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Date
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025 at 5 p.m. ET
Call participants
Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer — Arie Kotler
Interim Chief Financial Officer — Jordan Mann
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Takeaways
Adjusted EBITDA -- Adjusted EBITDA for Q3 2025 was $75.2 million, down from $78.8 million in the prior-year period, driven primarily by softer retail segment performance.
Retail operating income -- Retail segment operating income for Q3 2025 was approximately $77.5 million, down from $85.1 million in the prior-year period, with segment-level softness reflected in same-store metrics.
Wholesale operating income -- Wholesale segment operating income for Q3 2025 was $24.1 million, up from $20.3 million in the prior-year period, supported by 7.5% volume growth over the prior-year period and dealer conversions.
Fleet fueling operating income -- Fleet fueling segment operating income for Q3 2025 was $12.2 million, slightly down from $12.6 million in the prior-year period, with total gallons decreasing 1.6% and margin rising by 2.3¢ per gallon over the prior-year period.
Same-store merchandise sales (excluding cigarettes) -- Same-store merchandise sales excluding cigarettes declined 0.9% in Q3 2025 compared to the prior-year period, while total same-store merchandise sales were down 2.2%; both improved sequentially from Q2 2025.
Same-store merchandise margin rate -- Up approximately 60 basis points year-over-year.
Same-store fuel contribution -- Decreased by approximately $1.3 million, with same-store gallons down 4.7% and margin per gallon up 1.5¢ to 43.8¢.
Same-store operating expenses -- Increased approximately 1.8%.
Dealerization progress -- As of Sept. 30, 2025, 350 stores have been converted since 2024, with approximately 185 additional sites committed for conversion as of Q3 2025; targeted annualized operating income benefit exceeds $20 million before G&A.
Structural G&A savings -- Identified over $10 million in annual expected savings from dealerization, with further upside anticipated.
Fast Rewards loyalty program -- Average daily enrollment grew 37% in Q3 2025. Total membership reached approximately 2.4 million at quarter end, and member spend averaged $110 monthly (53% above nonmembers) as of Q3 2025.
OTP (Other Tobacco Products) performance -- Basket size grew approximately 16% compared to the same quarter last year and OTP same-store sales increased 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year, with margin rate up over 300 basis points.
Net income -- Net income for Q3 2025 was $13.5 million, up from $9.7 million in Q3 2024, with improved net interest expense and lower fair value adjustments on warrants contributing.
Long-term debt (excluding lease liabilities) -- Long-term debt as of Q3 2025 was $911.6 million, with quarter-end liquidity of approximately $890 million, including $307 million in cash.
Share repurchase -- Approximately 935,000 shares were repurchased in Q3 2025, indicating ongoing allocation to shareholder returns.
Q4 guidance -- Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 2025 is expected to be $50 million to $60 million, with retail store count expected to be approximately 1,150; merchandise sales per store forecast to be up low to mid-single digits, offset by expected same-store sales declines.
Full-year guidance -- Adjusted EBITDA guidance for full year 2025 updated to $233 million to $243 million, reflecting year-to-date performance.
Summary
Arko (ARKO +2.49%) management emphasized the execution of its dealerization program and structural cost initiatives as central to longer-term earnings growth. Sequential improvement was evident in several same-store and margin metrics, with growth in loyalty program adoption reinforcing higher in-store spend. Strategic investments in high-return capital projects and new-to-industry formats were highlighted. Wholesale and fleet fueling segments displayed resilience, with margin expansion during the quarter partially offsetting volume decreases from the prior-year period.
Chief Executive Officer Kotler said, "once fully scaled, we expect this program to deliver a cumulative annualized operating income benefit as our dealerization efforts of more than $20 million before G&A continue."
Mann noted, "our channel optimization program, which has generated approximately $6.5 million in incremental operating income before G&A in the first nine months of 2025."
Kotler explained that recent portfolio shifts enable higher cash flow conversion by reducing maintenance CapEx by $15 million to $20 million across 550 stores scheduled for dealerization.
Management expressed continued confidence in margin sustainability, citing vendor-supported promotions as the primary driver and indicating further expansion into 2026.
Industry glossary
Dealerization: The process of converting company-operated retail stores to locations operated by third-party dealers under contract, shifting revenue and cost structure.
CloudLock: A type of unmanned fleet fueling site ("cardlock") targeting commercial fleet customers with secure, automated fuel access.
