Speedway LLC
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| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail (convenience stores) |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Headquarters | Enon, Ohio |
| Number of locations | 1,350 |
| Key people | Tony Kenney, President |
| Parent | Marathon Petroleum Company |
| Website | www.speedway.com |
Speedway LLC is the operator of a chain of combination gas stations and convenience stores in the Midwest and South of the United States operating under the Speedway brand name. Speedway LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Marathon Petroleum Company. It is the largest chain in central Ohio.[1]
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[edit] History of Speedway
Marathon was an oil retailer centered in Ohio and active throughout the Midwest.
Speedway 79 was a gasoline chain based in Michigan for much of the first half of the 20th century. In 1959, Marathon, then known as the Ohio Oil Company purchased the chain and promptly converted its outles to the Marathon brand.
As self-service gasoline was legalized in many states, Marathon decided to use "Speedway" (without the "79") at higher-volume self-service stations with convenience stores. The concept turned out to be one of the few bright spots for Marathon during this time, and quickly expanded this concept across Marathon's main territories across the Midwest and southeastern United States. Part of this expansion was through the acquisition of various other smaller regional gasoline station chains, including Starvin' Marvin, Gastown, Wake Up, Bonded, United, Cheker and others. These stations were converted to the Speedway branding.
[edit] History of SuperAmerica
SuperAmerica convenience stores began in the 1960s in St. Paul by Northwestern Refining of St. Paul Park, Minnesota. It was centered on the upper midwest and Florida.
Ashland Petroleum was a refiner based in Ashland, Kentucky. It marketed full-service stations under its own "Ashland" brand. As self-service was legalized, it used the brands "Solo", "Save Mart", "Save More", and "Rich", along with others.
Ashland purchased Northwestern Refining and the SuperAmerica chain in the 1970s. It converted most of its outlets in its core territory to "SuperAmerica", while withdrawing from Florida. It maintained a few outlets under its other brand names to keep the trademarks valid.
[edit] Combined History
In 1997, Marathon and Ashland formed Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC (MAP), a joint venture combining the companies’ refining, marketing and transportation businesses, with Marathon owning 62% of the operations while Ashland owned 38%. In the process, Ashland's SuperAmerica and Marathon's Speedway convenience store chains were merged together to form Speedway SuperAmerica LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of MAP.
When the merger was completed in 1998, the Speedway and SuperAmerica brands began to market together. In 2005, Marathon purchased Ashland's share of Marathon Ashland Petroleum, which became Marathon Petroleum Company LLC. At this time the locations outside the upper midwest were converted to "Speedway" and the "SuperAmerica" brand was restricted to that market.
Marathon sold SuperAmerica to Northern Tier Energy, a newly formed company backed by the private equity firms ACON Investments and TPG Capital, in February 2011. Today Speedway and SuperAmerica are unrelated chains.
[edit] Today
Today, Speedway LLC is headquartered in Enon, Ohio. The chain is still prominent in the Midwest, but pulled out in the Southeast in 2003 when Marathon sold off Speedway's operations to Sunoco. Around the same time, Speedway's truck stop chain was merged into the Pilot Travel Centers brand after Marathon and Pilot Corporation entered into a partnership to form Pilot Travel Centers. Pilot has since bought out Marathon's interest in Pilot Travel Centers, now Pilot Flying J. The Speedway brand is used in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Speedway's main rivals include BP, Circle K, Holiday Stationstores, Kwik Trip, and Casey's General Stores. Sheetz competes directly with Speedway stores in West Virginia and eastern Ohio.
[edit] Store Features
Stores feature fresh coffee during all hours of operation, hot specialty drinks (such as hot chocolate and cappuccino), a variety of fountain drinks, a deli case for cold subs and sandwiches, and a roller grill for hot food. Most stores also have a hot cart, where breakfast and lunch offerings are available during selected parts of the day. Select locations carry fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts, whereas other locations instead carry packaged Hostess and Dolly Madison doughnuts and other pastries.
[edit] Speedy Rewards Card
In 2003, Speedway launched its Speedy Rewards Card program. The Speedy Rewards Card is a free card for customers to use when making purchases at Speedway and SuperAmerica stores in order to earn Speedy Rewards Points. These points may be redeemed for coupons for fuel discounts, free food, or giftcards.
A Speedy Rewards Card can be registered (name, address, and PIN are the required registration information) at a Speedy Rewards Terminal in any Speedway or SuperAmerica location. In addition to the points program, the Speedy Rewards Card features "Clubs" that do not require registration. These clubs dispense coupons for free beverages, chips, energy shots, and other items when the customer purchases a specific number of them (usually six).
The Speedy Rewards program is sometimes used to make targeted offers in the form of coupons that are dispensed with the Speedy Rewards point balance at checkout. These offers are targeted to customers based on their location or shopping habits.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Speedway's Official Web Site
- Marathon's Official Web Site
- Marathon Petroleum's Official Web Site
- Speedy Rewards
