ELI5: Why do gas stations focus so much on selling food instead of just fuel?

Gas stations focus on selling food because they make almost no money from selling fuel, but they make huge profits from snacks and drinks.

Think of a gas station like a movie theater. A movie theater spends most of the ticket money just to show the movie, so they make their real money by selling popcorn and soda.

For gas stations, fuel is simply the movie ticket:

• Gas brings people to the door: Gas is what gets you to pull your car into the parking lot. The station owner must buy that fuel from big oil companies at a very high price, leaving them with only a few pennies of profit margin per gallon after paying credit card fees.
• Snacks make the real money: Once your car is filling up, you walk inside to use the restroom or stretch your legs. That is where you see cold sodas, bags of chips, and warm hot dogs. The store owner can buy a bottle of water for fifty cents and sell it to you for two dollars.

So, fuel is just the magnet used to pull you off the highway, while candy bars, fountain drinks, and sandwiches are what actually keep the business alive.