ATLANTA — To bring customers into its stores, RaceTrac Petroleum Inc. has launched a new line of sandwiches, salads and coffee at its 270 locations, according to a report by The Atlanta Business Chronicle. RaceTrac has 525 stores nationwide, some of which are under the RaceWay brand.

Gone are the days when the wrapping around the convenience store sandwich tasted the same as the food itself, said the report. "That's been the historical perception," Simon Osborn, RaceTrac's vice president of logistics and foodservice, told the newspaper. "You could grab something quick, but not quality. That's not what the consumer wants any more. They want more selections, healthy choices. They want to know that they are buying a quality product."

CHICAGO -- Some of the nation's biggest oil companies are looking at permanently reducing how much gasoline and diesel fuel they make, a move that analysts say would almost certainly trigger higher prices for drivers, reported The Chicago Tribune. Energy companies are suffering huge losses from refining because of slumping gasoline use—a product of the economic downturn and changing consumer habits and preferences. Energy experts say refining cutbacks have begun and will accelerate as corporations strive for profits.

Major refiners have been circumspect about their plans, saying that they are considering options that could include closing refineries, selling parts of their operations, laying off workers and slashing spending. "Refineries will have to be closed," Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst with Oppenheimer & Co., told the newspaper. "Unless this excess capacity is permanently shuttered, a recovery in refining margins is unsustainable."

LAS VEGAS -- To the thump of "Born To Be Wild", the cartoon-generated Baby Boomer couple have found the fountain of youth with turn-back-the-clock remedies Viagra, tummy tucks, fitness clubs and a plethora of pick-me-ups to heal all of life's ills. This is not your grandparents' generation, and this song is certainly not the Steppenwolf version made famous in the '60s epic Easy Rider. No, this is the 2007 MySpace uproarious cult classic "Born...Tubby...Mild" by Ambrosia LeAnne.

And the point? "Consumer trends constantly change and evolve.... Your challenge is to be ahead of the trend." This was Phil Lempert's message before a largely Baby Boomer crowd at the annual American Wholesale Marketers Association (AWMA) Show in Las Vegas.