UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023

OR

For the transition period from to .

Commission file number 001-39828

ARKO Corp.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

______________________________________________

8565 Magellan Parkway

Suite 400

Richmond, Virginia 23227-1150

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes  No 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes  No 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes  No 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes  No 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ý

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No 

As of June 30, 2023, the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed second quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant's common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $653.8 million based on the closing price as reported on the Nasdaq Capital Market on that date. For purposes of determining this number, all named executive officers and directors of the registrant as of June 30, 2023 were considered affiliates of the registrant. This number is provided only for the purposes of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and does not represent an admission by either the registrant or any such person as to the affiliate status of such person.

As of February 26, 2024, the registrant had 116,180,186 shares of its common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (“common stock”) outstanding.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking statements,” as that term is defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PSLRA”), Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Forward-looking statements include statements about our expectations, beliefs or intentions regarding our product development efforts, business, financial condition, results of operations, strategies or prospects. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that these statements do not relate strictly to historical or current matters. Rather, forward-looking statements relate to anticipated or expected events, activities, trends or results as of the date they are made. Because forward-looking statements relate to matters that have not yet occurred, these statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Many factors could cause our actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in forward-looking statements. These factors include those described in “Item 1A-Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law. We intend that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the PSLRA. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and reflect our views as of the date they are made with respect to future events and financial performance.

Risks and uncertainties, the occurrence of which could adversely affect our business, include the following:

Table of Contents

PART I

Unless the context otherwise requires, all references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the “Company,” “ARKO,” “we,” “our,” “ours,” and “us” refer to ARKO Corp., a Delaware corporation, including our consolidated subsidiaries.

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Overview

Based in Richmond, VA, ARKO Corp. is a leading independent convenience store operator and, as of December 31, 2023, we were the sixth largest convenience store chain in the United States (“U.S.”) ranked by store count, operating 1,543 retail convenience stores. As of December 31, 2023, we operated our stores under more than 25 regional store brands that have been in existence for an average of approximately 50 years, which we consider “a Family of Community Brands.” We leverage their long-term community involvement, highly recognizable brands and customer loyalty in their respective markets. While maintaining established diversified store brands, our stores derive significant value from the scale, corporate infrastructure and centralized marketing programs associated with our large network, including a common operating platform and a loyalty program network that we use as a platform for promotions and marketing initiatives throughout our convenience stores. Our fas REWARDS® loyalty program with approximately 2.0 million enrolled members is available in the majority of our stores and offers exclusive savings on merchandise and gas to our enrolled members.

We are also a leading wholesale distributor of motor fuel, and as of December 31, 2023, we supplied fuel to 1,825 dealer locations. Additionally, we operate a fleet fueling business that included, as of December 31, 2023, the operation of 298 proprietary and third-party cardlock locations (unstaffed fueling locations) and issuance of proprietary fuel cards that provide customers access to a nationwide network of fueling sites.

We are diversified geographically and, as of December 31, 2023, operated in the District of Columbia and in more than 30 states in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwestern, Northeastern, Southeastern and Southwestern U.S.

We have achieved strong site count growth over the last decade, primarily by implementing a highly successful acquisition strategy. From 2013 through 2023, we completed 25 acquisitions, and our site count has grown from 320 sites in 2011 to 3,666 sites as of December 31, 2023.We believe that our acquired locations combined with our scalable infrastructure create a strong platform for future growth within the highly fragmented convenience store industry through both strategic acquisitions and organic growth. With approximately 69% of the convenience store market composed of chains with 50 or fewer locations as of December 2022, we believe that there is ample opportunity to continue to consolidate. We have traditionally acquired our stores in smaller towns that have lower concentrations of national-chain convenience stores. Approximately 45% of our retail stores are in cities with populations of fewer than 20,000 people, and approximately 24% of our retail stores are in cities with populations between 20,000 and 50,000 people. We believe that our focus on secondary and tertiary markets allows us to preserve “local” brand name recognition and align local market needs with capital investment.

Corporate Information

ARKO Corp. was incorporated under the laws of Delaware on August 26, 2020 for the purpose of facilitating the business combination of Haymaker Acquisition Corp. II, a Delaware corporation, and ARKO Holdings Ltd., a company organized under the laws of the State of Israel. Our shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (“common stock”), and publicly-traded warrants are listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbols “ARKO” and “ARKOW,” respectively.

We own, indirectly, 100% of GPM Investments, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company that was formed on June 12, 2002, which we refer to as GPM, and which is our primary operating entity.

Our Business Segments

Retail Segment

Our primary business is the operation of convenience stores, and we generate a significant portion of our revenue from the retail sale of products and the fuel at our stores. Consequently, our retail stores generate a large proportion of our profitability. We intentionally focus our marketing and merchandising initiatives at our retail stores to offer our customers an assortment of products with an attractive value proposition. Our retail store offering includes a wide array of cold and hot foodservice, beverages, cigarettes and other tobacco products, candy, salty snacks, grocery, beer and general merchandise. We have foodservice offerings at approximately 1,260 retail stores, which include hot and fresh grab-n-go foods, deli, fried chicken, bakery, pizza, roller grill items and other prepared foods. In 2024, we launched an extensive new pizza program that offers private label pizza, at an attractive value of $4.99 for enrolled loyalty members, which is currently offered at more than 1,000 stores as take-and-bake from the freezer, and

currently available at approximately 225 of those stores also as fresh and hot pizza either whole or by the slice. We supplement our foodservice offering with approximately 150 quick service major national brand restaurants. Additionally, we provide a number of traditional convenience store services that generate additional income, including lottery, prepaid products, gift cards, money orders, ATMs, gaming, and other ancillary product and service offerings. We also generate revenues from car washes at approximately 95 of our locations. Almost all stores sell fuel, and we had 70 electric vehicle (“EV”) chargers at 19 stores as of December 31, 2023.

We operate our stores under more than 25 regional store brands (which we consider “a Family of Community Brands”), including 1-Stop, Admiral, Apple Market®, BreadBox, Corner Mart, Dixie Mart, ExpressStop®, E-Z Mart®, fas mart®, fastmarket®, Flash Market, Handy Mart, Jetz, Jiffi Stop®, Jiffy Stop, Li’l Cricket, Market Express, Next Door Store®, Pride, Roadrunner Markets, Rose Mart, Rstore, Scotchman®, shore stop®, Speedy’s, Town Star, Uncle’s, Village Pantry® and Young’s.

Our acquired brands have been in existence for an average of approximately 50 years, and their names are highly recognizable to local customers. By maintaining the regional store branding of our acquired stores, we believe we retain the goodwill associated with the respective brands’ long-term community involvement. Concurrently, our Family of Community Brands benefits significantly from being part of a leading convenience store operator given their access to:

For the year ended December 31, 2023, the retail segment generated total revenues of approximately $5.8 billion, including approximately $1.9 billion of in-store sales and other revenues. Gross profit dollars from in-store merchandise accounted for 53.4% of our gross profit dollars from our retail segment for the year ended December 31, 2023. In addition, the retail segment sold a total of more than 1.1 billion gallons of branded and unbranded fuel to our retail customers.

