Minit Mart Foods Inc.

Last updated
Minit Mart
TravelCenters of America LLC
Subsidiary
Industry Retail (Convenience stores)
Founded Lexington, Kentucky in 1967
FounderRalph and Fred Higgins
Headquarters
Cincinnati, OH
,
Flag of the United States.svg United States
Number of locations
294 (as of 2017) [1]
Key people
Fred Higgins Founder [2]
Products Marathon gasoline
Godfather’s Pizza [3]
O’Deli’s sub shops
ServicesFuel
Fast food
Convenience store
Parent EG Group
Website Minit Mart homepage

Minit Mart LLC is a chain of convenience stores operating in South central and Western Kentucky, Northern middle Tennessee, Eastern Wisconsin, Kansas City, Northeast Illinois, and Northeast Ohio. Its corporate offices are located in Cincinnati, OH, and the chain consists of 231 locations scattered around the United States. [4]

Kentucky American state

Kentucky, officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state located in the east south-central region of the United States. Although styled as the "State of Kentucky" in the law creating it,, Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth. Originally a part of Virginia, in 1792 Kentucky split from it and became the 15th state to join the Union. Kentucky is the 37th most extensive and the 26th most populous of the 50 United States.

Tennessee U.S. state in the United States

Tennessee is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th largest and the 16th most populous of the 50 United States. Tennessee is bordered by eight states, with Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, Arkansas to the west, and Missouri to the northwest. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, and the Mississippi River forms the state's western border. Nashville is the state's capital and largest city, with a 2017 population of 667,560 and a 2017 metro population of 1,903,045. Tennessee's second largest city is Memphis, which had a population of 652,236 in 2017.

Wisconsin U.S. state in the United States

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States, in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin is the 23rd largest state by total area and the 20th most populous. The state capital is Madison, and its largest city is Milwaukee, which is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan. The state is divided into 72 counties.

Contents

History

The early days

In 1967, Fred Higgins, and his father, Ralph, founded a convenience store, known by the name of Minit Mart. By the time Fred graduated from the law school at the University of Kentucky in the spring of 1969, he expanded the operation to a chain of six locations in the metro Lexington area. [5]

University of Kentucky Public research university in Lexington, KY, USA

The University of Kentucky (UK) is a public co-educational university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state's two land-grant universities, the largest college or university in the state, with 30,720 students as of Fall 2015, and the highest ranked research university in the state according to U.S. News and World Report.

Lexington, Kentucky Consolidated city-county in Kentucky, United States

Lexington, consolidated with Fayette County and often denoted as Lexington-Fayette, is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 60th-largest city in the United States. By land area, Lexington is the 28th largest city in the United States. Known as the "Horse Capital of the World," it is the heart of the state's Bluegrass region. It has a nonpartisan mayor-council form of government, with 12 council districts and three members elected at large, with the highest vote-getter designated vice mayor. In the 2018 U.S. Census Estimate, the city's population was 323,780 anchoring a metropolitan area of 516,697 people and a combined statistical area of 760,528 people.

Fred Higgins served in the U.S. Army in the time between 1969 and 1972. When he returned in 1972, Minit Mart Foods became incorporated with 16 locations. After that time, Fred began acquiring single convenience stores and select sites on which to build new locations across Kentucky.

During the 1970s, Minit Mart became one of the first convenience store chains to add gas pumps to their locations. an innovation that has changed the way Americans buy gasoline for their transportation vehicles. Marathon brand gasoline has been part of Minit Mart’s offered services since then. Minit Mart has been at the forefront of adding delis and game machines during the same decade. Minit Mart started offering videotaped movie rentals when the VHS format gained popularity in the very late 1970s and early 1980s after it beat out the Betamax videocassette format. DVD movie rentals began to be utilized by Minit Mart around the dawn of the then-new millennium around the year 2000.

Marathon Petroleum American petroleum refining, marketing, and transportation company

Marathon Petroleum Corporation is an American petroleum refining, marketing, and transportation company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil until a corporate spin-off in 2011.

VHS Consumer-level analog video tape recording and cassette form factor standard

VHS is a standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes. Developed by Victor Company of Japan (JVC) in the early 1970s, it was released in Japan on September 9, 1976 and in the United States on August 23, 1977.

