Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores is No. 25 on the 2008 Forbes’ Magazine list of the largest private companies, a significant jump from the company’s No. 42 position last year. Love’s has consistently made the Forbes list since debuting at No. 446 in 2000. “We’re proud to once again be among the companies on [...]

ExxonMobil Refining and Supply said it’s investing more than $1 billion in three refineries to increase the supply of cleaner-burning diesel by about 6 million gallons per day. The company will construct new units and modify existing facilities at refineries in Baton Rouge, La.; Baytown, Texas; and Antwerp, Belgium. “This underscores the company’s ongoing commitment [...]

By Brian L. Milne, Refined Fuels Editor for DTN Wholesale gasoline prices posted double digit increases in most metropolitan regions across the U.S., jumping 20 cents or more in Chicago and Cleveland, to reverse most of the decline in the wholesale market experienced during the first week of December primarily on expectations for supply cuts. [...]

Englefield Oil Co., of Heath, Ohio, will just about double in size with the pending purchase of 43 BP c-stores in the Columbus, Ohio, area, according to the Newark Advocate. Factoring in the acquired stores – the acquisition is expected to close in January – Englefield’s annual sales will be in excess of $1 billion. [...]

Oklahoma City-based Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores has broken ground on its newest travel stop location in Barstow, Calif., just off Interstate 15. The store is expected to open in late spring next year. It will employ between 30 and 50 people and will contribute more than $100,000 in annual tax revenues to the [...]

Healthy same-store sales growth prompted Morgan Keegan analyst John Lawrence on Friday to upgrade shares of Casey’s General Stores to "outperform,” the Associated Press reported. The Ankeny, Iowa-based company reported a 1% drop last week in second-quarter earnings and missed analyst expectations, since a 17% jump in revenue was downplayed by higher costs. But the [...]

Six percent of the roughly 62 billion commercial foodservice meals and snacks consumed in a year are purchased at retail stores — food, drug, discount, department, and price clubs — while convenience stores represent an additional 7%, a new report from The NPD Group showed. Retail foodservice represents a spending level of almost $13 billion, [...]

In keeping with a plan outlined in its annual report, Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s General Stores is rolling out expanded store designs, the Des Moines Register reported. Casey’s executives told the Des Moines Register that roughly half a dozen stores with the new design are open or nearing completion, and the company hopes to finish a [...]

A customer at the Little Point Auto Truck Stop in Stilesville, Ind., is the grand-prize winner of the inaugural Hunt Brothers Pizza Free Fill-up Sweepstakes, the company said. Bill Holland was a randomly selected from 41,168 entries. He’ll receive gasoline and free Hunt Brothers pizza for one year, courtesy of Hunt Brothers. “The contest was [...]

ExxonMobil’s corporate, employee and retiree contributions to the United Way in the Houston and Baytown areas reached a record $17 million recently, the company said. The announcement was made during a celebration at NCI Ripley House Community Center where checks for $11.3 million and $1.7 million were presented to the United Way of Greater Houston [...]

For the fifth consecutive year, Heineken USA has teamed with the City of White Plains and the White Plains Business Improvement District to provide people celebrating New Year’s Eve in downtown White Plains a safe ride home. Building on the success of the 2007 program, which brought an estimated 2,000 revelers safely home, the “New [...]

Living Essentials LLC, through its 5-Hour Energy brand, will return for its second season as primary sponsor of Rusty Wallace Racing’s No. 66 team and driver Steve Wallace in 2009. Living Essential’s 5-Hour Energy will serve as primary sponsor of Wallace’s No. 66 Chevrolet in 10 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series events, beginning with the March [...]

The Best Places to Work in Pa. group has ranked Sheetz Inc. as No. 20 on the list of Top 50 large companies in 2008. The Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz has now been on the list for seven consecutive years. “It is truly an honor to be named one of the best employers in our home [...]

Ricker Oil Company Inc., of Anderson, Ind., said it has expanded its existing agreement for KSS Inc’s PriceNet fuel price management system, and will roll out the solution to 24 recently acquired retail locations. “We’ve used PriceNet since 2006, and it has proven a very valuable tool for day-to-day fuel price management and optimization,” said [...]

Former 7-Eleven head James Keyes – now CEO at Blockbuster – gave his dish on the efficiency and ingenuity of convenience stores in an interview with New York Times’ writer Saul Hansell, in a blog titled “Blockbuster’s Big Gulp of Technology.” Keyes told Hansell that most people don’t understand just how much technology is needed [...]