Murphy USA's QuickChek Acquisition Falls Short of Key Promises

Murphy USA has closed more QuickChek stores than it has opened since completing the $545-million-class acquisition in early 2021, and the foodservice integration once touted by leadership has stalled, according to former employees and stock analysts.

Hours after Murphy USA announced the acquisition in December 2020, then-CEO Andrew Clyde laid out an ambitious vision. In a presentation to stock analysts, Clyde said Murphy planned to open up to 10 QuickChek stores annually while continuing to expand its own banner. He also highlighted opportunities to bring QuickChek's made-to-order foodservice capabilities into Murphy's stores.

"Fortunately, for both firms, our established real estate teams have built healthy pipelines of new store locations for future growth," Clyde told analysts during the call, about a month before the deal closed.

Nearly six years later, that vision has not materialized. Murphy President and CEO Mindy West, who succeeded Clyde in January, said earlier this year that QuickChek's margins and traffic were under pressure and that the banner needed a business model that "simplifies operation, reduces complexity" and improves the customer experience.

"While growth is important, we have to earn money," West said of QuickChek during an earnings call in February.

Three former Murphy corporate employees who worked closely with QuickChek, along with two stock analysts who cover Murphy's earnings, said the acquisition has produced fewer benefits than originally anticipated.

"I would characterize it as disappointing that there hasn't been more growth or more of an influence on the overall business and EBITDA and earnings from QuickChek since the time of the acquisition," said Bradley Thomas, managing director and equity research analyst for KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Murphy Vice President and Head of Marketing Alejandra Barron declined to answer detailed questions about the QuickChek strategy, noting the company does not share key information beyond public channels such as earnings calls and regulatory filings.

Store growth has stalled

Murphy has prioritized its namesake banner, setting a goal at the end of fiscal 2022 to open at least 500 new-to-industry stores over the following decade. From the end of fiscal 2021 to Q2 2026, Murphy added 138 stores to its own network, according to the company's annual report and second-quarter earnings released in August. That pace falls short of the roughly 50 stores annually Clyde envisioned, but Murphy banner expansion has been relatively consistent.

QuickChek's trajectory has declined nearly every year since fiscal 2021, falling from 158 locations to 147 as of the second quarter of 2026. Between the end of fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2025, Murphy closed 20 QuickCheks while opening only 13. Clyde's target of 10 new locations annually would have brought the chain past 200 stores by early 2026.

"It takes years to get to that [number of stores], and they're still behind it for the next several years," said a former Murphy USA corporate employee.

Every former employee interviewed and one stock analyst said many closures reflect efforts to exit older, underperforming stores that do not sell fuel. At the time of the acquisition, only 89 of QuickChek's 157 stores offered fuel. Murphy has not disclosed how many fuel locations QuickChek operates today.

Thomas and Jacob Aiken-Phillips, director of research for Melius Research covering consumer and retail, agree the shift reflects a broader reassessment of QuickChek's role within Murphy. Both said QuickChek struggles to compete with QSR chains in New Jersey and New York, where intense discounting has put fuel-less stores at a disadvantage.

"There's less of a reason to stop there," Aiken-Phillips said. "More often than not, they're actually just closing down the stores that don't have fuel stations, because a big part of the whole strategy is having the prepared food inside and the fuel in order to drive traffic."

Murphy also abandoned plans to expand QuickChek into new states. All three former corporate employees and Aiken-Phillips confirmed that shortly after the acquisition, Clyde expressed ambitions to bring the banner to additional East Coast markets, mentioning Florida by name. Those plans were shelved, according to the former employees, after leadership concluded QuickChek lacked meaningful brand recognition outside its core Northeast footprint. Murphy did open its first QuickChek in New York's Capital Region this summer, but broader expansion has not materialized.

For some, the decision was a missed opportunity. Florida is Murphy's largest market outside Texas, and a state where consumers have shown strong demand for food-focused convenience retailers, including Wawa, said Jeffrey Albanese, who worked at QuickChek from 1996 through late 2021 and rose to senior real estate manager.

"I don't understand why they wouldn't have gone down to Florida — that, to me, never made sense," Albanese said.

In a statement, Barron said Murphy continuously evaluates QuickChek's portfolio "to improve overall productivity and allocate capital toward our highest-return opportunities."

"This process results in closing select locations while also investing in growth," Barron said. "We are continuing to open locations within legacy QuickChek markets as well as expanding into attractive new regions, including Albany, NY."

Foodservice integration never happened

When the deal was announced, industry observers watched closely to see how QuickChek's made-to-order food platform would transfer to Murphy's network, which centers on low-cost fuel, tobacco and standard c-store products. Clyde offered few specifics at the time but said Murphy would evaluate opportunities to bring parts of QuickChek's offerings into its stores.

Close to six years later, that integration has not occurred. Two former corporate team members said Murphy decided against bringing QuickChek's foodservice model into its own stores shortly after the acquisition, for reasons that remain unclear. Barron declined to comment when asked for details.

Aiken-Phillips said customers visiting Murphy stores generally do not expect a prepared-food destination, but the lack of progress has raised investor questions about Murphy's long-term strategy.

"It's more just building credibility around doing what you say you're going to do, and managing the street expectations better," Aiken-Phillips said. "I do think they owe the street a better articulation of what the strategy is for QuickChek and just more generally across the banners with prepared food."

Signs of a reset under new leadership

West and Murphy's newly installed executive team acknowledge QuickChek's challenges. During the February earnings call, West said QuickChek was "refocusing on the fundamentals," particularly discipline around balancing innovation with cost and margin control. In April, she added that QSR pressure in the Northeast is creating difficulties and that Murphy is "taking steps to try to improve the business."

In August, Murphy revealed plans to trial automated ordering kiosks in select large-format stores. The platform, developed by foodservice technology firm Automated Retail Technologies, will initially feature food from White Castle. Murphy did not specify how many stores will receive the technology but said the initiative aims to test demand for fresh, convenient food prepared in a compact space. It remains unclear whether the experiment will ever involve QuickChek.

Neither analyst is ready to write off the acquisition. Both Thomas and Aiken-Phillips grade it as incomplete rather than a clear success or failure.

"A key question from investors is: Are they doing enough?" Thomas said. "Is there a strong enough and robust enough offering? Because it's certainly not of the caliber that Wawa, Casey's, Buc-ee's, for example, are offering today."