Betamax Consumer-level analog video tape recording and cassette form factor standard

Betamax is a consumer-level analog-recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975. The first Betamax device introduced in the United States was the LV-1901 console, which included a 19-inch (48 cm) color monitor, and appeared in stores in early November 1975. The cassettes contain 0.50-inch-wide (12.7 mm) videotape in a design similar to that of the earlier, professional 0.75-inch-wide (19 mm), U-matic format. Betamax is obsolete, having lost the videotape format war to VHS. Despite this, Betamax recorders would not be discontinued until 2002, while new Betamax cassettes were available until March 2016, when Sony stopped making and selling them.

Ralph Higgins, the co-founder, played an active role in the management of Minit Mart Foods Inc until his 1987 death.

Expansion into Tennessee

Minit Mart began to expand in Tennessee in 1988 after acquiring 19 Bread Box convenience stores. After that point, Minit Mart had 87 stores in Kentucky and Tennessee. Many locations included Godfather’s Pizza, O’Deli’s, Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream, and Taco Bell Express, thereby grossing $250 million each year, and employing exactly 1,200 people.

Baskin-Robbins Ice cream chain

Baskin-Robbins is an American chain of ice cream and cake specialty shop restaurants. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, it was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in Glendale, California. It claims to be the world's largest chain of ice cream specialty stores, with 7,500 locations, including nearly 2,500 shops in the United States and over 5,000 in other countries as of December 28, 2013. Baskin-Robbins sells ice cream in nearly 50 countries.

Taco Bell American fast-food chain

Taco Bell is an American chain of fast food restaurants based in Irvine, California and a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican inspired foods that include tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, novelty and specialty items, and a variety of "value menu" items. As of 2018, Taco Bell serves more than 2 billion customers each year at 7,072 restaurants, more than 93 percent of which are owned and operated by independent franchisees and licensees.

Operation changes

In 1998, Fred lost his 25-year-long-time wife to a battle of cancer she was fighting since the diagnosis in 1978. After the loss of his wife, he and the management team thought that it was time that the convenience store chain is in for a change. In 2001, Minit Mart Foods leased its operations to Clark Retail, retaining ownership of the assets. In addition to Clark’s original 600 stores, that company also acquired several other chains in the Midwestern United States, mainly in Indiana and Illinois, growing to approximately 1,200 stores. Competition, however, was intense during that time, and Clark eventually ended up in bankruptcy. After filing for bankruptcy, Clark returned 37 stores to Minit Mart Foods Inc.

Fred’s Minit Mart LLC had taken over the operation in August 2003. A management team was formed, and 34 locations remained in operation.

Current slate and recent history

In the present day, Minit Mart operates 34 locations. Most of them are in Kentucky, but there are two locations operating in Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee, and one in the Cookeville, Tennessee area. All locations are combinations of convenience and grocery shopping, and for many years, feature Marathon Gasoline. [4] Godfather’s Pizza and O’Deli’s sub shops continued to be offered in most locations. [6] [7] In addition to those two, most Minit Mart locations also offer World Blends fresh coffee (formerly CuppaJoe), and Minit Mix.

Clarksville, Tennessee City in Tennessee, United States

Clarksville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States. It is the fifth-largest city in the state behind Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The city had a population of 132,929 at the 2010 census, and an estimated population of 153,205 in 2017.

Cookeville, Tennessee City in Tennessee, United States

Cookeville is a city in Putnam County, Tennessee, United States. Its population at the 2010 census was 30,435. It is the county seat and largest city of Putnam County and home to Tennessee Technological University. It is recognized as one of the country's micropolitan areas, smaller cities which nevertheless function as significant economic hubs. Of the twenty micropolitan areas in Tennessee, Cookeville is the largest; the Cookeville micropolitan area's 2010 Census population was 106,042. The U.S. Census Bureau ranked the Cookeville micropolitan area as the 8th largest-gaining micropolitan area in the country between 2016-2017 with a one-year gain of 1,660 and a 2017 population of 111,363.

In 2007, Minit Mart really had the business boost of the store's life when customers took advantage of Godfather's Pizza Large 1-topping pizza that went for $5.00 that summer [8] (later $5.99 in late 2007, and then $7.99 between Spring 2008 and Summer 2010). Regular prices returned in 2009.

In 2008, Minit Mart introduced Minit Mix, a fountain drink that allows customers to create a soft drink mixed with certain flavors, including vanilla, cherry, and several others. It’s a similar service to Coca-Cola’s Freestyle machines that were introduced in certain fast food chains several years later. [9] [10]

Beginning in 2012, all Minit Mart locations added ATM kiosks without service charges.

