Majors Management has been in business for 54 years, but is relatively new to acquiring c-stores. “Building single stores and getting development pipeline stores is slow. … It’s a frustrating process,” said Ben Smith, president of Majors Management.

“There’s a lot of opportunity to grow via acquisition if you have the wherewithal to do that, and we didn’t know that we did,” he said. Majors Management had acquired stores in the early 2000s and as part of the major oil divestitures, “[but] I don’t think any of that experience was relevant to the last seven or eight years of acquisitions that we’ve been in,” Smith said. The executive said that the company changed its own internal DNA by bringing in people from the industry who had consolidation experience.

Yesway, by contrast, was built through acquisitions. It’s powered by Brookwood Financial Partners, a private equity firm that is heavily invested in real estate.

“My role when I joined Brookwood was to find an industry that made sense to invest in coming out of the recession … and we settled on the convenience store industry. It is a remarkable industry that was different in many ways than real estate but fundamentally had real estate at its core,” said Mark Daniels, chief strategy officer at Yesway.

“We were looking for an industry that rewarded growth,” he added. “If you buy 10 real estate assets, you can’t sell that as a portfolio at a higher price. In fact, you probably get a little bit of a discount. That’s the opposite of convenience stores.”

The company’s initial strategy of growth by acquisition has shifted to growth by building, and it now focuses on new construction and direct store operations.

The convenience store industry [is] a remarkable industry that was different ... but fundamentally had real estate at its core.”
—Mark Daniels, Yesway

Operational Focus

With growth in mind, Majors Management and Yesway have different operational approaches.

For Majors Management, its diverse expertise, which includes being a fuel wholesaler, “makes us very agile when it comes to acquisitions. We can evaluate the chain and say, ‘We will run this subset of stores, we will put third-party operators in this subset of stores, or we will sell some of them.’ And that has been fruitful over the last several years,” Smith said.

Yesway has a real estate team, while Majors Management evaluates opportunities for third-party operators.

“[Yesway’s] real estate team identifies new assets, works on the construction process and makes sure we can build according to our standard,” said Daniels.

Smith emphasized the importance of visiting every site in person and understanding the market during the acquisition process.

Both companies have learned to be prepared for rejection and to remain opportunistic. Smith said that Majors Management tries to be “rigorously disciplined” in its approach—and that means it ends up turning down a lot of opportunities. “That’s just part of what you have to do,” he said.

Daniels highlighted the importance of relationships and long-term planning, often winning deals due to Yesway’s reputation for closing and creative structuring.

The cost of capital and ROI are key factors for both companies. Smith said that Majors Management focuses on four-wall EBITDA, and noted that when it comes to more complex acquisitions it’s vital to “educate your internal stakeholders on what you’re looking for and how it’s different from acquisition to acquisition.” Daniels said that Yesway aims for a healthy spread over the synergy-adjusted multiple minus their debt.

There’s a lot of opportunity to grow via acquisition if you have the wherewithal to do that.”
—Ben Smith, Majors Management

Market Outlook: Bridging the Gap

Both Smith and Daniels are optimistic about the immediate future of acquisitions.

“I think deal flow will continue to be strong in 2025 and be larger than it was in 2024, given the change in the administration and a more favorable Federal Trade Commission,” said Smith. “Some larger transactions that have been discussed recently may increase the number of opportunities available to the acquirers,” he said.

Daniels noted that a lot of groups are interested in transactions, “and we keep seeing ones come out of the woodwork that we didn’t think would be there,” he said. “I think it’s going to keep happening as long as the big guys need to keep growing—they’re going to keep generating synergies to justify the higher multiples.”