The US Gas Station Chain You Might Not Know Is Owned By A Canadian Company

As well as being simply places to fill up your tank, some gas stations have become destinations in their own right. The biggest gas station in the world is a Buc-ee's in Texas, and it features more than 100 pumps alongside a huge store that functions as a convenience store, souvenir shop, and BBQ outlet all in one. Whether it's a big or a small location, you might think you know everything worth knowing about your local gas station, but many people don't think about who actually owns the place that they visit so frequently.

Some gas stations are owned by Japanese companies, some are owned by British companies, and one well-known chain is actually owned by a Canadian company. This chain is Circle K, which was bought by Canadian convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard in 2003.

It hasn't always been this way: Circle K can trace its roots back to 1950s Texas, when businessman Fred Hervey bought a small chain of food stores. After expanding into the burgeoning gasoline business, Circle K grew rapidly and opened or acquired locations all over the U.S. Its first international location opened in Japan in 1979, and today Circle K operates in 23 countries. By 2020, there were around 9,800 Circle K locations in North America alone.

Despite Alimentation Couche-Tard owning Circle K today, the Canadian company hasn't been around for as long as the gas station chain. Alimentation Couche-Tard was founded in 1980 as a single convenience store in Laval, Quebec and, much like Circle K, it grew rapidly over its first couple of decades of operation. A key part of that growth was acquisition — rather than open its own locations, Alimentation Couche-Tard would take over existing chains and take advantage of their existing network and customer bases.

These acquisitions continued until Alimentation Couche-Tard had absorbed enough of its competition to become the largest convenience store operator in Canada. It reached that milestone in 1999, and just four years later, it made a major move into the U.S. market by purchasing Circle K. The company's original founder, Alain Bouchard, remains with the company today as executive chairman.

Circle K hasn't changed hands for more than two decades, but not every foreign-owned gas station chain has enjoyed such stability. Lukoil has a string of locations on the U.S. East Coast, but its future has been uncertain since 2022, as it's owned by a Russian company. Negotiations surrounding the chain are still ongoing at the time of writing, but the American Carlyle Group has provisionally agreed to buy most of Lukoil's U.S. assets.