Yesway Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
November 12, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Inside merchandise sales continued to grow: Same-store sales rose 1.9% year over year, with record quarterly sales of $246 million. Management said it saw no meaningful customer trade-down despite elevated fuel prices.
  • Positive Sentiment: Fuel performance remained strong: Same-store gallons increased 1.1%, while fuel margin rose 14.3% to $0.461 per gallon. Management credited its diesel mix, fuel investments and market volatility; diesel accounted for 38% of fuel volume.
  • Positive Sentiment: Adjusted EBITDA increased 8.6% to $60 million, supported by stronger fuel and merchandise contributions and new stores. Same-store operating expenses rose 8.9%, largely due to credit-card fees, while labor hours fell 1.3% for a sixth straight quarter.
  • Positive Sentiment: Yesway reaffirmed its 2026 outlook: Adjusted EBITDA of $235 million–$245 million, same-store merchandise sales growth of 1.25%–3.25%, and six to eight new stores. The EBITDA outlook assumes fourth-quarter fuel margins normalize; sustained higher margins could provide upside.
  • Positive Sentiment: Expansion remains focused on core markets: The company opened five stores year to date, including two in Arizona, and said initial results there are encouraging. It is converting 24 Texas Yesway stores to the Allsup’s brand and reiterated its longer-term plan for 130 stores in its model.
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Earnings Conference Call
Yesway Q3 2026
00:00 / 00:00

There are 13 speakers on the call.

Operator

Welcome to the Yesway, Inc. Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you will need to press star 11. Please be advised, today's conference call is being recorded. I would like to turn the call over to Russ Pfeiffer, Vice President of Financial Planning. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. On today's call are Tom Trkla, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, and Ericka Ayles, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, a reminder that today's discussion will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other securities laws. Any forward-looking statements made today are based on management's current expectations, assumptions, and beliefs about our business and the environment in which we operate. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from what is expressed or implied. These risks include, but are not limited to, volatility in global oil supplies and prices, general economic conditions, our ability to execute our growth strategy, and changes in consumer demand and fuel consumption trends.

Speaker 1

For more detailed discussion of risks, please see our final prospectus dated April 21, 2026, as filed with the SEC on April 23, 2026, and our other filings with the SEC. Our forward-looking statements made on this call represent our outlook as of today, November 12, 2026, and we disclaim any obligation to update these statements except as may be required by law. In addition, during this conference call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, including Adjusted EBITDA and Store Contribution. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in our third quarter 2026 earnings press release, which was issued earlier this morning and is available on the investor relations section of our website. A replay of today's call will also be available on the same website shortly after we conclude the Q&A session.

Speaker 1

With that, I would like to turn the call over to Tom Trkla. Tom?

Speaker 2

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. Yesway delivered another exceptional quarter, building on our strong performance in the first half of 2026. I want to begin by thanking the many thousands of employees across Yesway and Allsup's whose hard work and dedication make these results possible. Their commitment to our customers, our communities, and one another is at the heart of our success, and I'm deeply grateful for all that they do. Our continued momentum reflects our deliberate geographic focus, differentiated fuel offerings, significant diesel exposure, destination food service platform, and disciplined operating execution. Together, these strengths help us deepen customer loyalty and attract new customers, supporting continued growth in fuel volumes, inside merchandise sales, and market share. Our third quarter results demonstrate that progress. Same-store inside merchandise sales increased 1.9% year-over-year, marking our 19th quarter of growth in the past 20 quarters.

Speaker 2

Same-store fuel gallons sold increased 1.1% year-over-year, our fifth consecutive quarter of growth, and once again, according to OPIS data, outperformed volume trends in our core markets. Total fuel margin cents per gallon increased 14.3% year-over-year to $0.461, remaining well above historical levels. Adjusted EBITDA increased 8.6% to $60 million. We achieved these results in a challenging consumer environment marked by elevated fuel prices and continued inflationary pressure. While we remain mindful of the headwinds facing our customers, the resilience of our business gives us confidence in reiterating our full-year outlook. Our growth strategy remains focused on three priorities: new store development, initiatives that strengthen our existing operations, and selective acquisitions. Across each, we are committed to allocating capital where we believe it can generate the greatest long-term value.