Wholesale Segment

The wholesale segment supplies fuel to dealers, sub-wholesalers and bulk and spot purchasers, on either a consignment or cost plus basis. The wholesale segment adds significant fuel volumes to the Company’s robust retail fuel sales, which we believe enhances our purchasing power for our entire platform, including our retail segment, and improves our competitiveness as an acquirer of choice.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, the wholesale segment sold 969.3 million gallons of fuel (approximately 43.2% of our total gallons sold in 2023), generating revenues of approximately $3.1 billion.

Fleet Fueling Segment

We added our fleet fueling segment as part of our acquisition of certain assets from Quarles Petroleum, Incorporated (“Quarles”) in July 2022 that included 184 cardlock locations, and we added an additional 111 cardlock locations in our 2023 acquisition of the GASCARD fleet fueling operations of WTG Fuels Holdings, LLC (the “WTG Acquisition”), one of the largest fleet fueling operations in West Texas. The fleet fueling segment includes the operation of proprietary and third-party cardlock locations (unstaffed fueling locations) with sales to commercial and municipal entities, and issuance of proprietary fuel cards that provide

customers access to a nationwide network of fueling sites. Fleet fueling complements our retail and wholesale segments, from which we believe we can grow and expand our fleet fueling segment. Commercial companies using the Quarles fleet cards have gradually shifted from the proprietary fleet card useable only at Quarles-branded locations to the “Universal” fleet card which is a cobranded with Voyager (U.S. Bank) and which can be used at more than 230,000 fleet fueling sites.

Diesel fuel accounts for approximately 82% of our fleet fueling sales, and, as opposed to retail volumes, commercial volumes have been less impacted by retail fuel consumption trends. Within our fleet fueling segment, we generally achieve fuel margins that are higher than those in our wholesale segment. The lack of on-site labor required to run these sites also generally offers us compelling economics.

As of December 31, 2023, we operated 298 cardlock locations, and, for the year ended December 31, 2023, the fleet fueling segment sold 140.8 million gallons of fuel, generating revenues of approximately $538.8 million.

GPMP Segment

The GPMP segment engages in the wholesale distribution of fuel to substantially all of our sites that sell fuel in the retail and wholesale segments and a limited number of third-party dealers and bulk purchasers. GPM Petroleum LP (“GPMP”) sells fuel at GPMP’s cost of fuel (including taxes and transportation) plus a fixed margin and charges a fixed fee primarily to sites in the fleet fueling segment which are not supplied by GPMP. We own 100% of the general partner of GPMP and, as of December 31, 2023, 99.8% of the GPMP limited partner units. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we own all of the GPMP limited partner units.

Growth Strategy

We believe that continuing to execute on our organic and inorganic strategies provides a significant opportunity to increase our sales and profitability. We constantly monitor macroeconomic factors such as interest rates, material costs, product availability, construction industry pricing, and the availability and cost of labor, and we closely analyze key performance indicators to calibrate our strategies between organic and inorganic initiatives, as described in further detail below.

Organic Growth Opportunities

Our current organic strategies are focused on improving the performance of our retail stores through enhanced marketing and merchandising initiatives across our brands, such as our loyalty program, which deepens our relationship with our customers, expanding our foodservice offering to meet our customers’ needs and enhancing our existing retail store base.

Foodservice Opportunity. Our current foodservice offering, which varies by store, primarily consists of hot and fresh grab-n-go foods, deli, fried chicken, bakery, pizza, roller grill items and other prepared foods. We have historically relied upon a limited number of franchised quick service restaurants and in-store delis to drive customer traffic. As a result, we believe that our under-penetration of foodservice presents an opportunity to expand foodservice offerings and margin in response to changing consumer behavior. In the third quarter of 2023, we created and filled a new role at GPM, Senior Vice President of Food Service, to evaluate our current foodservice offering and to expand our company-wide, cross-functional food strategy to position our stores as a food destination for our customers, scaled across our Family of Community Brands. In 2024, we launched an extensive new pizza program.

Other Enhanced Marketing Initiatives. We pursue numerous in-store sales growth and margin enhancement opportunities through marketing and merchandising initiatives across our expansive footprint, including, among others:

Remodels, Raze-and-Rebuilds and New-to-Industry Opportunities. We believe that we have an expansive, embedded opportunity to enhance our existing store base through several organic growth initiatives, including full and functional remodels, raze-and-rebuild and new-to-industry opportunities. In 2023, we continued to upgrade existing stores through functional remodels, such as adding bean-to-cup coffee offerings (added into more than 390 stores), roller grills (added into 47 stores), enhanced dispensed beverage offerings and our successful grab-n-go and freezer strategy. Further, in 2023, we opened three new Dunkin’ stores and one new Pride location, and we are planning three new-to-industry stores in 2024.

Inorganic Growth Opportunities

Our inorganic strategies focus on growing our store base in existing and contiguous markets through acquisitions.

Pursue Acquisitions in Existing and Contiguous Markets. We have a dedicated in-house M&A team that focuses on identifying, closing and integrating acquisitions. As an experienced acquirer, we have demonstrated our ability to generate strong returns on capital and meaningfully improve target performance post-integration through operating expertise and economies of scale. We believe that our business model provides us with strategic flexibility to acquire chains with retail, dealer and cardlock locations. We believe that our scale has enabled us to become a formidable industry player, enhanced our competitiveness, and positioned us as an acquirer of choice within the industry. As a “super-jobber” wholesaler, we believe we are better positioned to gain and renew supply contracts from dealers in addition to convenience store and wholesale fuel portfolios, and we incentivize our wholesale sales staff based on renewals. Additionally, we believe we can grow and expand the Company’s fleet fueling platform through further acquisitions, including in conjunction with our retail and wholesale acquisitions.

Additionally, as part of our post-acquisition process following the integration of our systems, we implement our store planograms and merchandise assortment in newly acquired stores and expand category footages where necessary in order to improve the performance of acquired stores. We believe our significant size and scale aids our efforts to successfully deploy our organic growth strategies in our acquired assets, which we anticipate will result in value accretion.

EV Opportunity. As part of our overall EV strategy, we pursue grants and subsidies across our footprint to expand our EV charging capacity. As of December 31, 2023, our total EV charging network consisted of 70 charging stations installed at 19 stores across 11 states. We have several potential grants that we are pursuing. Our goal is to offer EV drivers the convenience and amenities they seek in a charging destination away from their homes, at areas where we identify the demand.

Suppliers

In 2023, we purchased merchandise inventory from two primary wholesale distributors, Core-Mark and Grocery Supply Company, as well as approximately 850 direct store delivery supplier distributors. We leverage our relationships to generate economies of scale across our store base.

