Brennan’s point was the neighbors: Wawa and Sheetz made the gas-station meal normal
Casey’s pizza rank sits on a fuel trip. The merchandiser said the Mid-Atlantic taught him that.
Sept. 6, 2026 — The Casey’s pizza ranking is a food story with a fuel cause. Brennan told Fortune that when he worked at 7-Eleven in the Mid-Atlantic, those stores led the U.S. business in food sales because Wawa and Sheetz had “legitimized eating at a gas station.” The box was not special. The customer had already decided the lot was a place to eat.
That is the same mechanism on a Casey’s lot in a town under 5,000. The customer is there for the gallon, then the pizza. A QSR royalty that assumes a suburban lunch trip is a different P&L. Casey’s disclosed food and fuel as separate machines in its own filings. The Fortune interview is the merchant saying the food only works because the fuel trip already exists.
This desk will keep those files split. Prepared-food rank goes next to the store count and the fuel mix. It does not replace either.
Source: Tom Brennan, Fortune interview, Aug. 29, 2026.