7-Eleven to Revamp U.S. Stores With Japanese-Inspired Meals, Seeks Rapid Expansion

Seven & i Holdings, the parent company of 7-Eleven, is planning a major upgrade to U.S. stores that shifts the model toward higher-quality prepared foods and fresh meals inspired by its Japanese operations. The program will push a broader lineup of ready-to-eat options, including an egg salad sandwich made with fluffy milk bread and Kewpie mayonnaise, and aims to bring prepared meals to roughly 13,000 North American stores over time. In a statement to Fox News Digital, the company said the focus on food is a long-standing priority; in Japan, fresh food accounts for more than 30% of total sales and supports about 30% higher revenue per day than in many rivals.

Seven & i is budgeting more than $13 billion in international investments over the next several years, with much of the money earmarked for upgrades and supplier networks that would enable broader availability of prepared meals in the United States and Canada. The plan also includes expanding the 7Now delivery app and a push to increase U.S. store openings from about 125 per year to more than 250, adding roughly 1,300 stores in the next five years, according to the company.

There is significant growth potential, but to fully realize it, we must enhance our organizational capabilities and are actively working on these initiatives, Seven & i said. The company noted that Japan’s 7-Eleven stores, now totaling nearly 22,000 nationwide, have become known for high-quality prepared food and services beyond traditional snacks and beverages. By comparison, the U.S. network sits at about 9,500 stores, underscoring the scale gap the expansion aims to address.

A top focus in the United States is to replicate the appeal of Japan’s ready-to-eat lineup. A Texas-based team is already working with Japanese suppliers to recreate the egg salad sandwich recipe, which has become a talking point among food influencers and travelers online. The New York Times quoted Stephen Dacus, who took over as CEO in May 2025, describing the effort to bring a more food-centric model to North America as a key strategic priority. Dacus has emphasized that leadership and operational capabilities must be strengthened to support a rapid rollout across the North American footprint.

The online buzz around 7-Eleven Japan has helped catalyze the strategy here. Videos and posts celebrating egg salad sandwiches, fruit sandwiches, and other specialty items have driven attention to what fans call a genuine convenience-store cuisine experience, fueling debates about whether U.S. stores could or should emulate the Japanese model. In July, influencers and travelers highlighted Tokyo’s 7-Eleven as a culinary destination, underscoring the demand that the company aims to capture at scale in North America. The phenomenon has intersected with broader consumer trends toward convenient, high-quality meals from convenience-store networks, a shift the National Association of Convenience Stores says has helped lift overall food-service sales in the sector over the past two decades.

Industry observers note that this pivot comes as rivals have struggled to translate the Japanese playbook to U.S. markets. Other convenience-store operators have previously attempted similar upgrades with mixed results, and Seven & i’s latest push follows a bid from Canadian rival Couche-Tard that was rejected earlier this year, a decision that keeps the company steering its own expansion plans.

Analysts say the upside hinges on execution, supplier integration, and maintaining product quality at scale. The broader push to strengthen the U.S. supply chain for fresh meals and the aggressive store-creation target will require careful management of costs, labor, and logistics, as well as successful localization of menus to American tastes and shopping patterns. Still, proponents argue the move aligns with a long-term industry trend toward prepared foods as a primary driver of store-level profitability, a dynamic highlighted by recent figures showing that food and beverage offerings typically carry higher margins than fuel sales in convenience retail.

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