OTP: "Other Tobacco Products," referring to tobacco products aside from cigarettes, including cigars and smokeless tobacco.
NTI: "New-to-Industry," referencing new store sites built from the ground up rather than acquired or converted.
PACBAB: A category abbreviation in retail store merchandising; further context from company materials would be required for precise definition.
Full Conference Call Transcript
Arie Kotler: And thank you all for joining. Our team delivered a strong quarter of execution, staying disciplined and focusing on what we can control. Stepping back, we are operating in an environment where consumers are still feeling stressed, as reflected in consumer sentiment data throughout this year. This has resulted in more deliberate shopping behavior, greater price sensitivity, and increased reliance on loyalty-driven offers. These dynamics are consistent with what we are hearing across the industry, and they are shaping how we approach promotions and value across our business. It is important to recognize that consumer behavior is not uniform across our footprint.
We are seeing healthier trends in the Northeast, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic, while the Midwest and other select markets remain under pressure, reflecting broader regional differences in household budgets and fuel demand. Industry feedback suggests these patterns are consistent across the channel, particularly in rural markets where store traffic remains under pressure. Despite these headwinds, we are executing on our controllables to ensure our long-term opportunities remain intact. Our same-store sales, excluding cigarettes, for the quarter was nearly flat, representing the best comp performance we have seen in the last eighteen months. We continue to believe Arko's transformation plan will make the business stronger, more efficient, and better aligned with consumer trends.
Now I will provide an update on the core elements of our transformation plan, beginning with dealerization. Dealerization continued to be one of the most meaningful drivers of our plan. Since 2024, we have converted approximately 350 stores as of 09/30/2025, with an aggregate of approximately 185 additional sites committed for future conversion, which are currently under a letter of intent or contract or have been converted since the end of the quarter. Daily performance from locations that transitioned six or more months ago continues to meet our expectations and validates the benefits of this approach, both in reduced overhead and improved operating efficiency.
Behind these initial stores dealerized or under a letter of intent or contract, we see an additional opportunity to round out our dealerization strategy in 2026, with a meaningful number of conversions to come. As we have stated before, once fully scaled, we expect this program to deliver a cumulative annualized operating income benefit as our dealerization efforts of more than $20 million before G&A continue. We have identified more than $10 million in expected annual structural G&A savings, with the opportunity for additional upside.
As we continue to execute the dealerization program, we expect the benefits will increase and be further reflected in our financial performance and free cash flow generation moving forward, particularly given the savings from maintenance CapEx. Dealerizations remain central to how we plan to drive more consistent return and long-term value creation for shareholders. Our Fueling America's Future campaign and Fast Rewards loyalty platform continue to play a central role in deepening customer relationships and driving engagement in our retail stores. These programs not only help us stay relevant with consumers, who are seeking more value in every trip, they drive incrementally and provide a valuable lever, which we believe can improve same-store sales performance over time.
Average daily loyalty enrollment for our Fast Rewards program grew 37% in the quarter and 43% from the beginning of the promotion compared to the average daily loyalty enrollment prior to the campaign. During the quarter, we saw continued Fast Rewards members grow, adding nearly 35,000 new enrollees to reach approximately 2.4 million total enrolled members at quarter end. Our enrolled customers spend approximately $110 per month, or 53% more compared to nonmembers, and pump-to-store conversion is at 55% of visits year-to-date for enrolled members. These engagement metrics reinforce the value of the program and highlight the behavior differences that make Fast Rewards a key contributor to in-store performance.
As consumers remain increasingly value-conscious, our loyalty program meets their demands for everyday savings and convenience while reinforcing Arko's relevance at the pump and in-store. Fueling America's Future remains an ongoing part of our value strategy into 2026. While we have seen continued growth in loyalty engagement, we also recognize that total program penetration is still developing, creating a runway for future growth. To build on this momentum, we plan to launch a new version of our app by 2026. This platform will introduce enhanced technology and new benefits, including improved reporting, personalization, gamification, and geofencing capabilities, just to name a few, that we expect will deepen customer engagement and drive incremental traffic.
