Martin & Bayley Inc./Huck's

Martin & Bayley Inc. operates Huck's, a chain of large-format convenience stores in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. The Martin and Bayley families sold the company to employees in 2001, making it 100% employee-owned. The stores offer a variety of groceries, freshly prepared hot foods and other convenience items in a clean and vibrant environment. Fried chicken, Godfather's pizza, Bigg Subb sandwiches and other foods are available to customers, along with a large selection of Daybreak premium coffees and frozen and cold soft drinks.

The chain prefers growth via new-builds over acquisition, with officials saying their brand has evolved into an open-kitchen format and requires space and facilities that typically don't exist on the market.

In 1960, Bob Martin and Frank Bayley formed a partnership and began opening Big John supermarkets in small Southern Illinois towns, eventually branching out to Kentucky and Tennessee. Their first convenience store opened in 1974 in Grayville, Illinois, and was named "Huck's."

For benchmarking purposes, store counts are as of Jan. 1, 2026.