall into their line of sight on the way to the till, the decision to buy simply never arises. Moving the counter onto the "door to till" route sometimes gives more uplift than replacing the equipment.
Speed
A person on the road has less patience than an office customer. A minute and a half of waiting on the motorway feels like an eternity. High-throughput machines with parallel preparation win here, not the ones that make a perfect espresso in two minutes.
A reason to linger
Platforma OFD analysed a good example. It is logical to assume that coffee is bought more often at fuel stations with parking: drivers are more willing to take a drink where they can stop and drink it away from the wheel. This is not about coffee in general, it is about the consumption scenario.
Pairing with food
Coffee pulls pastry, sandwiches and snacks along with it. Hybrid formats (coffee plus food) raise the average check without raising the price of coffee. On the motorway the "coffee plus hot food" pairing works even better than in the city, because it answers not an impulse but hunger.
Where fuel station chains lose money
The difference between oil companies' fuel stations and independent chains is plain to see. For the former, coffee is the second-largest earner after fuel, yet two or three people handle it, while investment in refitting coffee zones is budgeted in billions. The latter often simply have no land for a shop or café, and the business depends entirely on the fuel margin.
Typical losses look like this.
How to build control without extra staff
The processor of a modern coffee machine records 400-600 parameters. Running the business takes about twenty: beans have run out, milk has run out, cleaning has not been done, the machine is in error, cup mismatch. The rest belongs to the engineering side and is needed by service, not by the operator.
At a fuel station the alert scheme is simpler to set up than in retail: there is a workplace for the station manager, and notifications go there. The person on site sees that the milk will run out in an hour and changes the pack before the machine throws an error in the morning peak.
Another layer is reconciling the machine's counter with till receipts. It requires no new people and closes the most painful loss item.
The turnkey model and why it goes down more easily at fuel stations
In retail chains dozens of people are responsible for coffee, each is sure they can manage alone, and the mistakes end up costing hundreds of millions. At fuel stations the picture is different: there are few specialist staff, so an external team with equipment, service and ingredients fills a real competence gap rather than competing with an in-house department.
A working division of responsibility looks like this: the operator is responsible for traffic and staff at the station, the contractor for equipment, setup, servicing, ingredient supply and telemetry. There is one indicator both are responsible for: cups per day per station.
Conclusion
Coffee at a fuel station earns from fuel-traffic conversion, and the difference between 10% and 20-25% raises the point's revenue two to two and a half times without a single new car on the forecourt.
Three things cost the least: a counter on the driver's route to the till, a place where the drink can be enjoyed away from the wheel, and elimination of the mismatch between cups prepared and cups rung up.
Frequently asked questions
What fuel-traffic conversion to coffee is considered normal
10% with a basic coffee zone and 20-25% with deliberate work on location, speed and offer. At motorway stations the absolute figures are higher thanks to traffic volume.
How many cups a day does the average fuel station sell
From 50 to 100 according to RusHolts; a cup at a fuel station costs 230-280 ₽. Motorway stations reach thousands of cups a day.
What is better at a fuel station: a self-service machine or a counter with an operator
It depends on traffic and on whether there is staff in the shop. A machine works around the clock and needs no people; a counter offers more drink options and upselling. Stations with night traffic often install both formats.
What is the fastest way to raise coffee sales at a fuel station
Three things cost the least: moving the counter onto the driver's route to the till, a zone where the drink can be enjoyed away from the wheel, and elimination of the mismatch between cups prepared and cups rung up.
DrinkX works with fuel station chains: coffee solutions for fuel stations, telemetry and mismatch control, point economics calculation.
How this works on the under-counter station — on the home page; short answers on installation, water and service are in the Short answers section.
What a station would earn for you
We’ll run the payback on your numbers: traffic, cup price, rent.