Our investment in other tobacco products and refreshed back bar layout also continue to drive positive results. Our OTP basket grew by approximately 16% compared to the same quarter last year. OTP same-store sales were up 6.6% as compared to the same quarter of last year, along with a margin rate increase of more than 300 basis points. Our redesigned back bars deliver better product visibility, a more modern presentation, and stronger promotions. This initiative is a key highlight in our merchandising strategy. It is driving incremental traffic, higher margins, and improved category mix while allowing us to compete more effectively in a value-conscious environment. During the quarter, we made steady progress on our store remodel program.
Our first remodel location reopened earlier this year, one additional location opened in early August 2025, and a third location is planned for 2025, with several more that are moving through permitting and construction phases and are planned to open in 2026. While only two of our new format stores are complete and operating, we are pleased with the results thus far. The growth we are experiencing by category in these stores has been as planned and has continued to improve.
These new format stores are built around a food-forward model that emphasizes grab-and-go breakfast, lunch, and snacking, bakery, pizza, and an expanded dispensed hot, cold, and frozen beverages assortment, all supported by improved layouts and a better overall customer experience. Turning to our new-to-industry stores, we continue to expand our presence through select and targeted opportunities. We opened a Dunkin' store and two new-to-industry stores so far this year and have begun working on three more NTI stores, of which two are targeted to open in 2025.
Our latest NTI location in Kingston, North Carolina, exceeded our plan for the quarter, with food and beverage contributing 23% of merchandise sales, which is multiples higher than the food and beverage contribution of our same-store network. These investments are focused on high-traffic, high-visibility sites, where we can introduce the full Arko offering, from fresh food to fuel and loyalty-driven promotions, supported by a modern, scalable design. Turning to fuel performance, our results reflected broader industry demand trends this quarter. Our disciplined pricing strategy and network optimization drove strong per-gallon margin performance, allowing us to deliver solid fuel contribution even as gallons modestly declined. The quarter ended with same-store gallons trending better than Q2, with September performance improving from August.
Our approach remains consistent: prioritize profitability over volume and leverage our scale to capture opportunity when market conditions allow. As the dealerization rollout continues, we are also seeing the benefits of our more diversified and stable fuel contribution base across our retail, wholesale, and fleet fueling channels. Our wholesale and fleet fueling businesses remain strong contributors and key growth engines for Arko. Dealerization-driven site conversions have expanded our wholesale footprint, driving mid to high single-digit growth in wholesale fuel contribution. The fuel distribution industry is highly fragmented, providing ample opportunity for acquisition given our size and scale. In fleet fueling, disciplined customer management and pricing supported stable margins and consistent volumes, even amid softer industry fuel demand.
Looking ahead, we are advancing a number of new CloudLock locations for 2026, reflecting the attractive recurring cash flow profile of this business and its growing role in Arko's long-term strategy. We continue to see compelling value in our common stock and repurchased approximately 935,000 shares in the third quarter. We have the flexibility to continue investing in our highest return opportunities: dealerization, remodels, and strategic growth in wholesale and fleet fueling. Our priorities are clear, while maintaining a balanced approach to shareholder returns: strengthening the balance sheet, executing on our transformation plan, and driving sustainable long-term value creation.
I will now turn the call over to Jordan to review financial results for the third quarter and discuss our outlook for the fourth quarter and full year 2025. Thank you, Arie. Good afternoon, everyone. Before I begin,
Jordan Mann: I'd like to note that this is my first earnings call as Interim CFO. I'm grateful for the opportunity to step into this role and continue working closely with Arie and our leadership team. Now turning to third quarter 2025 results. Adjusted EBITDA was $75.2 million for the quarter, slightly above the midpoint of our guidance. This compares to $78.8 million in the year-ago period, with the decrease caused primarily by softer retail performance. At the segment level, our retail segment contributed operating income of approximately $77.5 million compared to $85.1 million in the year-ago period. Same-store merchandise sales, excluding cigarettes, were down 0.9% versus the year-ago period, while total same-store merchandise sales were down 2.2%.
Both showed sequential improvement from the second quarter. Same-store merchandise margin rate was up approximately 60 basis points versus the prior year. Same-store fuel contribution was down approximately $1.3 million for the quarter, with a 4.7% decline in gallons partially offset by an increase of 1.5¢ per gallon of fuel margin. Same-store fuel margin was 43.8¢ per gallon for the quarter. Same-store operating expenses were up approximately 1.8% for the quarter. Turning to our wholesale segment, operating income was $24.1 million for the quarter, versus $20.3 million in the year-ago period. Fuel margin was 9.6¢ per gallon, in line with the year-ago period.