We purchase motor fuel primarily from large, integrated oil companies and independent refiners under supply agreements. In addition, we purchase unbranded fuel from branded and unbranded fuel suppliers to supply 267 unbranded retail fueling locations and 298 cardlock locations. As of December 31, 2023, approximately 82% of our retail fuel locations sold branded fuel. We sell branded fuel under brand names including, among others, Valero®, Marathon®, BP®, Exxon® and Shell® brand names. In addition to driving customer traffic, we believe that our branded fuel strategy enables us to maintain a secure fuel supply.

Competition

We operate in the highly competitive retail convenience market, which includes businesses with operations and services that are similar to those that we provide, primarily the sale of convenience items and motor fuels. We face significant competition from other large chain operators, such as: 7-Eleven/Speedway; Circle K; Casey’s; Murphy USA; Quik Trip; Royal Farms; Sheetz; and Wawa. We believe that convenience stores managed by individual operators who offer branded or non-branded fuel are also significant competitors in the local markets in which we operate. Often, operators of both chains and individual stores compete by selling unbranded fuel at lower retail prices relative to the market. We believe that the primary competitive factors influencing the retail segment are: site location; competitive prices; convenient access routes; the quality and configuration of the store and the fueling facility; the range of high-quality products and services offered; a convenient store-front; cleanliness; branded fuel; and the degree of capital investment in the store.

The convenience store industry is also experiencing competition from other retail sectors, including grocery stores, large warehouse retail stores, dollar stores and pharmacies. In particular, dollar stores (such as Family Dollar and Dollar General) and

pharmacies (such as CVS and Walgreens) have expanded their product offerings to sell snacks, beer and wine and other products that have traditionally been sold by convenience stores, while grocery and large warehouse stores (such as Costco and Wal-Mart) have expanded their fuel offering adjacent to their stores. In smaller towns and more rural areas, we primarily compete with other local convenience stores, local or regional grocery stores, and to some extent, restaurants, and in more heavily populated areas, we often compete with local retailers as well as major national grocery chains, national drug store and warehouse retail stores brands like those mentioned above, traditional convenience stores, expanded fuel stations, and discount food retailers.

The wholesale business is also competitive. In the wholesale segment, we supply fuel to third-parties both at sites owned or leased by dealers, sites that we own or for which we have a long-term lease, and bulk and spot purchasers. For sites that we do not own or lease, in the renewal of contracts we compete with refiners that distribute their own products, as well as other independent third-party motor fuel distributors. Wholesale fuel distributors typically compete by offering shorter contract commitments, lesser collateral requirements and larger incentives to enter into contracts.

In order to mitigate this competition, we typically offer our dealers competitive pricing within the framework of our existing fuel supply agreements, such as those we have with Valero, BP, Shell, Motiva, Marathon and ExxonMobil, with the advantage that we distribute fuel sourced from a number of major oil company suppliers which allows us to approach a wide variety of branded and unbranded dealers in order to offer a variety of alternative supply arrangements.

Cardlocks compete against retail gas stations, especially those with a significant number of diesel pumps, however, we believe that our cardlock footprint allows for easier access and more efficient fueling for commercial vehicles than traditional retail fueling locations. Site growth in the fleet fueling segment is driven by commercial customers outsourcing the provision of on-site fleet fueling. The primary competitors for third-party sites are companies that provide delivered fuels, with national, regional and local companies offering this service. We believe that we are well positioned in the industry because we combine the ability to utilize our proprietary cardlock sites with our fleet card product sales.

We believe that the primary barriers to entering our industry are the significant financial strength required to enter into agreements with suppliers of fuel products and competition from other fuel companies and retail chains.

Environmental and Other Government Regulations

Our operations are subject to numerous legal and regulatory restrictions and requirements at the federal, state and local levels. With regard to fuel, these restrictions and requirements relate primarily to the transportation, storage, and sale of petroleum products, including stringent environmental protection requirements. In our wholesale and GPMP segments, we are also subject to the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act, which is a federal law that applies to the relationships between fuel suppliers and wholesale distributors, as well as between wholesale distributors and dealers, regarding the marketing of branded fuel.

With regard to non-fuel products, there are legal restrictions at the federal, state and local levels in connection with the sale of food, alcohol, cigarettes and other tobacco products, menu labeling, video retention, money orders, money transfer services, gaming, lottery, and ephedrine. Also, regulatory supervision is exercised by health departments at the federal, state and local levels over the food products that are sold in our stores.

With respect to data collected by us or on our behalf, including credit card information and data related to loyalty customers, we are subject to federal, state and local requirements related to the possession, use and disclosure of personally identifiable information, including mandated procedures to be followed in the event a data breach were to occur.

We hold various federal, state, and local licenses and permits, some of which are perpetual, but most of which must be renewed annually. These include general business licenses, lottery licenses, licenses and permits in connection with the sale of cigarettes, licenses in connection with the operation of gaming machines, licenses in connection with the sale of alcoholic drinks, licenses and permits that are required in connection with the sale of fuel, licenses that are required for the operation of convenience stores and licenses to sell food products.

EMV, which stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, is a global standard for credit cards that use computer chips to authenticate and secure chip-card transactions. The liability for fraudulent credit card transactions shifted from the credit card processor to us in October 2015 for transactions processed inside the convenience stores and shifted to us in April 2021 for transactions at the fuel dispensers.

Our operations are subject to federal and state laws governing such matters as minimum wage, overtime, working conditions and employment eligibility requirements. Proposals have emerged at local, state and federal levels to increase minimum wage rates.

With respect to environmental regulations, we are subject to local, state and federal laws and regulations that address our properties and operations, including, without limitation the transportation, storage and sale of fuel, which have a considerable impact on our operations, including compliance with the requirements and regulations of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and comparable state counterparts. We are required to comply with the following regulations, among others: the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980; the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; the Clean Air Act; and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act.

The EPA, and several states, have established regulations concerning the ownership and operation of underground fuel storage tanks (“USTs”), the release of hazardous substances into the air, water and land, the storage, handling disposal and transportation of hazardous materials, restrictions on exposure to hazardous substances and maintaining safety and health of employees who handle or are exposed to such substances. These regulations require UST owners to demonstrate that they have the financial capacity to pay for environmental cleanup associating with USTs. Several states in which we conduct business have state-sponsored trust fund programs that allow for the sharing and reimbursement of the costs of corrective measures incurred by UST owners. In addition, we are subject to regulations regarding fuel quality and air emissions.

We are committed to compliance with all applicable environmental laws and regulations. We allocate a portion of our capital expenditure program to compliance with environmental laws and regulations and environmental remediation and such capital expenditures were approximately $4.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, and we anticipate expenditures of approximately $9.3 million for the year ending December 31, 2024. Our environmental department maintains direct interaction with federal, state and local environmental agencies for each state in which we operate. As part of our environmental risk management process, we engage environmental consultants and service providers to assist in analyzing our exposure to environmental risks by developing remediation plans, providing other environmental services, and taking corrective actions as necessary.

