Last month, Convenience Store News released its “Top 20 Growth Chains” report, tracking the growth of United States convenience store operations from January 2017 to January 2018. For the second year in a row, Alimentation Couche-Tard, Inc. topped the list with a growth rate of a whopping 23.4% due in large part to its acquisition of smaller, mid-level store chains. Sustained growth has been a trend for the Arizona based company with its previous acquisition of The Pantry, Inc. which netted an additional 1510 stores—a 39.4% increase—and its most recent buyout of CST Brands, Inc. which added 1253 more stores to its already prodigious footprint. This impressive expansion is a testament to the health of the Circle K brand, and industry leaders and customers alike can expect to see great things from this convenience store giant in the coming years. As evidenced, acquisition is the name of the game for the 2018 top growth chains. Mid- level store chains that have been bought and sold this last year include: Holiday Stationstores; Western Refining; Roadrunner Markets; PDQ Food Stores; Jet-Pep, Inc.; Honey Farms; Flyers Energy, LLC; Pic Quik; Jiffy Stop; Sav-O- Mat; and Wes-T- Go. In fact, the top growth chains listed in Convenience Store News’s report added 1396 stores in the last year, an overall 5.9% increase in total stores. The full list of growth chains is as follows: 1. Alimentation Couche-Tard, Inc. 2. Andeavor Corp. 3. GPM Investments 4. Kwik Trip, Inc. 5. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. 6. CrossAmerica Partners LP 7. Yesway 8. Stinker Stores 9. Sunoco LP 10. ExxonMobil Corp. 11. Wawa, Inc. 12. Reid Petroleum 13. Global Partners LP/Alliance Energy, LLC 14. Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores 15. Murphy USA, Inc. 16. Enmarket Stations, Inc. 17. Marathon Petroleum Corp. 18. QuikTrip Corp. 19. Sheetz, Inc. 20. Maverik, Inc. We at Clean Fuels National are happy to see so many of the companies we work with make this list. We strive to ensure that the companies we assist continue to offer the highest quality fuel and maintain their reputation as quality fuel providers. Clean Fuels National has helped several chains through the acquisition process, ensuring the stores they were adding had the same level of excellence their customers had come to expect. 2017 was a great year for fuel retailers, and Clean Fuels National is not alone in expecting 2018 to be another fantastic year for the convenience store industry. And it goes without saying: congratulations to all the companies that made the list!