Those history teachers were right after all — to better understand the future, one must first understand the past. In the particular case of convenience store (C-store) commerce, a section of retail poised to become a vital part of the emerging connected vehicle ecosystem, that means taking a journey back several decades, during the mid-century peak of carhop culture.
Even if one doesn’t personally remember carhops, they’ve almost certainly seen carhops in movies or other media. Those highly mobile waiters and waitresses — often on roller skates — would serve wonderful, greasy burgers, fries and other fast food to patrons in their cars, which were parked outside the restaurants. Delivery was the differentiator, the convenience factor that drew people to drive-in locations… PYMNTS