Gallons were up approximately 7.5% to the year-ago period, driven by approximately 24.5 million incremental gallons from retail sites converted to dealers since 2024. Excluding channel optimization, gallons were down approximately 2.7% at comparable wholesale sites. We continue to be pleased with the impact of our channel optimization program, which has driven approximately $6.5 million in incremental operating income before G&A for the first nine months of 2025. For our fleet fueling segment, operating income was $12.2 million for the quarter, versus $12.6 million for the year-ago period, with total gallons down 1.6% as compared to the prior year period. Fuel margin for the quarter was 45.8¢ per gallon, up from 43.5¢ per gallon in the prior year period.
Total company general and administrative expenses for the quarter were $40 million versus $38.6 million for the year-ago period. The year-over-year increase in G&A was driven by a $1.7 million increase in share-based compensation expense. As we continue the dealerization of our company-operated stores, we expect to see the favorable impact on our G&A moving forward. Net interest and other financial expenses for the quarter were $20.1 million compared to $23.6 million in the year-ago period, with the decrease primarily related to lower average interest rates in 2025 and a decrease in fair value adjustments primarily related to our warrants. Net income for the quarter was $13.5 million compared to net income of $9.7 million for the year-ago period.
Please reference our press release for a detailed reconciliation of net income to adjusted EBITDA. Turning to the balance sheet, excluding lease-related financing liabilities, we ended the third quarter with $911.6 million in long-term debt. We maintain substantial liquidity of approximately $890 million, including approximately $307 million in cash on hand at quarter end, along with remaining availability on our lines of credit. Total capital expenditures for the quarter were $24.9 million. Looking at our guidance for our fourth quarter, we expect adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $50 million to $60 million. This guidance is based on the following key segment assumptions.
First, for our retail segment, we expect our Q4 2025 average retail store count to be approximately 1,150 sites. On a per-store average basis, we expect merchandise sales to be up low to mid-single digits, reflecting the higher productivity of our retained stores versus the year-ago period, partially offset by same-store merchandise sales performance, which is positioned down low to mid-single digits. Again, on a per-store average basis, we expect gallons to be up mid-single digits, reflecting the higher productivity of retained stores versus the year-ago period, partially offset by same-store gallon performance, which is positioned down mid-single digits. We are modeling total retail fuel margin in the range of 42.5 to 44.5¢ per gallon.
For our wholesale segment, we expect mid-teens operating income growth driven by our ongoing channel optimization work. For our fleet fueling segment, we expect operating income growth to be down mid to high single digits, driven by gallons roughly in line with the prior year on a lower cents per gallon compared to the elevated environment last year. Turning to the full year, we are updating our adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $233 million to $243 million. This updated range reflects our performance year-to-date. With that, I'll hand it back to Arie for closing remarks.
Arie Kotler: Thanks, Jordan. I'm proud of the way our team continues to execute through a challenging environment. We've maintained discipline, managed our controllables, and stayed focused on the long-term transformation of our business. As we look ahead, our priorities are clear: complete our dealerization program, continue driving loyalty-led engagement, and execute the next phase of our growth strategy. We're entering the final quarter of the year with focus, momentum, and confidence in the actions we're taking to position Arko for 2026 and beyond. Operator, please open the line for questions. Thank you. Now we can update a question and answer session.
Operator: Our first question is from Bobby Griffin with Raymond James. And, Jordan, congrats on the appointment.
Bobby Griffin: Thank you, Bobby. I guess, first, I wanted to talk a little bit about store remodels. You gave out an interesting stat there about, I believe, the merchandise side of things and the food service popping up as a percentage of sales. What is the opportunity or what's the pathway to kind of accelerate this? When you look at seven stores on your store base, it's pretty tiny. So how can we accelerate this and kind of what's the time frame along that given that you're seeing some good results from the early pilots?
Arie Kotler: Sure. Good afternoon, Bobby. Well, we started with seven stores, and as I mentioned earlier, we are already working at the moment, you know, increasing the number of stores in the region that, you know, we're working on the seven stores at the moment. You know, we are seeing encouraging results. No question about it. You know, we mentioned the food service. So, you know, the NPI that we opened in Kingston, out of the gate, just exceeded, you know, the 20% food and beverage mix target that, you know, that was our target. You know, as long as those stores perform, you know, for the first twelve months, but for some reason, this store really, really exceeded the performance.
