Arko Corp., the parent company of convenience retailer GPM Investments, last Wednesday reported its fourth-quarter earnings and despite a significant drop in net income, which was $1.1 million compared to $12.9 million for the prior- year quarter, the company remains bullish on its plans to focus on growth with new store openings, foodservice and loyalty.
Looking to unit growth, three new brick-and-mortar locations are “expected to break ground in the next few weeks,” Arie Kotler, CEO, president and chairman, said on the company's earnings call.
“These new stores will offer a great customer experience, including foodservice,” he said. “We are already building the foundation to support our long-term journey to establish ourselves as a food destination and establishing foodservice credibility.”
On the foodservice front, the Richmond, Virginia-based Arko Corp.’s convenience-store brands last month debuted its new pizza program, which offers a $4.99 whole pizza in select stores.
“We have seen very positive customer reaction to the pizza, with over 70% of those surveyed saying they will definitely purchase again,” said Robert E. Giammatteo, executive vice president and CFO.
Kotler said that the company’s first unmanned Express convenience store on a Quarles cardlock location in Richmond, Virginia, opened two weeks ago. GPM completed the acquisition of Quarles Petroleum in 2022.
- Arko Corp., the parent company of GPM Investments, is No. 6 on CSP’s 2023 Top 202 ranking of the largest c-store chains in the country.
Turning to loyalty, the company said it exceeded the two million enrolled member mark in fourth-quarter 2023.
“We are pleased with what we are seeing from our loyal customers,” Kolter said, and he believes there is “significant untapped opportunity” to evolve the company’s loyalty program.
In the quarter, Kolter said that transaction size associated with enrolled loyalty members averaged $12.70 per transaction, or approximately 32% more than the $9.62 per transaction for non-enrolled members.
Merchandise revenue for the quarter was $446.7 million, an increase of $43.6 million compared to the prior-year period.
Looking ahead, Kotler said he believes there are “a lot of untapped opportunities inside the stores, given the scale that we build over here. We are going to spend a lot of time in our stores to start basically to get into the weeds and get all of those opportunities that are out there and just make sure that we are tapping them.”
Arko’s GPM Investments owns and operates c-store brands including Fas Mart, Shore Stop, Scotchman, BreadBox, Young's, Li'l Cricket, Next Door Store, Village Pantry, Apple Market, Jiffi Stop, Admiral, Roadrunner Markets, Jiffy Food Marts, E-Z Mart, 1 Stop, TownStar, ExpressStop and Handy Mart.
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