The news: Convenience-store operator RaceTrac will acquire sandwich chain Potbelly in a $566 million cash deal that’s expected to close in Q4.
- Family-owned RaceTrac runs more than 800 convenience stores under its RaceTrac and RaceWay brands, as well as about 1,200 Gulf-branded locations across the US and Puerto Rico. Potbelly operates 445 shops nationwide.
- Potbelly CEO Robert Wright said the two companies will continue as separate brands after the deal closes.
Why it matters:
- For RaceTrac, the deal strengthens its foodservice offerings, which is an increasingly critical revenue driver for convenience stores. Roughly 1 in 5 convenience-store customers (21%) bought a sandwich or meal on their last visit, per a recent National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) survey. Food has more than doubled its share of in-store sales over the past two decades, rising from 11.9% in 2004 to 27.7% in 2024, per NACS’ latest data.
- For Potbelly, the deal could accelerate its expansion plan to grow to 2,000 locations. While the chain, which went public in 2013, has outperformed many of its peers in recent quarters, going private gives it room to scale outside the glare of public markets.
Our take: RaceTrac’s Potbelly buy is a move in the C-store foodservice arms race, giving it instant credibility as rivals like 7-Eleven and Wawa expand fresh-meal offerings to capture in-store traffic.