Wholesale motor fuel distribution business also being divested.
Navasota, Texas-based Kolkhorst Petroleum is divesting its 14 Rattlers convenience stores and its wholesale motor fuel distribution business to affiliates of Sunoco LP.
The 14 stores are located in six counties throughout Central Texas.
According to a report by Sealy News, the transaction is set to take place in the first half of 2016.
Kolkhorst Petroleum plans to retain and continue to operate its commercial fuel, bobtail and lubricant business, as well as Kolkhorst Foods LLC, which currently operates five Burger King locations.
It is not yet clear if the locations will be rebranded. Sunoco closed a $1.8 billion deal last year to purchase the company that operated Stripes convenience store chain in Texas and other states.
Rattlers was founded by James “Bubba” Kolkhorst, who started Kolkhorst Petroleum in 1982. The chain’s first c-store was built in 1992 in College Station, Texas.
Rattlers became the name of the c-store business in 2004. The name “Rattlers” doesn’t reference a snake. Jim Kolkhorst, CEO of Rattlers, previously told CSD, “If you look at the logo, it’s two deer fighting. We are big hunters in our family and big outdoors people. When you hunt deer, you may use rattling horns to call deer. This hunting technique is called “rattling”…and that’s how we came up with the name Rattlers.”