14 Industry Brands Among America's Best Employers

NEW YORK -- Several convenience-store chains and gas-station brands earned places on Forbes magazine’s list of the best employers in America for 2017.

Forbes split the best employers list into two groups, midsized and large employers. It worked with research firm Statista, which surveyed 30,000 American workers to gather their opinions of their employers. On a scale of zero to 10, it asked how likely they were to recommend their organization to friends or family. Those results were the most important factor in determining a company’s ranking on this list. Statista then asked employees to recommend other companies outside of their own. Those ratings also informed the ranking, but to a lesser degree.

Here's a look at which companies made the list …

QuikTrip Corp., based in Tulsa, Okla., is a privately held convenience-store and gasoline marketer. Founded in 1958, it has grown to a more than $11 billion company with approximately 750 locations in 11 states.

QuikTrip also regularly earns a place among the best companies to work for.

• QuikTrip is No. 11 on CSP’s Top 202 Convenience Stores ranking for 2017. It is No. 3 on CSP’s Fuels 50 ranking for 2017.

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC), based in Findlay, Ohio, is the nation’s third-largest refiner. It sells Marathon-brand gasoline through approximately 5,500 independently owned retail outlets across 19 states. MPC’s retail subsidiary Speedway, Enon, Ohio, owns and operates the nation’s second-largest convenience-store chain, with approximately 2,730 c-stores in 21 states.

• MPC’s Speedway is No. 3 on CSP’s Top 202 Convenience Stores ranking for 2017. It is No. 15 on CSP’s Fuels 50 ranking for 2017.

Kwik Trip Inc., based in La Crosse, Wis., owns and operates more than 550 convenience stores under the Kwik Trip name in Wisconsin and Minnesota and under the Kwik Star name in Iowa.

• Kwik Trip is No. 15 on CSP’s Top 202 Convenience Stores ranking for 2017. It is No. 41 on CSP’s Fuels 50 ranking for 2017 (Kwik Star is No. 47).

Sheetz Inc., based in Altoona, Pa., has more than $5.6 billion in revenue and operates approximately 550 convenience stores in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and North Carolina.

Sheetz also regularly earns a place among the best companies to work for.

• Sheetz is No. 17 on CSP’s Top 202 Convenience Stores ranking for 2017. It is No. 4 on CSP’s Fuels 50 ranking for 2017.

Hy-Vee, based in West Des Moines, Iowa, is an employee-owned corporation operating 240 supermarkets across eight Midwest states with sales of $9.3 billion annually. The company operates more than 125 Hy-Vee Gas convenience stores with fuel in the parking lots of its grocery stores.

• Hy-Vee Gas is No. 49 on CSP’s Top 202 Convenience Stores ranking for 2017.

Wawa Inc., based in Wawa, Pa., operates more than 750 convenience stores across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Florida.

• Wawa is No. 13 on CSP’s Top 202 Convenience Stores ranking for 2017. It is No. 2 on CSP’s Fuels 50 ranking for 2017.

Chevron Corp., based in San Ramon, Calif., sells Chevron-branded products in more than 8,000 retail locations in the United States, and it supplies more than 2,500 gas stations and convenience stores in Southern and Eastern states with Texaco-branded fuel. It still directly operates more than 800 retail outlets in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington.

• Chevron is No. 9 on CSP’s Top 202 Convenience Stores ranking for 2017.

Phillips 66, based in Houston, is a diversified energy and logistics company with a portfolio of midstream, chemicals, refining, and marketing and specialties businesses that processes, transports, stores and markets fuels and products globally. Using a network of branded marketers and dealers operating approximately 7,500 gas stations and convenience stores, its U.S. marketing business supplies fuels under the Phillips 66, 76 and Conoco brands.

Exxon Mobil Corp., based in Irving, Texas, is one of the largest integrated refiners and marketers of petroleum products. It supplies more than 26,000 branded gas stations and convenience stores in more than 35 countries. Approximately 400 wholesalers supply fuel to Exxon- and Mobil-branded retail outlets in the United States.

Royal Dutch Shell, based in The Hague, Netherlands, is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies with operations in more than 70 countries. In the United States, Houston-based Shell Oil, a leader in the refining, transportation and marketing of fuels, operates in all 50 states. It is a leader in the refining, transportation and marketing of fuels. It supplies a network of approximately 6,100 gas stations in the Western United States. Motiva Enterprises LLC, owned by Saudi Refining Inc., refines and markets branded products through more than 8,300 Shell-branded gas stations in the Eastern and Southern United States.

While not a convenience-store or gas-station company, distributor The McLane Co. Inc., Temple, Texas, also made the list. It is one of the largest supply-chain services companies in the United States, providing grocery and foodservice solutions for convenience stores, mass merchants, drug stores and chain restaurants. McLane, through McLane Grocery and McLane Foodservice, operates 80 distribution centers across the United States and one of the nation’s largest private fleets.

Harp’s Food, based in Springdale, Ark., is a small-format grocer with gasoline, with a separate entrance and register for convenience and fuel purchases. It has approximately 90 locations in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

Sinclair Oil Corp., based in Salt Lake City, markets fuel in 24 states, supplying more than 1,300 branded gas stations and convenience stores. It also operates refineries, hotels, a ski resort and a cattle ranch.

Royal Farms, based in Baltimore, has approximately 190 convenience stores in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

• Royal Farms is No. 43 on CSP’s Top 202 Convenience Stores ranking for 2017. It is No. 7 on CSP’s Fuels 50 ranking for 2017.

Tesoro Corp., based in San Antonio, is an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products. Through its subsidiaries, it operates seven refineries in the Western United States. Tesoro's multisite operated (MSO) retail-marketing system includes more than 2,400 gas stations and convenience stores under the ARCO, Shell, Exxon, Mobil, USA Gasoline, Rebel and Tesoro brands.

Click here to see the full Forbes list of the 500 best large employers.

Click here to see the full Forbes list of the top 300 midsized employers.