Maverik buys Kum & Go. Plans for gas station near Sugar House Park questioned.
The convenience store chain will double in size to over 800 stores in 20 states.
(Galloway & Company) A rendering of the north entrance to a new Kum & Go store and gas station at busy corner of 2100 South and 1300 East in Salt Lake City, as viewed from 2100 South. Maverik buys Kum & Go. Plans for the Sugar House store are in doubt.
Maverik — the Salt Lake City-based convenience store chain nicknamed “Adventure’s First Stop” — has announced it will acquire a competing network of 400 stores in 13 states to operate under the Kum & Go name.
It was unclear on Friday how the deal might affect Kum & Go’s hotly-controversial effort to build a store near Sugar House Park.
However, the move will double the size of the eponymous Maverik Center in West Valley City to more than 800 stores in 20 states. It also combines two family-owned convenience retailers already popular with consumers into a broader network of fuel and grocery service markets in the Rocky Mountain and Midwest regions.
Officials at the companies said their transaction is expected to close “in the coming months.” No financial terms were disclosed.
Maverik said in a statement that it would also acquire a tanker truck haulage and logistics provider called Solar Transport from Kum & Go’s parent company, Krause Group.
The deal was unveiled jointly by their respective parent companies, Maverik’s FJ Management and Iowa-based Krause, which unveiled a Kum & Go store in Draper in December 2021 as a prelude to broader expansion in Utah.
Kum & Go pursued a search for another location in Sugar House, where a vacant Sizzler restaurant sits adjacent to Sugar House Park and Parleys Creek, but the Salt Lake City Planning Commission last week denied planning permission for the store and gas station .
(Salt Lake City Planning Department) A site plan for a new Kum & Go store and gas station proposed at the busy corner of Sugar House at 2100 South and 1300 East in Salt Lake City.
Planners said the store and gas station pose too great a risk from a potential leak or contaminated runoff that could damage soil and water resources in the park, Parleys Creek or further downstream.
Friday’s announcement did not refer to Sugar House’s website, although a lawyer hired by Kum & Go previously said the company plans to formally appeal the commission’s decision. Kum & Go is said to have leased the 0.83-acre Sizzler site while pursuing zoning approval.
Sources familiar with the matter have confirmed that Salt Lake City had unsuccessfully attempted to purchase the land from its owner, Romney Farr Properties.
FJ Management is a large Utah-based private equity firm with interests in the petroleum, healthcare and hospitality sectors.
The Krause Group, on the other hand, is the parent company of a number of companies spanning convenience retail, logistics, Italian wineries, hospitality, real estate, agriculture and football clubs.
While pledging on Friday to expand Kum & Go’s legacy of community focus, officials at Maverik — founded in 1928 in Afton, Wyo — said they “had long admired the Kum & Go brand.”
“We are honored to continue their legacy as we build on Kum & Go’s strong operational and innovation capabilities and expand our adventure convenience experience,” said Chuck Maggelet, Maverik President and Chief Adventure Guide, in a statement.
Tanner Krause, President and CEO of Kum & Go, which has been run by the Krause family for four generations, called Friday “the most significant day in the 63-year history of our family business.”
“I am confident that the Maggelets and Maverik will be good stewards of the people and culture of Kum & Go,” Krause said, “for generations to come.”