Human Capital

As of December 31, 2023, we employed 13,481 employees, with 11,960 employed in our stores and 1,521 in corporate and field management positions. To build, and continually improve upon, our corporate culture, we emphasize core values such as integrity, teamwork, and customer focus communicated through various channels such as training programs, internal communications, and employee feedback.

We value our employees and believe that communication, training, and employee development are key elements of our performance. We feel that improving the skills of our current staff through training increases productivity and boosts our bottom line at a fraction of the cost of hiring new employees. We offer training based on our employees’ specific job requirements and employee levels using our new Learning Management System (LMS) designed for delivering online training modules. These include, but are not limited to, a series of short online modules that are completed upon hire and some that are repeated annually to promote consistent compliance. Additionally, our store managers or our Regional Training team conduct on-the-job training activities that we have developed. We continue to refine these training activities, add new training programs for store and district managers, and focus on leadership and other “soft skills.” Our Regional Training team conducts the Company and industry-specific training to ensure store management is well-versed in the latest operating policies, standards, and techniques. Training varies based on employee level, but generally focuses on customer service, safety, compliance, environmental issues, and regulations, as well as our operations and policies. We help identify clear career paths to retain current employees and attract new employees by encouraging them to grow with the Company through educational training programs, matching employees with their interests or identifying a career trajectory other employees have taken.

Our experienced store managers and our regional trainers conduct the training of store managers from acquired sites in a classroom setting pre- and post-acquisition, as well as on-the-job training that extends several weeks once the acquisition is complete.

We have communication vehicles allowing us to send company information and reminders to targeted levels of employees, to keep them informed and improve efficiency, particularly during key times throughout the year such as the 100 days of summer. Employees may also communicate anonymous feedback to the Company, which assists our efforts to improve processes and programs for future and existing employees.

We seek to recruit and retain qualified personnel to work in our stores. Wage rates in the markets in which we operate, including voluntary increases in wages because of current labor market conditions, have increased our costs associated with recruiting and retaining qualified personnel, and may continue to do so in the future. We look to promote employee retention by providing attractive employee benefits such as medical, dental, 401(k) retirement plan and insurance. We believe our benefits offerings are competitive in the markets in which we operate.

We evaluate wages and other opportunities available to employees within our markets, and, as applicable, grant sign-on, retention, referral and other bonus opportunities to our employees based on their respective roles. By researching and understanding hiring trends, we have adopted mobile technology to simplify the application process and we have invested in additional recruiting

resources and implemented virtual recruiting and interviewing methods. We have also deployed enhanced recruiting techniques to optimize the selection of our talent pool. As of December 31, 2023, none of our employees were represented by a labor union or have terms of employment that are subject to a collective bargaining agreement. We consider our relationships with our employees to be good and have not experienced any work stoppages.

Intellectual Property

We rely on trademarks that we own and trademarks we license from third-parties to protect our brands and identify the source of our goods and services. We have registered or applied to register many of our trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. We license various marks in relation to the branded fuels that we supply, including “ExxonMobil,” “Marathon,” “BP,” “Shell,” and “Valero.” In our quick service food offerings, we license trademarks such as “Subway” and “Dunkin’” to use at our applicable franchised or licensed outlets. We also license the “Jetz” trademark for use at certain of our convenience stores in Wisconsin.

We rely on other forms of intellectual property to help establish and maintain our competitive advantage, including proprietary software, trade secrets and other proprietary and confidential information. We receive confidential information from our franchise and fuel supply partners, and use it in the operation of our stores under agreements that we have with our partners. We also rely on our own proprietary and confidential information, including trade secrets and a limited amount of proprietary software, to conduct our business and preserve our position in the market. As a key part of our broader risk management strategy, we use access controls and contractual restrictions in an effort to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of our proprietary or confidential information.

Environmental, Social and Governance

As a leading operator of convenience stores and gas stations, we are focused on integrating Environmental, Social and Governance principles that are aligned with our long-term business strategy. Our second Sustainability Report issued in 2023 included a description of our baseline governance framework, environmental initiatives and social responsibility initiatives. Our Sustainability Report is available on our website at www.arkocorp.com. The information related to Environmental, Social and Governance on our website, including our Sustainability Report, is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part hereof or incorporated by reference into this or any of our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

Available Information

We are required to file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Information that we file with the SEC is available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. We also make available free of charge on or through our website, at www.arkocorp.com, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with the SEC. The information on our website is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part hereof or incorporated into this or any of our other filings with the SEC.

Use of our Website and Social Media to Distribute Material Company Information

We use our website as a channel of distribution for important Company information. We routinely post on our website important information, including press releases, investor presentations and financial information, which may be accessed by clicking on the News & Events, Company Info, and Governance sections of www.arkocorp.com. We also use our website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding our Company in advance of, or in lieu of, distributing a press release or a filing with the SEC disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the News & Events, Company Info, and Governance sections of our website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to our website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when certain new information is made available on our website. Information contained on, or accessible through, our website is not a part of and is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We encourage investors, the media and other interested parties to review the information we post on our website, together with the information we file with the SEC and announce via press releases, conference calls and webcasts.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.

You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the audited consolidated financial statements contained in Part II, Item 8 (the “Consolidated Financial

Statements”) and the notes thereto and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” The occurrence of any of the events discussed below could significantly and adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Changes in economic conditions and consumer confidence in the U.S. could materially adversely affect our business.

Our operations and the scope of services we provide are affected by changes in the macro-economic situation in the United States, which has a direct impact on consumer confidence and spending patterns. A number of key macro-economic factors, such as high interest rates, inflation and unemployment, could have a negative effect on consumer habits and spending, and lead to lower demand for fuel and other products sold at our convenience stores and gas stations. The U.S. economy has continued to experience inflationary pressures, which reduce consumer purchasing power. If this trend continues or increases, it could negatively impact demand and seasonal travel patterns, which could reduce future sales volumes. Significant negative developments in the macro-economic environment in the United States could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If our acquisitions are not on economically acceptable terms, our future growth may be negatively impacted. Furthermore, any acquisitions we complete are subject to substantial risks that could result in losses.

Our ability to grow depends, in part, on our ability to make acquisitions. However, we may be unable to take advantage of accretive opportunities for any of the following reasons:

If our acquisitions are not on economically acceptable terms, our future growth may be negatively impacted. In addition, if we complete any future acquisitions, our capitalization and results of operations may change significantly. We may complete acquisitions, which, contrary to our expectations, ultimately prove to not be accretive. If any of these events were to occur, our future growth would be limited.

We may make acquisitions that we believe are beneficial, which ultimately result in negative financial consequences. Any acquisition involves potential risks, including, among other things:

We may be unable to successfully integrate acquired operations or otherwise realize the expected benefits from our acquisitions, which could adversely affect the expected benefits from our acquisitions and our results of operations and financial condition.

Any acquisition involves the integration of the business of two companies that have previously operated independently. The difficulties of combining the operations of the two businesses include: integrating personnel with diverse business backgrounds; familiarizing employees with new systems; converting customers to new loyalty platforms; and combining different corporate cultures.

