Casey’s General Stores Inc. has expanded its chicken wings to more than 550 stores as of the end of the third quarter, Darren Rebelez, chairman, president and CEO of Casey’s said during the company’s third-quarter 2026 earnings call on Tuesday. It was just about a year ago that the company began testing chicken wings in its Des Moines, Iowa, market at 225 stores.
“Our culinary team has done a great job getting the flavor profile right with five sauces and three dry rubs that have resonated with our guests,” Rebelez said. “Our goal with the wings has been to complement pizza and create an incremental occasion within our prepared foods business.”
He added that while Casey’s does not yet have financial metrics to share on the wings, “the platform has been largely incremental as our pizza units in the stores where we sold wings were up high single-digit percentages in the quarter.”
Prepared food and dispensed beverages remained strong, Rebelez said, noting “continued innovation, such as the two new specialty pizzas, Twisted Pepperoni and Ultimate Meat.”
In addition, the Casey's Rewards programs has crossed a “major milestone” and now has more than 10 million members, he said.
- Casey’s General Stores Inc. is No. 3 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of convenience-store chains by store count.
Net income increases 49%
For the three months ending Jan. 31, Casey’s reported net income of $130.1 million for the third quarter, up 49.3% from the same period last year.
“Casey’s achieved another successful quarter as strong sales and margin expansion drove performance,” Rebelez said. “Our high-quality inside offering, along with a compelling value proposition, continues to attract guests to our stores.”
In other results, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were $308.9 million, up 27.5% from the same period a year ago.
For the quarter, net income, diluted EPS and EBITDA increased compared with the same period a year ago due to higher inside and fuel gross profit, partially offset by higher operating expenses, the company said.
As a result of the strong financial performance year to date, Casey’s expects fiscal 2026 EBITDA to increase 18% to 20%.
Inside sales up 4%
Total inside gross profit increased 8.9% to $624 million compared with the prior year.
Inside same-store sales increased 4% compared with the prior year and 7.9% on a two-year stack basis, with an inside margin of 42.2%.
Total inside sales for the quarter were up 5.7% compared with the prior year. Prepared food and dispensed beverage same-store sales were led by whole pizzas and hot sandwiches while grocery and general merchandise same-store sales had excellent performance in non-alcoholic beverages, the company said. Inside margin was up about 130 basis points compared with the same quarter a year ago, benefiting from cost of goods management and a favorable product mix shift.
For fiscal 2026, Casey’s expects inside same-store sales to increase 3.5% to 4.5% and an inside margin of about 41.5% to 42.5%.
Fuel sales rise 2.3%
For the quarter, total fuel gallons sold increased 2.3% compared with the prior year due to a store count increase as well as a same-store gallons increase. The company’s total fuel gross profit was up 15.3% versus the prior year, due to an increase in gallons sold and fuel margin.
Same-store fuel gallons were up 0.4% compared with the prior year, with a fuel margin of 41 cents per gallon. Total fuel gross profit increased 15.3% to $348.2 million compared with the prior year.
The company sold $6.3 million in renewable fuel credits (RINs) in the quarter, an increase of $3.7 million from the same quarter in the prior year.
“On the fuel side, the team had another sound quarter, expanding fuel margin while reporting positive same-store gallon growth,” Rebelez said. “All of this was anchored by our store-level operations team, who continue to meet our guests’ needs in an efficient manner."
For fiscal 2026, Casey’s expects same-store fuel gallons sold to be negative 1% to positive 1%.
Operating expenses rise 4.1%
Operating expenses increased 4.1% during the third quarter. The total operating expense comparison benefited from $13 million in one-time deal and integration costs that were incurred in the prior year, related to the acquisition of Fikes Wholesale, Casey’s said. Casey’s acquired 198 stores when it bought Fikes, owner of CEFCO Convenience Stores, in November 2024.
Operating 31 more stores than the prior year accounted for about 1% of the increase. Same-store employee expense contributed to about 1.5% of the increase, due to increases in labor rates, partially offset by a reduction in same-store labor hours. Snow removal contributed about 1% of the increase. About 1.5% of the change is related to an increase in accrued costs for variable incentive compensation and charitable contributions.
For fiscal 2026, Casey’s expects total operating expenses to increase about 10%. The Ankeny, Iowa-based company expects to open at least 80 stores in fiscal 2026, through a mix of M&A and new store construction, bringing its three-year strategic plan period total to about 500 stores.
Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s has approximately 2,900 convenience stores in 20 states. It is the third-largest c-store retailer and the fifth-largest pizza chain in the United States. In fiscal 2025, Casey’s built or acquired 270 stores, a record for the company.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.