You know, because of that, you know, we are working on additional stores that will come along immediately as we complete the, you know, the first seven stores. We're already working on identifying those stores, and I'm assuming that's going to be probably another 20, 25 stores, and that will come on board immediately after the seven. You know, the name of the game, of course, is going to be food service, food service, food service, and core categories. This is really what we are going to concentrate on going into 2026.
Bobby Griffin: Okay. And I want to maybe switch gears and hit on the dealerization aspect a little bit. I believe you disclosed 185 more under letters of intent, and then you think there's an opportunity to continue some of this work in '26. I mean, without putting a number out there of how many potential stores, I'm just curious, when you look at the book of retail stores that are not up for dealerization, that you will keep when you're ultimately done with this work, what is the difference in those stores' performance on a comp basis? Because investors do have concerns here about the same-store sales of the retail network, and I know there's a lot of things moving around.
If you could share anything on gallons or merchandise or even CPG, of what the potential portfolio looks like versus kind of what the results we're seeing now, that'd be helpful.
Arie Kotler: Yeah. I cannot, you know, comment, Bobby, in particular on the stores, but what I can say is that, you know, we are targeting stores that, you know, we actually can have an economy of scale. You know, in the script, I mentioned earlier that there are some differences between, you know, regions in the country. You know, if you're looking at different regions in the country, we feel the Northeast, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic states, those are the areas that, you know, we have a lot of economy of scale.
You know, the market, you know, is paying, you know, from an economy standpoint, from, you know, from the, you know, volatility in the market, we feel that there is a lot of opportunity for us. I mean, that's the reason we started the seven stores pilot in, you know, in the Mid-Atlantic space in Virginia. We believe that those are the stores that we're going to continue to grow in this part of the country. We're just seeing better results from the same-store sales, from, you know, from gallons, from margin, you know, core categories.
I mean, we just see, you know, great results in those parts of the country, and those are the areas that we would like to invest more and get more out of them. But, you know, I think the help with... Yep. Go ahead. Go ahead. I'm sorry. No. No. Go ahead. I'm sorry. No. I think the most important thing about dealerization is, you know, there's a few things that I would like to maybe reiterate on this call. You know, we took, you know, a meaningful amount of stores. We're converting them to basically to dealer. We are increasing this segment. You know, we have the wholesale segment and the fleet segment, but we're increasing the wholesale segment.
And, you know, not only that we see, you know, also an increase in EBITDA, in those basically moving from retail to wholesale, the conversion to cash flow is also much higher. I just want to remind you that, you know, we spend on a store about $2,025,000 for, basically, for maintenance CapEx. That's what we usually spend in, you know, roughly per year. So if you think about it, you know, we're talking about 550 stores that we are converting from, basically, from retail to dealer. Not only that we're talking about a $20 million or so, you know, in EBITDA uplift, we're also talking about spending less money on maintenance CapEx.
You know, the number I just quoted right now is probably between $15 to $20 million just on CapEx that all of a sudden, we're not going to spend over here. And like I said, the conversion for, you know, when you move those stores from retail to wholesale, the conversion to, you know, free cash flow, it's much, much higher. And I think that's something that we need to point out on this call because cash flow is very important for us as we move along.
Bobby Griffin: Yep. That makes sense. And I guess, just lastly for me, Arie, in your prepared remarks, you called out the fleet card segment as an area for some new location growth in '26. Just curious if you can unpack that opportunity a little bit more. Where do you see, like, how big of a white space do you see there? Is that all organic, or is there an opportunity for tuck-in M&A there again? Just curious kind of what that opportunity could look like over the next couple of years.
Arie Kotler: I'm talking about building additional sites. As you know, the fleet segment, it's very, very fragmented. There's not a lot of companies like us that are operating in this arena. I think we are one of the largest ones in the country. You know, we have today 280 sites. We see a lot of opportunities in the market as we operate and outside the markets we operate. Just for your benefit, to build a CloudLock, it's anywhere between $1 million to $2 million. That's the cost to build a CloudLock versus when you build a new-to-industry store, you're talking about $6 to $8 million. Card lock, it's much, you know, call it less expensive on one end.