The process of integrating operations could cause an interruption of, or loss of momentum in, the activities of the business, and the loss of key personnel or customers. The diversion of management’s attention and any delay or difficulty encountered in connection with the integration of the two companies’ operations could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

The success of our acquisitions depends, in part, on our ability to realize the anticipated benefits from combining the acquired business with ours. If we are unable to successfully integrate an acquired business, the anticipated benefits of such acquisition may not be realized fully or may take longer to realize than expected which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. For example, we may fail to realize the anticipated increase in earnings anticipated to be derived from an acquisition or the synergies expected, or there could be higher expenses related to the acquired business than expected. In addition, as with any acquisition, a significant decline in asset valuations or cash flows may also cause us not to realize expected benefits.

Our future growth depends on our ability to successfully implement our growth strategies, a part of which consists of upgrading and remodeling our convenience stores.

A part of our growth strategy consists of functional and full remodeling of our convenience stores in order to improve customers’ shopping experience by offering high-quality, convenient and efficient facilities. Such upgrades and remodeling projects, regardless of scale, entail significant risks, including shortages of materials or skilled labor, unforeseen engineering, environmental and/or geological problems, work stoppages, weather interference, unanticipated cost increases and non-availability of construction equipment. Such risks, in addition to potential difficulties in obtaining any required licenses and permits, could lead to significant cost increases and substantial delays in the opening of the remodeled convenience stores. In certain instances, these factors have led to delays and increased costs for our projects and although we believe we are successfully navigating these challenges, there can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our growth targets by successfully implementing this strategy.

Significant changes in current consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products and related regulations and litigation could materially adversely affect our business.

Cigarettes and other tobacco products, which accounted for approximately 8% of our total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023, are a significant revenue source for us. Significant increases in wholesale cigarette and other tobacco product prices, current and future tobacco legislation, including restrictions or bans on flavored and menthol tobacco products and related advertising, national, state and local campaigns to discourage smoking, a decrease in the consumption of cigarettes, increases in retail cigarette prices, lawsuits against manufacturers and retailers of cigarettes and other tobacco products, reductions in manufacturer rebates for the purchase of tobacco products and increases in, and new, taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products could have a material adverse effect on the demand for tobacco products and, in turn, on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our financial condition and results of operations are influenced by changes in the wholesale prices of motor fuel, which may materially adversely impact our sales, operations, customers’ financial condition and the availability of trade credit.

During the year ended December 31, 2023, fuel sales were approximately 79% of our total revenues and approximately 46% of our combined fuel, merchandise and other income margin. Generally, our retail fuel inventory on hand turns quickly in the ordinary course of our business. Our operating results are influenced by prices for motor fuel, variable retail margins and the market for such products. Crude oil and domestic wholesale motor fuel markets are volatile. General political conditions, acts of war or terrorism and instability in oil producing regions, particularly in the Middle East, Russia, Africa and South America, such as the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, could significantly affect crude oil supplies and wholesale fuel prices. Significant increases and volatility in wholesale fuel prices could result in substantial increases in the retail price of motor fuel products, lower fuel gross margin per gallon, lower demand for such products and lower sales to customers and dealers. This volatility makes it extremely difficult to predict the impact future wholesale cost fluctuations will have on our financial condition and results of operations. Increases in fuel prices generally compress retail fuel margin because fuel costs typically increase faster than retailers are able to pass them along to

customers. In addition, when prices for motor fuel rise, some of our dealers may have insufficient credit to purchase motor fuel from us at their historical volumes. Furthermore, when motor fuel prices decrease, so do prompt payment incentives, which are generally calculated as a percentage of the total purchase price of the motor fuel distributed. Additionally, because the interchange fees we pay when credit cards are used to make purchases are based on transaction amounts, higher fuel prices at the pump result in higher credit card expenses. These additional fees increase operating expenses. Additionally, when diesel fuel prices rise, this results in higher truck shipping costs which causes shippers to consider alternative means for transporting freight, which may reduce trucking business and, in turn, may reduce our fuel sales volume. High diesel fuel prices may also cause our trucking customers to seek cost savings throughout their businesses, including measures which reduce total fuel consumption and may in turn reduce our fuel sales volume. Finally, higher prices for motor fuel may reduce our access to trade credit or worsen the terms under which such credit is available to us, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Significant changes in demand for fuel-based modes of transportation and for trucking services could materially adversely affect our business.

The road transportation fuel and convenience business is generally driven by consumer preferences, growth of road traffic, demand for trucking services, and trends in travel and tourism. Automotive, industrial and power generation manufacturers are developing more fuel-efficient engines, hybrid engines, electric vehicles and alternative clean power systems. In 2023, electric vehicles accounted for approximately 7.6% of all light vehicle sales in the United States. In addition, truck and other vehicle manufacturers and our customers continue to focus on ways to improve motor vehicle fuel efficiency and conserve fuel, including use of truck platooning, or the electronic linking of trucks with a lead vehicle, heat and kinetic energy recovery technologies, substantially lighter “super trucks” and higher efficiency motor fuels. Demand for trucking services in the United States generally reflects the amount of commercial activity in the U.S. economy. When the U.S. economy declines, demand for goods moved by trucks usually declines, and in turn demand for diesel fuel supplied by our fleet fueling segment typically declines, which could significantly harm our results of operations and financial condition.

A number of key factors could impact current customer behavior and trends with respect to road transportation and fuel consumption. These include new technologies providing increased access to non-fuel dependent means of transportation, legislation and regulations focused on fuel efficiency and lower fuel consumption, and the public’s general approach with regard to climate change and the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Significant developments in any of the above-listed factors could lead to substantial changes in the demand for petroleum-based fuel and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We operate in a highly competitive, fragmented industry characterized by many similar competing products and services, and our inability to successfully compete could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We compete with other convenience stores, gas stations, large and small food retailers, quick service restaurants and dollar stores, as well as companies that provide delivered fuels. Because all such competitors offer products and services that are very similar to those offered by us, a number of key factors determine our ability to successfully compete in the marketplace. These include the location of stores, competitive pricing, convenient access routes, the quality, configuration and efficiency of stores and fueling facilities, and a high level of service. In particular, many large convenience store chains have expanded their number of locations and remodeled their existing locations in recent years, enhancing their competitive position. In addition, some of our competitors have greater financial resources and scale than us, which may provide them with competitive advantages in negotiating fuel and other supply arrangements.

Our inability to successfully compete in the marketplace by continuously meeting customer requirements concerning price, quality and service level could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Negative events or developments associated with branded motor fuel suppliers could have a material adverse impact on our revenues.

