The food business has much better margins than the fuel business, so for the modern petrol station company, filling bellies is becoming more important than filling tanks.
Maxol boss and Co Down man Brian Donaldson wants to turn the business he runs into the Avoca of his industry, by creating a brand that stretches beyond the forecourt into people’s fridges.
The company is working on a plan to bring its food branding into line with its fuel branding — moving away from Mace in the Republic or Spar in Northern Ireland as the name above the door when you enter a Maxol garage shop.
It has around 100 petrol stations in Northern Ireland — including a motorway-style service station at Tannaghmore, Co Antrim. It also plans to open a large site outside Newry.
“We’ve done two trial stores… and the results have been very encouraging and very positive,” Mr Donaldson says.
“We’ll be extending our name and label to milk, bread, cheeses, fresh produce, snacks.
“What we’re looking at in terms of our in-store offering is almost trying to set that Avoca-type standard in terms of the ingredients and the quality of ingredients that go into our sandwiches, our prepared meals.
“And, as well, it’s about the provenance of those ingredients… we’re trying to connect into local supply chains through our strategic partners BWG Foods and Henderson Group.”
The company has got some stiff competition. Circle K — until recently known as Topaz — has a Canadian owner with deep pockets and is undergoing a high-profile rebrand.
Then there’s Applegreen, which has the luxury of accessing the public markets if it wants to do major acquisitions. It’s got its sights set on foreign expansion.
Another rival is Valero Energy, the owner of the Texaco chain.
Asked if the company’s structure (it’s privately owned by the McMullan family from Northern Ireland) means Maxol has a hand tied behind its back, Mr Donaldson disagrees and counters that he believes it’s an advantage.
“We’re very agile, we can make very quick decisions. We’re very balance- sheet driven and thankfully we’re well-financed,” he says.
“We have an adequate fighting fund for what we need to do, both in terms of our existing core business and also for where we may wish to diversify.”
A native of Comber in Co Down, Mr Donaldson is something of a Maxol lifer. He’s worked at the business for more than 30 years, having started as a graduate trainee and taken on roles ranging from marketing manager to retail manager to area manager.
In that sense, there can be few if any people who know the business better. Knowledge of the past and present doesn’t necessarily provide knowledge about the future, but Mr Donaldson has a background in examining consumer behaviour from his very first role at the company.
They’ve taken on a number of data analytics experts in order to inform decisions about what they should do at individual sites. Mr Donaldson is planning to overhaul 70 stores this year and is beginning to look at what should be done with the more marginal sites in the company’s network.
Some may become food-only — so-called ‘dry sites’. Others may be fuel only, and still others may be sold off or used to build apartments, Mr Donaldson said.
All of this is part of his focus on growing the business in whatever way presents the opportunity for the best growth.
“You need to have an open mind to your business,” Mr Donaldson says.
The Irish government’s plans to boost infrastructure spending should present an opportunity for growth but, as things stand, it’s difficult for the company to find attractive new sites.
Mr Donaldson says site owners’ expectations are perhaps a little bit ahead of where they should be and expresses a warning to companies who take on sites at high leases — Maxol prefers to own its stores as freehold.