On the other end, it's also an operating standpoint, I mean, it's, you know, it's unmanned. It's unmanned. And as you can see, we operate those, you know, we operate the 280 card locks. You know, we entered into this in 2022. We generate a lot of cash, a lot of free cash flow from those assets. And we just see that this is another great opportunity for us, you know, to increase the number of CloudLocks that we operate. We already identified five, and going into 2026, we identified five, and the idea is to build more into 2026. I mean, as I said, currently, we found five that we are actually tackling at the moment.
And the same thing goes, by the way, to the wholesale segment. As you can see right now, we're spending a lot of time moving stores and configuring, you know, the best way to position our company. And, you know, also, continue to be also a great opportunity for us.
Bobby Griffin: Thank you, Arie. Thank you, Jordan. Best of luck here in the fourth quarter.
Arie Kotler: Thank you very much, Bobby.
Operator: Now our next question is from Benjamin Wood with BMO Capital Markets.
Benjamin Wood: Hey. Good afternoon, guys. And this is Ben on behalf of Kelly Bania and BMO. And congrats, Jordan, as well. Wanted to start with the improvement on some of the organic metrics you saw sequentially. Wondering if you can help frame how much of that improvement was better store trends versus benefiting from having maybe a better performing or more efficient store base as a result of the dealerization?
Arie Kotler: Sure. I will start with remarks, and then I will let maybe Jordan jump in if you have anything else to add. So I think the performance that you see, not only that, you know, I mentioned that this quarter was probably one of our best quarters for the past eighteen months, you know, from a trend standpoint. But it's not only that the sales ex-cigarettes were almost flat compared to the prior year. I think it's really all about the things that we did in 2025. You know, we started with OTP. You saw what happened to OTP. OTP, you know, OTP was basically up 6.6%, margin improvement of 300 basis points.
In addition to that, we basically outperformed in many categories like candy, PacBab, for example. And those categories are the categories that really drive the margin up. So it's not only that the performance is better, it's also that the mix that we are having over there, it's a better mix. The mix drives the margin up. And like I said, I think we started a full TP at the beginning with the back bar, then we went to Fueling America. I think the loyalty platform that we have, with the Fueling America campaign that we have, you know, we are selling right now items that, you know, actually have a high margin.
And, you know, on top of it, of course, you know, I mentioned OTP, but OTP also drives traffic. So I think between the Backbar investment and the Fueling America investment, along with loyalty, that's what really drives the result. And I think right now, you see, you know, you start to see more and more and more quarter after quarter, you start to see that the results are just improving. And you, you know, you can, like I said, you see it in margin. I mean, we increased margin again this quarter, and quarter after quarter, we continue to increase margin.
And I think this is, you know, that's all because of those promotions that we are having out there.
Jordan Mann: Yeah. Ben, the only thing I would add is if you look at, you know, the prepared remarks in the guide from last quarter, we talked about it seems to, you know, seems to underlying same-store sales and same-store gallon trends. And on an average per-store basis, we were roughly in line with what we guided, which means to me that the productivity of those stores was in line with what we expected, if not a little bit better. So you are seeing the benefit from higher productive stores in that base of stores that we've retained.
Benjamin Wood: Great. That's helpful. And just as a quick follow-up on that, are you able to give any details on kind of monthly cadence and how things are looking quarter to date? I know we started July off pretty strong, I believe, we talked about. But how did the rest of the quarter end up as far as cadence?
Arie Kotler: Well, I think July was very, very strong. I think August declined a little bit, and I think September started to come up. So it's really like I said, I think overall, the quarter was a good quarter. Unfortunately, August was a little bit lighter than July. But as I said, September started to come back, you know, a little bit better. And that's how we ended up the, like I said, that's how we ended up the quarter. With, you know, very, very close to flat on sales excluding cigarettes. You know, at the same time, you probably saw, we also were able to, you know, get a higher CPG over here, you know, during this quarter.
I mean, our CPG is 2.3¢ better than the prior year.
Benjamin Wood: That's great. And then, Arie, you give a lot of color on the work you're doing to drive the gross margin expansion, and it continues to come in above at least our expectations. I just wanted to know how should we think about where the upper limit is of your gross margins? And it sounds like it's all benefiting from promotions, but are you still as competitive on your pricing across the store? Just the sustainability of margins, please?
