The Yesway convenience store chain continues to expand its fuel team and improve its fuel offering under the direction of 40-year fuel industry veteran, Joseph (Joe) Petrowski.
Petrowski, the former CEO of the Cumberland Farms Gulf Oil Group, joined Yesway in 2016 as a Senior Advisor to Yesway Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Nicholas Trkla, and as a member of the firm’s Executive and Investment Committees. For the last two years, he has worked closely with Yesway’s senior executives to implement the firm’s strategic vision, refine and inform its business plan, and manage the firm’s rapid growth. Last year, he officially assumed the role of Director of Fuels and since then he has been building out the Yesway fuel team with experienced industry veterans, including the recent hires of Darrin Renwick, as Senior Fuel Procurement Manager, and Joe Fandel, as Fleet and Wholesale Petroleum Sales Manager.
As Senior Fuel Procurement Manager, Renwick is responsible for all fuel procurement and pricing. He brings a deep background in logistics and transportation to Yesway, having most recently served as Logistics Supervisor/Optimizer for Pilot Flying J Travel Centers. Renwick graduated cum laude from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Supply Chain Logistics.
In his capacity as Fleet and Wholesale Petroleum Manager, Fandel is responsible for increasing fuel sales and driving profitable gallons to Yesway stores primarily through the implementation of Yesway’s newly-launched fleet card program. Mr. Fandel brings to Yesway a wealth of experience and industry knowledge in fleet card sales and account management. Prior to joining Yesway, Fandel served as Fleet Card Sales Manager at Kum & Go. Mr. Fandel graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Liberal Sciences degree. Fandel will report directly to Renwick.
“I believe that our team of experienced professionals and analysts will be able to achieve Yesway’s long-term goal to be the fuel destination of choice in our respective market areas,” said Petrowski. “Our aim is to be a great chain retailer. To accomplish this, we need to continue to increase both our weekly gallons sold and individual transactions from drive-by traffic, and from our fleet and loyalty destination customers. Not only will high volume fuel sites drive our growth, but with Yesway’s exceptional in-store offerings, including our expanded food service products, we should see a significant contribution to site profitability from the over 65 percent of fuel customers who transact inside our stores after a fuel purchase. I look forward to guiding Darrin and Joe and the rest of our team to deliver on all aspects of an outstanding fuel marketing effort, including, expanding the number of suppliers and sourcing terminals to lower our procurement costs, implementing competitive, real-time pricing, putting in place state-of-the-art inventory tracking systems to reduce risk and eliminate outages, using social media to drive additional traffic and loyalty card purchases, making targeted site modifications to improve customer flow, and greatly expanding our fleet and contract marketing programs.”
“Joe Petrowski is a driving force behind the evolution of the c-store and fuel retail industry and I could not be more pleased that, in addition to serving as a key member of Yesway’s Executive Committee, he is now leading all fuel initiatives for the firm,” said Trkla. “As we continue to grow our portfolio, Joe’s proven track record, decades of experience, and depth and breadth of industry connections are proving invaluable to our exceptional management and operations teams and to me. We are extremely fortunate to have Joe as an integral part of a senior management team dedicated to building a c-store chain that strives to deliver terrific customer service to everyone who visits any of our stores.”
Yesway’s swiftly expanding portfolio currently consists of 88 stores located in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. “Our pipeline of portfolio and individual store acquisitions remains robust,” said Trkla. “We currently have an additional 57 stores under contract to acquire over the next several months and feel very confident that we can acquire an additional 120-130 stores per year over the next three years in order to reach our goal of becoming a 500+ c-store company.”
