ORANGE, Calif. — Since branching out of the Southern California market and into Northern California in 2015, H&S Energy Products LLC is in an accelerated growth phase, Director of Operations and Retail Amir Hassan says.
This past year was no exception. By the end of 2021, H&S Energy, Orange, Calif., had 140 company owned and operated stores, placing it at No. 52 on CSP’s 2022 Top 202 list of the largest convenience-store chains in the U.S.
CEO and Hassan’s father, Sal Hassan, said about a year ago when the company was at 112 stores that he wanted to double that number in the next five years. And while the 2022 Top 202 list focuses on deals made in 2021, H&S Oil is getting even closer to that number this year with its acquisition of California Retail Management’s (CRM) 26-station portfolio in Northern California.
Finding synergies is key for H&S when it comes to deciding whether to acquire, and the more the chain grows, the more synergies the company finds—a big asset amid the pandemic, Amir Hassan says.
“A larger footprint allows you to shuffle around employees and have more buying power. [You’re] able to leverage your brand more,” he says. “And I think smaller operators got hit really hard with the pandemic and they want out. So I see a lot more mergers and acquisitions coming in the next year.”
When hunting for acquisition targets, H&S looks in California first but keeps its eyes open for out-of-state deals that make sense.
“It’s a goal of our CEO to look at going interstate and growing outside of California,” Amir Hassan says. “But our primary focus is always to look in state first just because we know the market, we know the customer and we know what they’re looking for.”
The CRM acquisition was the brand’s first out-of-state venture with one store in Nevada, near Lake Tahoe, he says.
Outside of acquisitions, the company also grows through new-builds and was working on three new-to-industry stores when Amir Hassan spoke to CSP in April.
“A larger footprint allows you to shuffle around employees and have more buying power. [You’re] able to leverage your brand more.”
The company also built its own distribution center at the start of the pandemic so it could better stock its stores when the supply chain was struggling.
H&S Energy’s stores are branded Power Market or ExtraMile. It’s Power Market stores average about 6,000 square feet but can go as large as 10,000. They’re neighborhood market stores with grocery items, and some with full-service delis, currently being rebranded to Papa Sal’s Deli, Amir Hassan says.
C-stores in general are building larger footprints—and selling more than just the classic smokes and Cokes, he says.
“With the regulations and laws, especially in California, that we’re seeing with tobacco, foodservice is becoming a major focus for a lot of convenience stores,” he says.