The success of our operations is dependent, in part, on the continuing favorable reputation, market value and name recognition associated with the motor fuel brands sold at our gas stations and to dealers. An event which adversely affects the value of those brands could have a negative impact on the volumes of motor fuel we distribute, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We depend on several principal suppliers for our fuel purchases and two principal suppliers for merchandise. A failure by a principal supplier to renew its supply agreement, a disruption in supply or an unexpected change in supplier relationships could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We depend on several principal suppliers for our fuel purchases. Our fuel supply agreements expire on various dates through June 2032. If any of our principal suppliers elects not to renew its contracts with us, we may be unable to replace the volume of motor fuel we currently purchase from such supplier on similar terms or at all. We rely upon our suppliers to timely provide the volumes and

types of motor fuels for which they contract. We purchase motor fuels from a variety of suppliers under term contracts. In times of extreme market demand, supply disruption or as a result of futures market and geopolitical conditions, we may be unable to acquire enough fuel, including diesel fuel in particular, to satisfy the demand of our customers. Any disruption in supply or a significant change in our relationship with our principal fuel suppliers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We depend on two major vendors to supply a majority of our in-store merchandise. A significant disruption or operational failure affecting the operations of our suppliers, including their ability to provide timely deliveries, could materially impact the availability, quality and price of products sold at our convenience stores and cardlock locations, cause us to incur substantial unanticipated costs and expenses, and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A portion of our revenue is generated under fuel supply agreements with dealers that must be renegotiated or replaced periodically. If we are unable to successfully renegotiate or replace these agreements, then our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

A portion of our revenue is generated under fuel supply agreements with dealers. As these supply agreements expire, they must be renegotiated or replaced. Our fuel supply agreements generally have an initial term of 10 years and, as of December 31, 2023, had a volume-weighted average remaining term of approximately 5.1 years. Our dealers have no obligation to renew their fuel supply agreements with us on similar terms or at all. We may be unable to renegotiate or replace our fuel supply agreements when they expire, and the terms of any renegotiated fuel supply agreements may not be as favorable as the terms of the agreements they replace. Whether these fuel supply agreements are successfully renegotiated or replaced is frequently subject to factors beyond our control. Such factors include fluctuations in motor fuel prices, a dealer’s ability to pay for or accept the contracted volumes and a competitive marketplace for the services offered by us. If we cannot successfully renegotiate or replace our fuel supply agreements, or must renegotiate or replace them on less favorable terms, revenues from these agreements could decline and our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

The retail sale, distribution, transportation and storage of motor fuels is subject to environmental protection and operational safety laws and regulations that may expose us or our customers to significant costs and liabilities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We and our facilities and operations are subject to various federal, state and local environmental, health and safety laws, and regulations. These laws and regulations continue to evolve and are expected to increase in both number and complexity over time and govern not only the manner in which we conduct our operations, but also the products we sell. For example, international agreements and national, regional, and state legislation and regulatory measures that aim to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions or otherwise address climate change are currently in various stages of implementation. Additionally, in March 2022, the SEC proposed new climate-related disclosure rules, which if adopted as proposed, would require significant new climate-related disclosure in SEC filings, including certain climate-related metrics and greenhouse gas emissions data, and third-party attestation requirements. At this time, we cannot predict the costs of compliance with or any potential adverse impacts resulting from, these new rules if adopted as proposed, but compliance with such rules, when they are finalized, could require significant effort and divert management’s attention and resources, which could adversely affect our operating results. There are inherent risks that increasingly restrictive environmental and other regulation could materially impact our results of operations or financial condition. Most of the costs of complying with existing laws and regulations pertaining to our operations and products are embedded in the normal costs of doing business. However, it is not possible to predict with certainty the amount of additional investments in new or existing technology or facilities, or the amounts of increased operating costs to be incurred in the future, to prevent, control, reduce or eliminate releases of hazardous materials or other pollutants into the environment; remediate and restore areas damaged by prior releases of hazardous materials; or comply with new or changed environmental laws or regulations. Although these costs may be significant to the results of operations, we do not presently expect them to have a material adverse effect on our liquidity or financial position. Accidental leaks and spills requiring cleanup may occur in the ordinary course of business. We may incur expenses for corrective actions or environmental investigations at various owned and previously owned facilities, leased or previously leased facilities, at third-party sites we manage, and at third-party-owned waste disposal sites used by us. An obligation may arise when operations are closed or sold or at non-company sites where company products have been handled or disposed of. Expenditures to fulfill these obligations may relate to facilities and sites where past operations followed practices and procedures that were considered acceptable at the time but may require investigative or remedial work or both to meet current or future standards.

Most of our fuel is transported by third-party carriers to our retail, dealer and fleet fueling sites. A portion of fuel is transported in our own trucks, instead of by third-party carriers, therefore, our operations are also subject to hazards and risks inherent in transporting motor fuel. These hazards and risks include, but are not limited to, fires, explosions, traffic accidents, spills, discharges and other releases, and cross-drops, any of which could result in distribution difficulties and disruptions, environmental pollution, governmentally-imposed fines or clean-up obligations, personal injury or wrongful death claims and other damage to our properties and the properties of others.

The transportation of motor fuels, as well as the associated storage of such fuels at locations including convenience stores, are subject to various federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations, including those relating to ownership and operation of storage tanks, the release or discharge of regulated materials into the air, water and soil, the generation, storage, handling, use, transportation and disposal of hazardous materials, the exposure of persons to regulated materials, and the health and safety of employees dedicated to such transportation and storage activities. These laws and regulations may impose numerous obligations and restrictions that are applicable to motor fuels transportation and storage and other related activities, including acquisition of, or applications for, permits, licenses, or other approvals before conducting regulated activities; restrictions on the quality and labeling of the motor fuels that may be sold; restrictions on the types, quantities and concentration of materials that may be released into the environment; required capital expenditures to comply with pollution control requirements; and imposition of substantial liabilities for pollution or non-compliance resulting from these activities. Numerous governmental authorities, such as the DOT and EPA, and analogous state agencies, have the power to monitor and enforce compliance with these laws and regulations and the permits, licenses and approvals issued under them, including fines, which can result in increased pollution control equipment costs or other actions. Failure to comply with these existing laws and regulations, or any newly adopted laws or regulations, may trigger administrative, civil or criminal enforcement measures, including the assessment of monetary penalties or other sanctions, the imposition of investigative, remedial or corrective action obligations, the imposition of additional compliance requirements on certain operations or the issuance of orders enjoining certain operations. Moreover, the trend in environmental regulation is for more restrictions and limitations on activities that may adversely affect the environment, which aligns with a growing trend in investor sentiment, and such regulation may result in increased costs of compliance.

Where releases of motor fuels or other substances or wastes have occurred, federal and state laws and regulations, and our lease agreements, require that contamination caused by such releases be assessed and remediated to meet applicable clean-up standards. Certain environmental laws impose strict, joint and several liability for costs required to clean-up and restore sites where motor fuels or other waste products have been disposed of or otherwise released. The costs associated with the investigation and remediation of contamination, as well as any associated third-party claims for damages or to impose corrective action obligations, could be substantial and could have a material adverse effect on us or our customers who transport motor fuels or own or operate convenience stores or other facilities where motor fuels are stored.

For more information on potential risks arising from environmental and occupational safety and health laws and regulations, please see “Business—Environmental and Other Government Regulations.”

Failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations could result in liabilities, penalties, costs, or license suspension or revocation that could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our operations are subject to numerous federal, state and local laws and regulations, including regulations related to the sale of alcohol, cigarettes and other tobacco products, lottery/lotto products, other age-restricted products, operation of gaming machines, various food safety and product quality requirements, environmental laws and regulations, and various employment laws, including requirements for various licenses and registrations. To the extent we are not able to provide information that is required under such regulations because owners of our stock do not provide the necessary documentation to comply or fail to comply with such regulations, we may have those licenses suspended or revoked.

Our violation of, or inability to comply with such regulation could expose us to regulatory sanctions ranging from monetary fines to the revocation or suspension of our permits and licenses for the sale of such products. We may also be subject to litigation including class action litigation which may result in substantial costs, expenses and damages related to legal proceedings. Such regulatory action or litigation could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our failure to comply with applicable labor and employment laws pertaining to, among others, minimum wage, mandated healthcare benefits or paid time-off benefits could result in increased regulatory scrutiny, monetary fines and substantial costs and expenses related to legal proceedings.

Our business, particularly the operation of gas stations, and the storage and transportation of fuel products, is directly affected by numerous environmental laws and regulations pertaining, in particular, to the quality of fuel products, the handling and disposal of hazardous wastes and the prevention and remediation of environmental contaminations. Such laws and regulations are constantly evolving and have generally become more stringent over time. Our compliance with such evolving regulation requires significant and continuously increasing capital expenditures. Our business may also be (indirectly) affected by the adoption of environmental laws and regulations intended to address global climate change by limiting carbon emissions and introducing more stringent requirements for the exploration, drilling and transportation of crude oil and petroleum products. Increasingly wide-spread implementation of such laws and regulations may lead to a significant increase in the cost of petroleum-based fuels and, in turn, lower demand for road transportation fuel. Our failure to comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations, or a significant contamination at one of our sites requiring remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater on a large scale, could expose us to substantial fines and

penalties, as well as administrative, civil and criminal charges, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to extensive tax liabilities imposed by multiple jurisdictions that potentially have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to extensive tax liabilities imposed by multiple jurisdictions, including income taxes, fuel excise taxes, sales and use taxes, payroll taxes, franchise taxes, property taxes and tobacco taxes. Many of these tax liabilities are subject to periodic audits by the respective taxing authorities. Further changes in the tax laws could arise as a result of the base erosion and profit shifting project undertaken by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”). In December 2022, the European Union (“EU”) member states reached an agreement to implement the minimum tax component (“Pillar Two”) of the OECD’s tax reform initiative. The directive was enacted into the national law of the EU member states in 2023. If similar directives under Pillar Two are adopted by other taxing authorities, such changes could increase the amount of taxes we pay and therefore decrease our results of operations and cash flow. Additionally, substantial changes or reforms in the current tax regime could result in increased tax expenses and potentially have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on a large number of store employees. If we do not effectively manage our workforce, our labor costs and results of operations could be adversely affected.

With approximately 12,000 store employees, our labor costs represent one of our largest store operating expenses and our business is dependent on our ability to attract, train, and retain the appropriate mix of qualified employees. Most of our store employees are in entry-level or part-time positions, which have historically high turnover rates. Current employment trends and the prevailing wage rates in the markets in which we operate, including voluntary increases in wages because of current labor market conditions, have increased our costs associated with recruiting and retaining qualified personnel, and may continue to do so in the future. Our ability to meet our changing labor needs while controlling our costs is subject to external factors outside of our control such as labor laws and mandatory requirements at the local, state and federal levels (such as minimum wages, paid leave time, and other social benefits), unemployment levels, prevailing wage rates, benefit costs, changing demographics, and our reputation and relevance within the labor market. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel to work in our stores, do not provide proper training, or provide clear succession planning, our operations, customer service levels, reputation, and competitiveness could suffer and our results of operations could be adversely affected.

The loss of key senior management personnel or the failure to recruit or retain qualified senior management personnel could materially adversely affect our business.

We are dependent on our ability to recruit, train and retain qualified individuals to manage our business. Economic factors, the state of the current labor market and availability of other employment options for our management personnel could impact our ability to recruit and retain qualified personnel that could have a material impact on our results of operations and impact our ability to execute upon our strategic goals. If we do not provide proper training and clear succession planning or are unable to entice the necessary talent to join our company and retain our employees over time, we may not have appropriate staff to be promoted to management roles as they become available. Additionally, we are dependent on certain key employees to operate our business and the loss of any of our executive officers or other key employees could harm our business.

Unfavorable weather conditions could adversely affect our business.

Weather conditions have a significant effect on our sales, as retail customer transactions in higher profit margin products generally increase when weather conditions are favorable. Consequently, our results are seasonal, and we typically earn more during the warmer second and third quarters of the year. In addition, severe weather phenomena, such as hurricanes, may adversely affect our results of operations and could result in significant damage to our gas stations, convenience stores and infrastructure, potentially resulting in substantial costs and expenses. Temporary or long-term disruptions to our supply chain in connection with unfavorable weather conditions could impact our network of suppliers and distributors, significantly impacting the quality, variety and pricing of merchandise sold at our sites.

We are subject to payment-related risks that may result in higher operating costs or the inability to process payments, either of which could harm our brand, reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

We accept a variety of credit cards and debit cards in our convenience stores and at our fuel dispensers and, accordingly, we are, and will continue to be, subject to significant and evolving regulations and compliance requirements, including obligations to

implement enhanced authentication processes that could result in increased costs and liability and reduce the ease of use of certain payment methods. Additionally, we pay interchange and other fees, which may increase over time.

Europay, MasterCard and Visa, or EMV, is a global standard for credit cards that uses computer chips to authenticate and secure chip-card transactions. The liability for fraudulent credit card transactions shifted from the credit card processor to us in April 2021 for transactions at the fuel dispensers. As of December 31, 2023, due to the required time and cost necessary to upgrade each site, supply chain constraints related to necessary equipment, and contractor availability, we completed upgrading our fuel dispensers to be EMV-compliant at approximately 75% of our retail locations, and anticipate being substantially complete by the end of 2025. Accordingly, we may be subject to liability for fraudulent credit card transactions processed at fuel dispensers that are now EMV-compliant. We do not believe that this will expose us to material chargeback liability.

We rely on fuel brands and independent service providers for payment processing, including credit and debit cards. If these fuel brands and independent service providers become unwilling or unable to provide these services to us, if the cost of using these providers increases, or if such providers have a data breach or mishandle our data, our business could be harmed. Additionally, there is a trend toward cardless payment methods, which may require additional investment to implement at our locations. As these trends develop, we will need to align our fleet card offering to the new technologies.

