Maverik — the Salt Lake City-based convenience store chain dubbed “Adventure’s First Stop” — has announced it will acquire a rival network of 400 stores in 13 states operating under the name of Kum & Go.
It was unclear Friday how the deal may affect Kum & Go’s hotly disputed efforts to build a store near Sugar House Park.
The move will, however, double the size of the namesake of West Valley City’s Maverik Center, to more than 800 outlets spread over 20 states. It also blends two family-owned convenience retailers already popular with consumers into a wider network of markets for fuel and food service across the Rocky Mountain and Midwestern regions.
Officials for the companies said their transaction was expected to close “in the coming months.” No financial terms were disclosed.
Maverik said in a statement it also would acquire a tank truck carrier and logistics provider, called Solar Transport, from Kum & Go’s parent, Krause Group.
The deal was unveiled jointly by their respective parent companies, Maverik’s FJ Management and the Iowa-based Krause, which in December 2021 unveiled a Kum & Go store in Draper as a prelude to a wider Utah expansion.
Kum & Go pursued locating another outlet in Sugar House, where a vacant Sizzler restaurant sits next to Sugar House Park and Parleys Creek, but Salt Lake City’s planning commission last week rejected zoning approval for the store and gas station.
(Salt Lake City Planning Division) A location map for a new Kum & Go convenience store and fueling station proposed at the busy Sugar House corner of 2100 South and 1300 East in Salt Lake City.
Planners said the store and fueling station posed too great a set of risks from a potential leak or contaminated runoff that could damage soils and water resources in the park, Parleys Creek or farther downstream.
Friday’s announcement made no reference to the Sugar House site, although an attorney hired by Kum & Go said earlier the company planned a formal appeal of the commission’s ruling. Kum & Go was said to be leasing the 0.83-acre Sizzler locale while it pursued zoning approval.
Sources familiar with the matter have confirmed Salt Lake City had sought unsuccessfully to acquire the land from its owner, Romney Farr Properties.
FJ Management is a large private equity firm based in Utah with holdings in the petroleum, health care and hospitality sectors.
Krause Group, meanwhile, is the parent company to a range of businesses spanning convenience retail, logistics, Italian wineries, hospitality, real estate, agriculture and soccer clubs.
While promising Friday to expand Kum & Go’s legacy of community focus, officials with Maverik — founded in 1928 in Afton, Wyo. — said they “had long admired the Kum & Go brand.”
“We are honored to carry their legacy forward as we build on Kum & Go’s strong operating and innovation capabilities and expand our adventurous convenience experience,” Chuck Maggelet, Maverik president and chief adventure guide, said in a statement.
Tanner Krause, president and CEO of Kum & Go, which has been operated for four generations by the Krause family, called Friday “the most momentous day in the 63-year history of our family business.”
“I’m confident the Maggelets and Maverik will be good stewards of Kum & Go’s people and culture,” Krause said, ”for generations to come.”
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