Speaker 2

Beginning with new store development, we have now built 95 stores since 2020 through our new-to-industry development and raze and rebuild programs. We believe that experience, combined with our real estate expertise, helps us identify the markets, sites, and store formats with the greatest potential to generate attractive store-level returns. In the third quarter, we opened two new stores, including our first location in Arizona. In October, we opened our second Arizona store, bringing our total year-to-date new store openings to five. Our entry into Arizona is an important milestone as we extend our operating model into attractive adjacent markets. We are encouraged by the initial customer response, which supports our belief that our food service and fuel offerings are well-suited to the state's rural and suburban communities. Arizona remains a key development priority, and we continue to advance a pipeline of new locations in the state.

Speaker 2

As we expand into new markets, we are also focused on strengthening our position in the markets we already serve. Yesway and Allsup's are strong, complementary brands, each with deep roots in the communities we serve. In Texas, Allsup's has earned an enduring following across generations of customers. We are in the process of converting our 24 Yesway stores in Texas to the Allsup's brand. We believe these conversions will allow us to build on the Allsup's strong local recognition and customer loyalty while bringing greater consistency to our operations across the state. We expect to complete the conversions by the end of Q1 2027. We remain committed to our two-brand strategy and plan to continue operating our other 26 Yesway stores. Turning to our existing operations, our teams continue to find practical ways to improve how we run the business.

Speaker 2

Our efficient store layouts and labor model remain important strengths, and we are advancing initiatives that support faster, more informed decisions across fuel, pricing, staffing, and merchandising, including pump health and performance monitoring and ongoing SKU rationalization and optimization. Food service remains one of our most important traffic drivers and competitive differentiators. The iconic Allsup's Burrito is the cornerstone of that offering, with 24 million sold annually. Its enduring popularity reflects the connection customers have with Allsup's and the loyalty our teams have helped build over many years. Our approach to food service innovation remains disciplined. We are focused on extending the strength of our offering with products that resonate with customers and offer real value while preserving the efficient labor model that is an important advantage for our stores. The third component of our growth strategy is selective value-accretive M&A.

Speaker 2

We continue to strengthen our team and build a pipeline of opportunities, positioning us to act when we identify transactions that meet our strategic and financial objectives. Disciplined capital allocation supports each of these priorities. During the quarter, we completed the sale of our Iowa and Kansas stores, enabling us to redeploy capital towards opportunities we believe offer higher returns, including continued new store developments in our core markets. Strong fuel margins have also supported significant cash generation, giving us greater financial flexibility to pursue organic growth and selective acquisitions while maintaining our strong balance sheet. Overall, this third quarter provides further evidence of the strength and resilience of our business. We are growing inside merchandise sales and fuel gallons, benefiting from our differentiated diesel exposure, and concentrating our investment in the markets where we see the greatest potential.

Speaker 2

We are proud of what our team has accomplished and recognize that continued success requires us to earn our customers' loyalty every day. Our focus remains on serving them well, supporting our employees, and executing consistently to create lasting value for our shareholders. With that, I will turn the call over to Ericka for a more detailed review of our third quarter results and full-year financial outlook.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Tom, and good morning, everyone. We delivered another solid quarter with continued same-store growth across inside merchandise and fuel gallons, as well as fuel profitability and Adjusted EBITDA. Starting with inside merchandise. Inside merchandise sales increased to a record $246 million, representing growth of 4% year-over-year, or 1.9% on a same-store basis. On a two-year stack basis, same-store inside merchandise sales increased 3.5%, demonstrating the consistency of our performance even in a challenging consumer environment. Results benefited from strong performance over the Labor Day holiday and favorable weather during the quarter, particularly in September. Basket growth remained positive during the quarter, and despite elevated fuel prices, we have not seen a meaningful impact on merchandise spending or evidence of significant consumer trade-down.

Speaker 3

According to Nielsen data, we continue to gain share in both merchandise sales and units, reinforcing the strength of our value proposition and customer loyalty. We maintained healthy inside margins during the quarter, with total inside merchandise margin of 35.1%, broadly consistent with 35.2% in the prior year. The benefit from our pricing actions was offset by higher diesel surcharges during the quarter, the majority of which ended in early October. Turning to fuel, sales were $713 million, up 51.6% year over year. Fuel margin was $0.461 per gallon compared with $0.403 per gallon in the third quarter last year. This increase in margin was supported by our structural advantages in diesel and the benefits of elevated fuel price volatility during the quarter. Gasoline volatility was relatively stable through much of the quarter, while diesel volatility picked up in September before moderating slightly in October.

