Concerns over BP’s long-term viability in the Midwest prompted change in fuel supplier.
Longtime owner and operator of SpeedStop stores, JM Companies is converting its BP-supplied gas stations — except those in Jenkins, Pequot Lakes and Pierz, Minn. —to SuperAmerica convenience stores, as well as at an E-Z Stop store that JM Companies recently acquired.
Vice President Brian Laudenbach told the SC Times that the changes were due to concerns about BP’s “long-term viability” as it exits parts of the upper Midwest. He added, BP is “really only a supplier of fuels,” leaving the running of a quality program exclusively on JM Companies’ shoulders.
Converting to SuperAmerica (SA) will greatly benefit the JM locations, Laudenbach noted. For example, the SA brand is recognizable; food made in Minnesota will be arriving daily; SA offers a quality rewards program with three cents per gallon off for My SA Rewards customers. The chain will also go from having no marketing help, to being able to use the services of Northern Tier Retailer, which is based in Minnesota and partners with the state’s professional sports teams and others.
Laudenbach also told the SC Times that SA’s parent company Northern Tier Energy LP owns one of two refineries in Minnesota. Northern Tier Retail, which runs SuperAmerica, is a subsidiary of Northern Tier Energy. “From a supply standpoint, that’s advantageous,” Laudenbach said. BP’s refinery that ships fuel to SpeedStop stores is near Chicago, he said.