During the early 2010s, Minit Mart renovated their location in Glasgow.

Also in the early 2010s, a new building was built to house the Minit Mart location in Brownsville just a couple hundred feet from the original location. The old building was destroyed a few weeks after the completion and official opening of the new present building due to old age. The destruction of the old building made way for a larger parking lot, a few more entrances, and more fuel pumps.

In 2015, Fred Higgins sold the Minit Mart convenience store chain to TravelCenters of America for $67 million. [11] [12] In January 2015, Minit Mart purchased additional stores and rebranded them, including a few in the Jackson Purchase region of western Kentucky, including one in Paducah, and one in Centerville, Indiana. [1]

In late March 2016 TCA closed on the purchase of Quality State Oil's "QMart Marketplace" 17-store chain of convenience stores based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, which were immediately converted into Minit Mart locations. The acquisition was done mainly to acquire the technology and patents for QSO's convenience store industry award-winning RFID keychain card-based loyalty program. [13]

Pizza sales

According to Minit Mart's Facebook post on June 17, 2015, two Godfather's Pizza locations within the Minit Mart chain has been listed as the first and second place in terms of pizza sales. The location in Brownsville (Edmonson County) had the highest sales of any non-traditional location in the entire Godfather's Pizza chain nationwide, with one of Minit Mart's Bowling Green locations taking second place.

Competition in the region

Minit Mart’s main competitors include Jr. Food Stores and Crossroads IGA locations. Both of those chains are owned by Houchens Industries, which also owns their flagship supermarket chain, Houchens Markets, and several IGA Foodliner stores in south central Kentucky. Minit Mart’s other competitors include several locally owned convenience stores around southern Kentucky, some of which offer pizza and/or fried chicken, as well as some Speedway locations. Phillips 66-branded stores under the name “Traveler’s Food Plaza” in areas around Glasgow, Edmonton, and Tompkinsville, Kentucky also competed with Minit Mart for quite some time. Gas stations offering rival branded gasoline also often competed with Minit Mart for consumer allegiances. In the eastern Wisconsin market, Minit Mart's main competitor is Kwik Trip.

Key Dates

Community Support

In March 2014, Minit Mart raised almost $43,000 USD from employees and their customers to the MDA, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, during their annual shamrock fundraising campaign they conduct each year. Paper shamrocks were handed to all employees and customers that give a donation, and write their name on them, and display them on the window of the stores. This takes place around St. Patrick's Day, and this fundraiser helps MDA assist people with the disease. [19] [20]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "Home". Minit Mart.
  2. ↑ "Management Team | Minit Mart". Archived from the original on October 19, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Godfather's Pizza | Minit Mart". Archived from the original on August 15, 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Locations".
  5. ↑ "History | Minit Mart".Archived from the original Archived 2010-01-23 at the Wayback Machine via Wayback Machine on December 21, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Fresh Food | Minit Mart". Archived from the original on August 14, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Godfather's Locations | Minit Mart".
  8. ↑ "Minit Mart > Welcome to Minit Mart!". web.archive.org. February 24, 2007.
  9. ↑ "Minit Mart - Minit Mix -Young at Heart". July 6, 2009 – via YouTube.
  10. ↑ "Minit Mix Park". December 6, 2011 – via YouTube.
  11. ↑ Higgins Sells Minit Mart Stores Archived 2015-06-26 at the Wayback Machine (from WBKO.com November 18, 2013)
  12. ↑ ""History | Minit Mart"". Archived from the original on January 23, 2010.
  13. ↑ Lintereur, Josh (31 March 2016). "Sheboygan-based QMart chain sold to Ohio firm". Sheboygan Press . Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  14. ↑ All in the Family for Minit Mart | ConvenienceStoreNews (January 16, 2008)
  15. ↑ Fred Higgins, Minit Marts Honored by Kentucky Associations | ConvenienceStoreNews (November 23, 2008)
  16. ↑ "Higgins Hall of Fame".
  17. ↑ "TA Acquires 19 GasMart USA Sites". CSPnet.com. CSP Daily News.
  18. ↑ "Minit Mart enters KC market with rebranding of 59 convenience stores" . Retrieved 2016-08-23.
  19. ↑ "Community Support | Minit Mart". Archived from the original on August 14, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Minit Mart customers raise funds for MDA at campaign". Bowling Green Daily News.

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