Speaker 3

Despite the recent moderation, our significant diesel exposure continues to support attractive fuel margin economics. Same-store fuel gallons sold increased 1.1% year over year, despite elevated retail prices. Importantly, this represents 3.8% growth on a two-year stack, demonstrating the consistency of our fuel gallon sold performance. We believe our gallon performance this quarter is a testament to both the attractiveness of our customer base and the success of our investments in fuel capacity and pump performance. Across the existing store base, we continue to upgrade dispensers and add capacity where demand supports it. These investments are designed to support market share gains and attractive returns over time. Our deliberate focus on diesel remains an important part of that positioning. Diesel continues to represent 38% of total fuel volumes, compared with the NACS average of 27%.

Speaker 3

Our diesel mix is meaningfully higher than that of many traditional convenience retailers, reflecting our rural and suburban footprint and presence along commercial and regional transportation routes, and our intentional focus on increasing diesel gallons across our footprint. Our focus on the diesel platform also benefits inside merchandise sales, as fleet drivers purchase more than three times as much inside the store on average as our typical loyalty customer. We achieved total same-store fuel and inside merchandise gross profit growth of 7.9% year over year, with same-store fuel gross profit and same-store inside merchandise gross profit increasing 16.4% and 1.4% respectively from the prior year. We remained focused on managing store-level expenses. Same-store operating expenses increased 8.9% year over year, primarily driven by credit card fees, which accounted for approximately 56% of this increase.

Speaker 3

More broadly, we continue to focus on disciplined store-level execution, maintaining high operating standards while delivering a strong customer experience. Through standardized processes, employee training, and technology investments, we have enhanced labor productivity across our store base, enabling select locations to operate with a single employee during non-peak hours. As a result, same-store labor hours declined 1.3% in the third quarter, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement. We are pleased with the efficiencies we have achieved to date and expect labor hours to remain relatively stable going forward. Store Contribution was $77 million, up 9.2% year over year. The increase was primarily driven by higher same-store contribution from stronger fuel margin and inside merchandise margin, along with incremental contribution from new stores. Net income was $25 million compared with $16 million in the prior year.

Speaker 3

Adjusted EBITDA increased 8.6% year-over-year to $60 million, reflecting similar drivers as Store Contribution. As Tom mentioned, this strong performance gives us confidence in achieving the full-year outlook, which I will touch on shortly. We ended the quarter with 423 stores, following the opening of two new locations and the sale of 29 stores in Iowa and Kansas. As Tom highlighted, the divestiture unlocks capital that can be redeployed toward higher-return opportunities, including the development of new-to-industry stores in our core markets. Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $105 million and approximately $150 million of borrowing capacity available under the revolver, of which $3 million is committed to undrawn letters of credit, providing us with total available liquidity of $252 million.

Speaker 3

Total debt, including financing obligations and financing lease obligations, at the end of Q3 was $608 million. Net cash provided by operating activities was $66 million compared to $54 million in the prior year. Capital expenditures totaled approximately $37 million compared with $11 million in the prior year. As we've discussed, in 2026, we deliberately prioritized strengthening the balance sheet and have now fully repaid our revolver. Turning to our outlook, our full-year expectations reflect our strong year-to-date performance and current expectations for the remainder of the year. We are reaffirming our 2026 outlook across all measures. Adjusted EBITDA of $235 million-$245 million. Same-store inside merchandise sales growth of 1.25%-3.25%. Capital expenditures of $85 million-$95 million. New store openings of six to eight stores in 2026.

