CHARLESTON, S.C. — FR Refuel LLC has completed the purchase of Double Quick Inc., which directly operates 48 c-stores and five stand-alone quick-service restaurants (QSRs). The transaction, announced in February, brings Refuel’s total company-operated store count to 83 locations and more than doubles the company's network of 35 convenience stores.
Refuel plans to keep the Double Quick name, according to a report by The Enterprise-Tocsin.
Tom Gresham and Bill McPherson of Gresham Petroleum opened the first Double Quick location in Greenville, Miss., in 1983, and soon after opened two more stores. The following year, Double Quick acquired 16 Mr. Quick stores in the Mississippi Delta c-store market. The Indianola, Miss.-based chain is a Church’s Chicken and Krystal QSR franchisee in western Mississippi and eastern Arkansas. It offers proprietary foodservice or branded QSR concepts at 34 of its stores.
“Tom and Bill were very progressive in the early years in establishing a reputable foodservice offering, which greatly increased customer trips and brand loyalty,” said Spencer Cavalier, co-head of Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc.’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Group. Richmond, Va.-based Matrix provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Double Quick, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process and negotiation of the sale.
The transaction represents the fifth acquisition since early 2019 for Charleston, S.C.-based Refuel, when its private equity sponsor, First Reserve, Stamford, Conn., formed Refuel Operating Co. through the acquisition of Charleston, S.C.-based Refuel Inc. and its six c-stores. It immediately acquired West Oil Inc., Hartsville, S.C., with 25 c-stores. In June 2019, Refuel acquired Bishopville Petroleum Co. Inc., Bishopville, S.C., adding two more c-stores. Refuel completed its fourth acquisition in January when it acquired the assets of Turtle Market in Myrtle Beach, S.C., consisting of two high-volume c-stores as well as one site currently under construction and one location that is set to begin construction in 2020.
When the deal was announced, Refuel said its development pipeline consisted of 12 new stores, mostly in the Charleston area, including Mount Pleasant, Point Hope, Nexton, Carnes Crossroads and Summerville, S.C. It also said it is expanding in the Myrtle Beach, Beaufort, Bluffton and Hilton Head, S.C., markets. The company had expected to open those stores in 2020 and said it was on track to pass the 100-store milestone by the end of the year through new builds and additional acquisitions.
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