Like many cutting edge college c-stores, Jonah’s at Virginia Commonwealth has a strong foodservice component featuring freshly made dishes.

The college convenience store has a long history. Its original purpose, to give resident students a convenient place on campus to buy needed household items, remains a focus, but now often takes a back seat to a growing status as a dining outlet and a revenue generator for the school dining department through the sale of high-volume impulse items like beverages, snacks and candy.

Through its annual Best in the Business Campus C-Store awards program, the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) each year highlights the bellwether c-store programs in the nation. These in turn provide glimpses into what the emerging trends in convenience retailing on college campuses are.

On the following pages, we briefly profile this year's winners in the five categories…

• Durfee's at Yale University (Updating Your C-Store Award)

• Dividend$ at Miami University of Ohio (The Big Idea Award)

• Sam's Place West at Texas Tech University (Foodservice Applications Award)

• Tu Mercado at the University of San Diego (Incorporating Sustainability in Your C-Store Award)

• Jonah's at Virginia Commonwealth University (Driving Beverage Sales Award)

Judges for the 2010 competition included a team of students and campus c-store managers as well as Dean Wright, director of dining services at Brigham Young University; John Lawn, chief editor of Food Management magazine; and Jason Gilbert, who represented sponsor PepsiCo Foodservice.