Speaker 3

With respect to fuel margin, while we do not provide a forecast given the inherent volatility in fuel markets, our Adjusted EBITDA outlook assumes fourth-quarter fuel margin normalizes to levels we saw prior to the developments in the Middle East. To the extent fuel margins remain above that level, it could provide potential upside to our current outlook. As we look to the fourth quarter, our expectations remain consistent with those entering the year. This includes a comp against a particularly strong fourth quarter last year, which was driven by favorable weather, early benefits from our pricing actions, and strong fuel gallon growth from our fuel expansions and dispenser upgrades. It is also important to note the typical seasonal decline we see in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 3

That said, we remain encouraged by the underlying trends in the business and the momentum we have carried through October, reinforcing our confidence in achieving our outlook and finishing the year strong. Overall, we are pleased with our performance through the first nine months of 2026 and remain confident in the significant growth opportunity ahead for Yesway. We continue to generate strong cash flow, invest strategically in the business, and maintain the financial flexibility to capitalize on opportunities that we believe will drive sustainable growth and long-term shareholder value. I'll turn the call back over to Tom for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you very much, Erica. To close, we are excited to report another quarter of solid performance, reinforcing the momentum in our business. We remain focused on executing our strategy, investing in attractive growth opportunities across our core markets, and continuing to strengthen the Yesway platform. We believe these priorities position us well to deliver profitable growth and long-term value for our shareholders. Thank you again for joining us today. Operator?

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star 11. If your question has been answered and you'd like to remove yourself from the queue, press star 11 again. Our first question comes from Bobby Griffin with Raymond James. Your line is open.

Speaker 4

Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the questions, and congrats on a good quarter.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Speaker 4

First, I just wanted to ask, on the five stores that you've opened so far in 2026, how are those ramping up compared to the build class, I guess, in 2025? Are we still seeing the very strong rapid ramp-up in those in the new markets of Arizona and New Mexico?

Speaker 3

Good morning, Bobby. This is Ericka. Good question. We are seeing similar trends to the builds that we've opened in 2026 that we have seen with our previous new builds. So, nice quick ramp, so we're very pleased with the performance of those assets.

Speaker 4

Okay, thank you. Then maybe Tom, for you, I think last time we talked, we were talking a little bit about SKU rationalization and maybe even some menu innovation, kind of on the works within the Yesway, I mean, within the Allsup's concept. Any update there on how that's progressed and what that looks like going into 2027?

Speaker 2

Sure. Thank you, Bobby. It's going very well. We expect to complete our food service SKU rationalization by year-end. That's basically cutting back on things that aren't our top sellers and becoming more efficient, and that's going very, very well. We are knee-deep right now in the merchandising SKU rationalization, and that's also part and parcel of how we're looking at that with regard to our smaller format stores, which we've talked about as well. So, we should have SKU rationalization done by year-end on our food service platform, and like I said, we're making great headway right now with regard to SKU rationalization on merch within the stores.

Speaker 4

Thank you. I appreciate the details. I will jump back in the queue. Best of luck here in 4Q.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Bobby. Appreciate it.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Kelly Bania with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Speaker 5

Good morning. Thanks for taking our questions. Tom or Ericka, I was wondering if you could just talk a little bit more about the consumer behavior. I think you mentioned no meaningful impact really from the elevated fuel environment or evidence of trade-down and momentum through October, but can you just add any more color on category trends inside the store as well as the driver of the in-store merchandise growth margin and how that played out relative to your expectations?

Speaker 3

Sure, and good morning. This is Ericka Ayles. Happy to field that question. As far as categories, there are three categories in particular that were strong performers in the quarter. Packaged beverage, which has been a strong performer for us all year. I do call out some great performance in carbonated energy and sports drinks. General merchandise, which has really been driven by some resets in the store, and some of the product selections that the team have brought in being higher price points, which has flown to the bottom line, which has been great. The third category being candy and snacks, namely candy in the quarter was particularly strong. As far as margin, I think I mentioned in the remarks earlier, we did have some excess fuel charges hit margin in the quarter. Almost all of those have stopped in October, which has been great to see.

Speaker 3

That was a slight impact there as well. I think, as I mentioned, the incremental basket has grown in the quarter, so the majority of that increase on the top line driven by an increase in sales per unit.

Speaker 5

Okay, thank you. Not sure if you can comment on this yet, ahead of kind of more guidance for 2027, but just any color that you can share on how that pipeline of stores and the cadence of openings is shaping up for 2027. Any comment on first half, second half weighting, and just how you feel about that pipeline?

