Staff desk
Bylined coverage of convenience and fuel retail, filed on this desk across the quarter.
The summer print: fewer same-store gallons, fatter cents
The two big public fuel prints of the summer say the same thing in different networks: cents per gallon carried earnings, and same-store gallon growth was the scarce line.
U.S. regular $4.071, diesel $5.599 in the week ended Aug. 31
The Energy Information Administration’s weekly U.S. retail averages for the week ended Aug. 31: regular $4.071, midgrade $4.680, premium $5.070, on-highway diesel $5.599.
Circle K’s food pitch is Żabka’s kitchen, not a new U.S. store count
Couche-Tard’s CEO said Żabka would add food, digital engagement, and supply chain. The U.S. fuel margin, not the Polish door count, is what the latest quarter actually earned.
Casey’s told the SEC it ran 2,959 stores as of July 31
Casey’s General Stores operated 2,959 convenience stores in 19 states as of July 31, 2026, the company said in its Form 10-Q. The April 30 10-K had counted 2,944.
The EIA Monday print that actually moves a pump
EIA posts weekly retail gasoline and diesel by PADD every Monday. Operators who price off the U.S. regular headline are reading the wrong line.
A Class I hits the roller grill before it hits the circular
FDA Class I means a reasonable probability of serious harm. In convenience, the SKU is already on the grill or in the open cooler — not in a back-room case.
The store count is already in the 8-K
Casey’s, Murphy USA, and Couche-Tard already file store counts, same-store sales, and fuel-margin language. That filing is the industry scoreboard.
40.6 cents and 52.61 cents are not the same fuel quarter
Murphy USA’s 40.6-cent fuel contribution and Couche-Tard’s 52.61-cent U.S. margin are both real. They are not the same period, the same definition, or the same network.
The nicotine reset is a statute, not a flavor brief
A national nicotine planogram can be unsellable in a home-rule city. Buyers need the rule and the fixture, not another vape occasion story.
The diesel trip is not a QSR royalty
Travel-center kitchens inherit the fuel stop. QSR math assumes media and a lunch peak. The night lot does not.
SNAP already runs through the fuel door
USDA FNS publishes where SNAP is redeemed. Convenience stores are a material share of authorized retailers — especially where the supermarket is a drive.
The 8-K is the deal. The wire is the paraphrase.
Convenience consolidates in small packages. A bylined file attaches the 8-K, the prior store count, and the fuel mix — or it waits.
Couche-Tard built 20 stores last quarter. Żabka is still a tender, not a close
Couche-Tard finished 20 stores in the quarter ended July 19 — 12 new and eight relocated — with 42 more under construction. The Żabka tender is still pending.
Brennan’s point was the neighbors: Wawa and Sheetz made the gas-station meal normal
Casey’s Tom Brennan said Mid-Atlantic 7-Eleven stores led food sales because Wawa and Sheetz had already made eating at a gas station ordinary.
Couche-Tard’s U.S. inside sales rose on energy drinks and nicotine pouches
Couche-Tard said U.S. same-store merchandise revenue rose 1.7 percent in the quarter ended July 19, led by energy drinks and other nicotine products, partly offset by pricing moves.
Couche-Tard’s U.S. fuel margin hit 52.61 cents. Same-store gallons fell 1.6 percent
Alimentation Couche-Tard posted a U.S. road-transport fuel margin of 52.61 cents a gallon for the quarter ended July 19, up 8.61 cents, while U.S. same-store fuel volumes fell 1.6 percent.
U.S. regular $4.085 and diesel $5.652 in the week ended Aug. 24
EIA’s weekly retail averages for the week ended Aug. 24 put U.S. regular at $4.085 and on-highway diesel at $5.652. Midgrade was $4.680 and premium $5.060.
Casey’s chief merchant calls the chain the fifth-largest U.S. pizza business
Casey’s chief merchandising officer Tom Brennan told Fortune the chain is the fifth-largest U.S. pizza business and the third-largest convenience store.
7-Eleven’s U.S. listing slips to the year ending February 2027
Seven & i has delayed the planned listing of its U.S. convenience operation to the fiscal year ending February 2027. The stores keep running without a separate public currency.
Murphy’s second-half case assumes 35 cents a gallon, not another 40
Murphy USA said that if second-half all-in fuel margins average 35 cents per gallon, against 37.9 cents in the first half, it expects about $636 million of net income and about $1.25 billion of adjusted EBITDA.
Murphy’s inside margin held at 20.1 percent while fuel did the earnings work
Murphy USA’s merchandise contribution was $227.4 million in the June quarter, on a 20.1 percent unit margin, up from $218.7 million and 20.0 percent a year earlier.
Murphy USA’s fuel contribution hit 40.6 cents a gallon in the June quarter
Murphy USA reported second-quarter fuel contribution of 40.6 cents per gallon, up from 32.0 cents a year earlier, with total retail gallons up 3.9 percent.
Couche-Tard goes after Żabka’s 13,000-store food network
Alimentation Couche-Tard said on July 31 it would bid for Żabka Group, more than 13,000 convenience stores in Poland and Romania, at about PLN 32.6 billion, or $8.6 billion.
The nicotine set is a margin fixture, not a flavor story
Ahead of summer earnings, the inside question on nicotine is which fixture is growing and whether the unit margin is in the pouch, the pack, or both.
Murphy USA’s June quarter is closed. The lines that matter are not out yet
Murphy USA’s second quarter ended June 30. Until the company reports, the desk is watching three lines: cents per gallon, gallons, and inside unit margin.
Summer earnings start as two lines, not one inside-sales number
Before the June quarter prints, a fuel desk separates gallons, cents per gallon, and the inside unit margin. One blended “sales” line hides which machine paid.