Who Owns Allsups Gas Stations?

The Allsup's gas station and convenience store saga is similar to and different from that of other gas and convenience store chains like Wawa gas stations and Sheetz gas stations. The story begins not in Pennsylvania, but in New Mexico in 1956, when Barbara and Lonnie Allsup opened up a "drive-in" store selling groceries in Roswell. 

The Allsups, who had been high school sweethearts, offered many of the features that convenience stores are known for today, including being open seven days a week, for longer hours than conventional grocery store. They also sold produce that was fresh, and even had cold watermelons dispensed from a trough originally used for watering horses. Acting upon an idea from one of his customers, Lonnie installed gas pumps out front, making his store one of the first in the nation to do this. There came a rebranding in 1964, with Lonnie's Drive-In Grocery changing its name to Allsup's, and adoption the slogan, "There's one near you." 

The ownership of Allsup's rested with the Allsup family until 2019, when the Yesway chain of convenience stores, which was founded by Boston private equity firm Brookwood Financial Partners, acquired all 304 stores. Today, there are 369 Allsup's locations not only in its home state of New Mexico, but also in Texas and Oklahoma. Yesway just recently went public on the Nasdaq in April 2026, so anyone who wants to can now buy shares in the Yesway/Allsup's company.

No story about Allsup's would be complete without a mention of the company's legendary fried burrito. It was born in 1974, when an Allsup's employee by the name of Bob Pitcock wanted a way to sell more of the beef and bean burritos being kept hot in a warming device on the counter. He got the idea of dropping them into a donut fryer, which imparted a smell and an enhanced appearance that led to them all being quickly sold and devoured. Thus was born an Allsup's foodservice legend, with its fried burrito eventually becoming a longstanding menu staple, recently celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024. In 2025, Yesway and Allsup's together sold more than 24 million Allsup's burritos. It has since been joined by Allsup's "Chimi" chimichanga burrito, another favorite, which should not be confused with the popular frozen Mexican foods that were recalled. 

The histories of gas stations and convenience stores seem to follow a certain pattern. An entrepreneur has an idea about a better way to sell groceries to the neighbors. They start with a single location and expand from there. Some of them remain privately owned, like Buc-ee's and Love's, while others go the private equity and/or public route, which is where Allsup's ended up. Whether private or public, all of these companies are rivals for your gas and food dollars by offering competitive gasoline prices along with unique food offerings, much like the fried burrito has done for Allsup's for over 50 years.