Speaker 2

Sure. Thank you, Kelly. We feel very good about, as we said, Ericka reconfirmed our guidance for this year's six to eight. We feel very good about that. As we have talked before, with the excess cash, we are looking at ramping up land that we can build on future stores, so we feel very good about the 130 and reconfirm that guidance as well. We expect to give guidance on 2027 builds in our next earnings call. It is too premature right now, but I can reaffirm that we feel very good about 130 stores in our model.

Speaker 5

Thanks, Tom.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Kelly.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Tom Palmer with JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Speaker 6

Good morning, and thanks for the question. I wanted to maybe just clarify a comment earlier on the diesel surcharges, just to make sure I understood kind of how this flowed through. When we look at the third quarter and kind of the step-down in inside margin, is the diesel surcharge, is that what that's referring to? If that's right, I mean, is the idea that we should see maybe more of a rebound in margin, more to first-half levels as we look forward?

Speaker 3

Thanks for that question and an opportunity to clarify. You are correct. The fuel surcharges did hit in Q3. In particular, as I mentioned, the majority of those have stopped in October. If that continues, you could expect that to be a positive impact on margin for the fourth quarter.

Speaker 6

Okay. Thank you for that. I apologize if I missed this. I was trying to scan a live transcript too. The assumption that fuel normalizes in the quarter, what does the quarter-to-date look like?

Speaker 3

Sure. Yeah. We certainly don't want to get into reporting on a monthly basis, but what we are seeing is volatility for diesel. That certainly picked up in September and then moderated slightly in October, but still remain at elevated levels in October.

Speaker 6

Understood. Thank you.

Speaker 3

The guidance that we put out, it does anticipate for the fourth quarter a renormalization back to pre-conflict levels. Again, to the extent that these elevated margins continue, that would be an upside to the fourth quarter.

Speaker 6

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Speaker 7

Hey, Tom. Hey, Ericka. My first question-

Speaker 3

Morning

Speaker 7

Ericka, morning. You touched on this a bit. Is the customer making a trade-off on inside sales given some of the higher prices that they are paying outside? It does not look like it is, but curious if there is part of the basket or an item that they may be, I don't know, trading down or opting for or economizing.

Speaker 3

Good question. We are actually not seeing any trading down in the stores. So unlike previous periods where we have seen a trade down slightly in national brands to maybe a more private label, we are not actually seeing any meaningful product shift in the portfolio, which has been really great to see. We have even looked at, has there been trade downs in packs to singles, as we think about sort of even the beer category in 12-packs to six-packs, and we are just not seeing that. So, we feel very good about the resiliency of our customer in particular, as well as the unit gains that we have been able to see from Nielsen data in our geography.

Speaker 7

Thanks for that. A follow-up is on CPG. You mentioned some moderation into the fourth quarter. If you think about past Q4 and into 2027, do we give back what we earned last year, industry normalizes at a higher level, or could industry even normalize at even a higher level than where we were, call it, pre the crude spike?

Speaker 3

Sure. Good question. Specific to Yesway, typically, if you look historically at our Q4, we have generally slightly lower fuel margin in the fourth quarter, which comes with the seasonality of our business. That being said, Q4 of 2025, I believe, was about a 44.3, which was incredibly strong for a fourth-quarter number. That being said, as you are aware, we continue to invest capital in areas that continue to shore up our structural differentiated platform as it relates to diesel. So, throughout this time of the conflict, we have been taking action to maintain as much of that margin as possible. Again, that being said, we do expect some level of renormalization.

Speaker 7

Thanks. Good luck.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Bonnie Herzog with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Speaker 8

All right, thank you. I just had first maybe a quick follow-up question on inside sales. You did maintain your same-store merchandise guidance, but that does imply a pretty wide range for Q4. So just trying to get a sense of that and maybe what is a realistic expectation.

Speaker 3

Sure. Yeah, I think it is a great question and a fair question. Our guidance is, again, just on an annual basis, and we did not see any meaningful shifts in activity to warrant any change to that annual guidance. What I will say is we are seeing that Q3 momentum so far flow into the fourth quarter. What I would say is, the implied guidance for Q4 is consistent with our expectations coming into the year. There are no new concerns on the consumer. There are also, we are certainly not expecting any significant increase in that expectation. I would say nothing out of the ordinary that we are expecting for the fourth quarter, if that helps.