Arie Kotler: Yeah. We continue to be competitive. I think the margin increase is really from, you know, the heavy promotions that we're doing with our vendors. And I can tell you that, you know, we started Fueling America with, you know, x amount of vendors. And as we start to show results and as we start to, you know, show those vendors how they can actually grab market share, more and more and more and more suppliers have decided to basically join the program. I can tell you that going into 2026, Fueling America is going to actually continue to be one of our top promotions. And I think that's what you see over here.
You know, it's really, you know, all of those promotions are supported 100% by our vendors. I mean, they see the results, and that's why they are participating. So I think the, you know, we believe that, you know, this is sustainable. The improvement that you see over here. There is a lot of work put into it. I want to be, you know, I want to be very clear. This is something that our category managers and our, you know, team is working really, really hard, you know, to put those programs together. And like I said, you know, we expanded merchandise margin and, you know, multiple consecutive quarters.
And I believe this is sustainable, and we're going to just continue to improve it as we move along with those promotions.
Benjamin Wood: Right. Thank you, guys. Best of luck.
Operator: Thank you, Ben.
Jordan Mann: Thanks, Ben.
Arie Kotler: Thank you. Our next question is from Daniel Guglielmo with Capital One Securities.
Daniel Guglielmo: Hi, everyone. Thank you for taking my question. Just following up on the various capital spend projects, so modeling stores, new NTI retail, and new NTI cardlock. Is there one of those project types that you think offers the best returns right now? And how do you think about CapEx allocations for each of the twenty and twenty-seven?
Arie Kotler: You know, Daniel, we started with those seven stores. And, you know, we said on average, we spend around a million dollars, a million, a million one on those stores. You know, we throw a lot of things into those stores to make sure that, you know, we concentrate on food service. You know, as we move along into 2026 and as we add more stores, you know, the idea is really to scale it moving forward. So, you know, to adjust cost and, you know, scale the price, scale the cost, you know, moving forward. In addition to that, you know, of course, our focus remains on maintaining, you know, flexibility, you know, to deploy capital towards high-return opportunities.
So, you know, the seven stores, not significant, but as we move along over here, you know, we're measuring, you know, return on investment on each and every capital project. And the ones that we feel will actually provide us the best return, those are the ones that we are going to utilize. That's one of the reasons I mentioned earlier, converting over 500 stores eliminates approximately $15 to $18 million in, you know, maintenance CapEx. And, you know, when you have this, you know, free cash available, you know, that's going to help us to invest in some of the other projects, you know, to increase our return.
Daniel Guglielmo: Great. I appreciate that. And it actually segues into my next question. So I know that the majority of the dealers that take over converted retail stores are mom and pops. In this difficult consumer environment, has their appetite for taking on conversions changed at all? And then maybe you can just remind us why these dealers can take on the lower margin properties and still make the economics work for their businesses.
Arie Kotler: I don't think it's the lower margin, by the way, Daniel. It's not in particular the lower margin. It's, you know, we have decided to take stores that do not meet our, you know, return on investment criteria. We have decided to take stores that are, you know, in areas where we don't have maybe a large concentration. And at the end of the day, you know, if you're looking at this industry, you know, I'm, like I said, I'm here from 2003, twenty-two years. The number of mom and pop stores in terms of percentage didn't really change.
I mean, twenty years ago, it was, I don't know, 65, 70% of the stores in the US were mom and pop. And if you're looking today, it's exactly 65, 70% of stores are still mom and pop. You know, those guys are very entrepreneurial. They concentrate on one or two stores. You know, they spend all of their time in the store. They, you know, they come up with many ideas that, you know, that they can add to the stores, which we can't. You know, as a large company, you know, I can't tell my guys just to sell different types of foods in, you know, in different stores and different, in basically in different regions.
I mean, we have to be very, very consistent. You know, those guys are, like I said, are very entrepreneurial, and they know how to, you know, to make things better, you know, in some areas, and that's why they're very, very successful. And that's why there's still 65, 70% of them are mom and pop.
Daniel Guglielmo: Great. Thank you. I appreciate that color and the clarification.
Operator: Thank you.
Jordan Mann: Thank you.
Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to hand the floor back over to Arie Kotler for any closing comments.
Arie Kotler: Thank you very much, everybody, for participating this evening in our earnings call. I wish you guys all the best, and happy holidays ahead of us.
Operator: This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.