Dive Brief:
- Alimentation Couche-Tard, parent of Circle K convenience stores, has agreed to acquire the retail assets of Hutchinson Oil Company, operator of 20 Hutch's convenience stores across Oklahoma and Kansas, according to a dozen Hutch’s store-level employees who confirmed the news to C-Store Dive.
- The deal is expected to close at the end of January, according to the employees, who all said the move was announced internally. It’s unclear if the acquisition also includes Hutchinson’s fuel distribution and car wash segments. Representatives from Hutchinson Oil did not respond to a request for comment, while a spokesperson from Couche-Tard wasn't able to comment by press time.
- Once finalized, Couche-Tard will enter Oklahoma and Kansas, marking the company’s 47th and 48th states of operation.
Dive Insight:
Eighteen of Hutch’s 20 convenience stores are located in central and western Oklahoma. The company is based in Elk City, about 112 miles west of Oklahoma City.
Meanwhile, two of Hutch’s c-stores are located in Liberal, Kansas — a small town in the southwest corner of the state near the Oklahoma border.
The retailer is known for its made-to-order Hutch’s Deli foodservice program, which offers burritos, burgers, chicken wings, sandwiches, baked potatoes, pizza and more. Seven of Hutch’s c-stores offer these items via drive-thru, while customers can order for delivery and pickup through Vroom Delivery. The company also operates restaurants under the Coney Island and Huddle House brands.
Hutchinson Oil, which has been family owned since it was founded in 1969, is one of numerous small, regional convenience retailers selling off stores in 2024. Many have sold to larger players such as Couche-Tard and Casey’s General Stores as inflation, labor shortages and other industry challenges make it extremely difficult to operate.
Acquiring Hutch’s will mark something of a homecoming for Couche-Tard in Oklahoma, where the convenience retailer sold 49 locations to Casey’s General Stores for $39 million back in 2021 as part of a strategy that included selling nearly 270 locations across the country.
Couche-Tard at one point had an undisclosed number of locations in Kansas, but offloaded those stores over the past decade as it sold its ownership interest in CrossAmerica Partners LP. Many of the former Circle K stores in Kansas today operate under CrossAmerica’s Joe’s Kwik Mart banner.
Acquiring Hutch’s is another example of Couche-Tard placing food at the forefront of its acquisition strategy. Earlier this year, Couche-Tard agreed to acquire GetGo Café + Markets’ 270 c-stores across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana. Couche-Tard’s CEO Alex Miller said GetGo’s food programs — which include drive-thru locations — were a main draw to this acquisition.