Speaker 8

No, it does. Thanks for the clarification on that. I did want to ask about M&A and the environment. Tom, you did mention last quarter that you are more actively pursuing M&A given, of course, your strong performance and the flexibility you have. Just curious if you could talk about maybe how multiples have been trending recently, how many deals are coming across your desk, and ultimately what size deals you are looking at. Just a broader M&A question, but any color would be helpful. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Sure. We have seen a few larger deals and a few mid-sized deals. We have not got to the point yet where we have offered to actually see what a multiple trades at, and I think the industry is there as well to see what those deals trade at. Our focus has been on the smaller operators we have talked about right now, and we have geared up internally in terms of adding people and adding focus in the four states in which we are primarily operating. We continue to believe that the smaller operator environment is more fragmented with more pressures on them. We see better opportunities there to buy at better multiples that we can synergize to multiples that are similar to the returns we are getting on our new builds. I feel very good about the ramp up right now. When we have something to announce, we obviously will.

Speaker 2

I think the environment right now for larger deals is in flux, as you know as well as I do in terms of some of the bigger things that are out there, some of the larger things that are not trading right now, some of the pressures on interest rates and some of those bigger deals. We, of course, as well, and I should mention this, are really focusing, especially after the sale of Iowa and Kansas, on our four-state region. Okay? We are very geographically focused right now on Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. We are seeing transactions in those states, but I should say the most important takeaway from our M&A activity is we are focusing on the smaller portfolios and the single-store operators because we think there is better opportunity to buy those.

Speaker 2

And I also think there is more of them coming because of the pressure on the small operator.

Speaker 8

All right. Thank you. I will pass it on.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Bonnie.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Brad Thomas with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Speaker 9

Good morning. Nice quarter. I want to ask about the-

Speaker 2

Good.

Speaker 9

You are welcome, Tom. I want to ask about the fuel gallons. Another really encouraging quarter for you all here of growing gallons. I guess, can you talk a little bit about what you are seeing, where you maybe think you are picking up share, and then maybe of late, what you are seeing competitively from those across the street from you as oil prices have come down over the last week or so here? Are you seeing those folks across the street that have been maybe losing to you be more aggressive to get back customers? Thanks.

Speaker 3

Sure. Good questions. We are very proud of our gallon growth in the quarter and in 2026 in general. A good portion of that gain and share that we see in OPIS across our portfolio. Certainly, the capital allocation that we have been very thoughtful has putting into this diesel platform as well as what we sort of think about as our pump health. So, dispenser upgrades, making sure speed of transaction is there for our customers, we think is really continuing to pay off. Obviously, we talk quite a bit about that diesel customer, so that has certainly remained. But as the prices have come down more recently, we do see many competitors coming down, we think in an organized way, making sure that the customer is getting that benefit. So, I think folks are acting rationally in light of the consumer and their needs.

Speaker 9

That is great. And then maybe if I could ask a follow-up on fuel margins. I think we are all doing our best to guess at what 2027 holds. But if we just look at what Yesway has done structurally, can you maybe speak to some of the benefits that you have been getting from the diesel mix and the store portfolio enhancements that you have done, and how much you all have been able to sort of raise the fuel margin floor on your own beyond the environment being better?

Speaker 2

Thanks. Let me take the first part of that, and Eric can fill in. Our biggest differentiator, we have talked about a lot on these calls, has been our deliberate and strong move into diesel. We are now about 38%, and as we have talked before, our new builds are producing over 40% contribution. So over time, that will rise as well. Historically, as we all know, there is a spread between the CPG and diesel and gas, and we are capturing that. I think we are way ahead of our other brethren in the C-store space in terms of percentage of our total gallons to diesel. That is probably our single biggest differentiator, and we continue to make that a major part of our new builds going forward in terms of adding high-flow diesel.

Speaker 2

We are now about, last I heard, Russ, about 85%, 86% of all of our stores have diesel, either out front or back. That is probably our biggest single differentiator, is our focus as a C-store operator on diesel.

Speaker 3

Agree. I think even if you just think about the third quarter, that diesel premium in CPG was around $0.07, on an LTM basis being about $0.05. So, I think because of that higher contribution, obviously that is impactful for our margin overall. That certainly fluctuates, right, from quarter to quarter, but generally we see at least a several cent differential.

Speaker 9

I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Seth Sigman with Barclays. Your line is open.

Speaker 10

Hey, good morning, everyone. Nice quarter. I wanted to ask about inside inflation. I think you mentioned basket up. Any other color on what is happening with same SKU inflation, how you are thinking about that? It does seem like there is some more inflationary pressure. Just remind us, how do we think about pricing for you guys in the context of maybe more inflation coming? Thanks so much.

Speaker 3

Sure. Yeah. Just on a same-store basis, what we are certainly encouraged by is the Q3 momentum carrying into October. So we feel very good about that. From a basket perspective, again, there is not anything meaningful that we are seeing in our particular geography and with our particular customers. They are continuing to focus on similar SKUs. Again, no trading down in those SKUs. So they are handling the inflation of those products, in my view, very well.

Speaker 10

Okay, that is helpful. I want to also ask about the conversions, the Allsup's conversions you talked about. How do we think about the lift you get when you do that, and is there an opportunity to see more of that?

Speaker 2

Thanks. First part of the question is yes, but we are not quantifying it or projecting it. We are doing it obviously deliberately. The Allsup's brand name, 60, 70-year iconic brand name in the Southwest, these are all Yesway stores that we converted to Yesway from things we bought before we bought Allsup's in 2019. We have been talking about this for a while. Our operators believe we will get a lift because of name recognition. We do not know how to quantify that, but we do believe it will be a lift. We have reiterated, we have about 26 stores remaining of the Yesway stores after the sale of Iowa and Kansas. Those are north. We will keep that portfolio. It does very well for us in South Dakota and around South Dakota. But as we have talked about, our 130-store growth is in the four states.

Speaker 2

We will keep the two brands, but the majority of our growth forecast in the next four to five years will be Allsup's stores in the Southwest. We just think this is a natural extension of really reinforcing what is a phenomenal brand and phenomenal brand recognition within the marketplace down there.

Speaker 10

All right. Very helpful. Thanks so much.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Phillip Blee with William Blair. Your line is open.

Speaker 11

Morning, Tom, Erica. Thanks for the question. On store labor costs, the progress you've made this year is quite impressive. I'm assuming there isn't much juice left to squeeze there going into next year. Just how should we think about OpEx growth rates going forward? Are there other initiatives that you're focusing on that could provide a similar level of cost efficiency over the next few years that we should be thinking about as well? Thank you.

Speaker 3

Good morning, and thanks for the question. As I've mentioned, the store labor hours optimization, we've been very encouraged by the continued success there. We do expect that to moderate because our labor model is already so efficient. We are not necessarily looking from a portfolio standpoint to continue to bring that down anymore. That being said, there will always be pockets that we look to find, but would not anticipate that. From a rate perspective, not seeing anything there other than just normal inflation pressures across the OpEx scheme. I think we've talked in general about certain areas where we continue to look to take things in-house as much as possible. We are also things like R&M, we're also focused on making sure things like telecom and other store-level direct operating expenses. We continue to kick the tires there.

Speaker 3

But we generally, to finish up your question, we generally think about inflation growth rates for OpEx. When we have the ability to create some efficiencies, we are certainly going to do so.

Speaker 11

Okay, that is really helpful. Then just does the success of your new store locations and formats, particularly with the benefits of your higher diesel mix and capabilities there, does that provide you with more incentive to accelerate remodels across your existing fleet? Is there a certain percentage of your legacy stores that we should think about as being more of a top priority for investment over the next year? Just how should we think about potential lifts to comps and margins? Thank you.

Speaker 2

Let me take the first part, Erica, you take the second part. We have scoured the portfolio over the past four or five years and really concentrated, as we said previously, on the low-hanging fruit, which is the raze and rebuilds first. So there is only a diminishing amount of those that we can do. We have scoured more, and the team is presenting to me and Erica in the coming weeks some additional raze and rebuild opportunities, but they are few and far between compared to new builds, as well as some fuel initiatives as well, that Jeff is coming back to see if we can expand. We have had a couple of opportunities crop up because of what is going on with data centers, where basically stores before are now just going crazy in terms of the sales because of their proximity to data centers.

Speaker 2

We are looking now at acquiring land next door or remodeling those stores, which before didn't really merit it, just on their economics, but now do. But again, I would just caution that that is de minimis. Most of our growth will be new builds, okay? We do see some opportunities, and are always looking for those, but we did a really good job of doing those early. Of the 95 we have done, the original ones were primarily raze and rebuilds, and then really since then, it has primarily been, almost exclusively been the new builds. Erica, you want to add anything to that?

Speaker 3

Yeah. I think Tom summarized that well. I will just say, from a total growth perspective, certainly the vast majority of that growth is going to be from new units. I do just want to herald the success that we've had, certainly on the fuel side of things, where we have been able to reinvest in our pumps, in those expansions. Those have really helped to drive our positive same-store gallons, as I mentioned earlier. And we're continuing to see those same-store fuel gallons remaining positive through October.

Speaker 11

Excellent. Thank you, guys.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Speaker 11

Best of luck.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from John Heinbockel with Guggenheim Securities. Your line is open.

Speaker 12

Hey, guys. Wanted to start, I know it's early, what you've seen from the Arizona locations, what you think the cadence for 2027 looks like, because you're ramping. It may be back-end loaded. And how many of those do you think will be in Arizona?

Speaker 2

Let me reiterate again. We're going to go ahead and provide guidance on 2027 in our next earnings call. It's too early. We will reaffirm-

Speaker 12

Yeah

Speaker 2

very strongly the 130 stores in our model. We feel very good about that. We are extremely encouraged about the reception in Arizona.

Speaker 12

Yeah.

Speaker 2

They've done very, very well. We've now opened two, as we talked about in our press release.

Speaker 12

Yeah.

Speaker 2

I would say a good amount of our pipeline is in Arizona and Oklahoma, as the two top states right now, because they're more fertile ground for us to grow. But we feel very good about that right now. We have a lot of activity, a lot of ground either under contract or going under contract. But I would say that disproportionate amount of that is in Arizona right now, again, simply because of how well the market has taken to our platform there. We're extremely happy with the results so far of the two stores we've opened there and feel very good about extending in that state. We'll give more guidance, John, on white space

Speaker 12

Yep

Speaker 2

in the coming quarters. But right now, I can just say, again, definitively, given the success of those stores and our other new builds, we feel very good about reaffirming our 130 stores in our model.

Speaker 12

Maybe the follow-up. Can you talk about growth in the rewards program? I think about the promotions that you are, or the programs that you are running here for holiday and you ran for Halloween. Do you think, are you getting to a point with the rewards program size where vendors are now funding, wanting to fund more of that? Do you think that, is that in any way, I imagine, maybe helping your inside comps? Are you seeing that flow through running those programs?

Speaker 3

Yeah. Good question. I agree that we have great relationships with our supplier partners who do help to fund the vast majority of those promotions that come through our loyalty platform.

Speaker 12

Yep.

Speaker 3

We are continuing to see strength over the last couple quarters with an increase in that penetration. So we feel very good about that. I do think, from our perspective anyway, those supplier partners continue to be encouraged by that type of partnership. So we think that will only continue to expand in the future.

Speaker 12

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you very much, John.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is a follow-up from Bobby Griffin with Raymond James. Your line is open.

Speaker 4

Hey, guys. Thanks for the follow-up. Erica, I just wanted to clarify one aspect. I think you mentioned the elevated volatility of diesel continued into October, and I just want to make sure I understand what that kind of implies to the margins. So, when you guys are talking elevated volatility, is that meaning you're seeing elevated margins call it above what normal is, or is it driving something else?

Speaker 3

Yes. So, diesel volatility picked up in September and then moderated slightly in October, but they do remain at elevated levels. And yeah, so typically volatility equals higher margin.

Speaker 4

Okay. That was my working assumption, but I just wanted to make sure that was the way it was, you were trying to imply as we think about quarter-to-date trends. That's very helpful. Thank you for clarifying. That's it for me.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Bobby.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Bobby.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes the question-and-answer session. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Good day.

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