We are also subject to payment card association operating rules and agreements, including data security rules and agreements and certification requirements which could change or be reinterpreted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply. In particular, we must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS, a set of requirements designed to ensure that all companies that process, store or transmit payment card information maintain a secure environment to protect cardholder data. If we, or our third-party service providers, fail to comply with any of these rules or requirements, or if our, or our third-party service providers, data security systems are breached or compromised, we may be liable for losses incurred by card issuing banks or customers, subject to fines and higher transaction fees, lose our ability to accept credit or debit card payments from our customers, or process electronic fund transfers or facilitate other types of payments. Any failure to comply with such rules or requirements could significantly harm our brand, reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

Significant disruptions of information technology systems, breaches of data security, or compromised data could materially adversely affect our business.

We rely on multiple information technology systems and a number of third-party vendor platforms (collectively, “IT Systems”) in order to run and manage our daily operations, including for fuel pricing, loyalty programs, payroll, accounting, budgeting, reporting, and store operations. Such IT Systems allow us to manage various aspects of our business, communicate with customers, and to provide reliable analytical information to our management. The future operation, success and growth of our business depends on streamlined processes made available through our uninhibited access to information systems, global communications, internet activity and other network processes. Like most other companies, despite our current cybersecurity risk management framework (see “Cybersecurity” for additional detail) and process controls, our information technology systems, and those of our third-party service providers, may be vulnerable to information security breaches, ransomware or extortion, mishandled data, acts of vandalism, computer viruses and interruption or loss of valuable business data. Stored data might be improperly accessed due to a variety of events beyond our control, including, but not limited to, damage and interruption from power loss or natural disasters, computer system and network failures, loss of telecommunications services, physical and electronic loss of access to data and information, terrorist attacks, hackers, security breaches or other security incidents, and computer viruses or attacks. We rely on third-parties to provide maintenance and support of our IT Systems, and to store our data (including customer data) and a failure of any of these third-parties to provide adequate and timely support, or compromise of these third-parties’ systems, could adversely affect the operation of our IT Systems. We have technology security initiatives and disaster recovery plans in place to mitigate our risk to these vulnerabilities, but these measures may not be adequately designed or implemented to ensure that our operations are not disrupted or the data security breaches do not occur.

Hackers and data thieves are increasingly sophisticated and operate large-scale and complex attacks which may remain undetected until after they occur. Any breach of our network or those of our vendors may result in damage to our reputation, the loss of valuable business data, the misappropriation of our valuable intellectual property or trade secret information, misappropriation of our customers’ or employees’ personal information, key personnel being unable to perform duties or communicate throughout the organization, loss of retail sales, significant costs for data restoration and other adverse impacts on our business. Despite our existing security procedures and controls, if our network or the network of one of our service providers was compromised, it could give rise to unwanted media attention, materially damage our customer relationships, harm our business, reputation, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition, result in fines or litigation, and may increase the costs we incur to protect against such information security breaches, such as increased investment in technology, the costs of compliance with consumer protection laws and costs resulting from consumer fraud. In addition, successful cyberattacks, data breaches, or data security incidents, at one of our vendors, other convenience store operators, large retailers or other market participants, whether or not we are directly impacted, could lead to a general loss of customer confidence or affect our supply chain which could negatively affect us, including harming the market

perception of the effectiveness of our security measures or harming the reputation of the industry in general, which could result in reduced use of our products and services.

The costs of mitigating cybersecurity risks are significant and are likely to increase in the future. These costs include, but are not limited to, retaining the services of cybersecurity providers; compliance costs arising out of existing and future cybersecurity, data protection and privacy laws and regulations; costs related to maintaining redundant networks, data backups and other damage-mitigation measures; and extra administrative costs to mitigate risk and deal with any system breaches. While we maintain cyber liability insurance, our insurance may not be sufficient to protect against all losses we may incur due to policy exclusions or if we suffer significant or multiple attacks.

We are subject to evolving laws, regulations, standards, and contractual obligations related to data privacy and security regulations, and our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our reputation, subject us to significant fines and liability, or otherwise adversely affect our business.

As a fuel and merchandise retailer, we collect and store large amounts of data on our network, including personal data from customers and other sensitive information concerning our employees, customers and vendors. As such, we are subject to, or affected by, a number of federal, state, and local laws and regulations, as well as contractual obligations and industry standards, that impose certain obligations and restrictions with respect to data privacy and security, and govern our collection, storage, retention, protection, use, processing, transmission, sharing and disclosure of personal and other information including that of our employees, customers, and others. If we are found to have breached any such laws or regulations, we may be subject to enforcement actions that require us to change our business practices in a manner which may negatively impact our revenue, as well as expose us to litigation, fines, civil and/or criminal penalties and adverse publicity that could cause our customers to lose trust in us, negatively impacting our reputation and business in a manner that harms our financial position.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) and state governments expect a company’s data security and privacy measures to be compliant. Such rules may be reasonable and appropriate in light of the sensitivity and volume of customer information we hold, the size and complexity of our business, and the cost of available tools to improve security and reduce vulnerabilities, or may require compliance regardless of the compliance costs as compared to the potential security and privacy issues. Our failure to take any steps perceived by the FTC as appropriate or required to protect customers’ personal information may result in claims by the FTC that we have engaged in unfair or deceptive acts or practices in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act. State consumer protection laws provide similar and additional causes of action which may be brought by state governments or plaintiffs’ counsel for unfair or deceptive practices for alleged privacy, data protection and data security violations.

Further, we make public statements about our use and disclosure of personal information through our privacy policies that are posted on our websites and in our loyalty applications. The publication of our privacy policies and other statements that provide promises and assurances about data privacy and security can subject us to potential government or legal action if they are found to be deceptive, unfair or misrepresentative of our actual practices.

As described above, we are also subject to PCI DSS, which is a standard designed to protect credit card account data as mandated by payment card industry entities. We rely on vendors to handle PCI DSS matters and to ensure PCI DSS compliance. Despite our compliance efforts, we may become subject to claims that we have violated the PCI DSS based on past, present, and future business practices. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with the PCI DSS can subject us to fines, termination of banking relationships, and increased transaction fees.

In addition, numerous states already have, and are looking to expand, data protection and privacy legislation requiring companies like ours to consider solutions to meet differing needs and expectations of customers. Similar laws have been proposed at the federal level, reflecting a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States. The enactment of such laws could have potentially conflicting requirements that would make compliance challenging and we may not be able to monitor and react to all developments in a timely manner.

Our failure, and/or the failure by the various third-party service providers and partners with which we do business, to comply with applicable privacy policies or federal or state laws and regulations or any other obligations relating to privacy, data protection or information security, or any compromise of security that results in the unauthorized release of personal data or other user data, or the perception that any such failure or compromise has occurred, could negatively harm our brand and reputation, result in a loss sales and/or result in fines and/or proceedings by governmental agencies and/or customers, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our business could suffer if we fail to adequately secure, maintain, and enforce our intellectual property rights.

We rely on our trademarks, trade names, and brand names to distinguish our products and services from those of our competitors, and have registered or applied to register many of these trademarks. We cannot assure you that our trademark applications will be approved. Third-parties may also oppose our trademark applications, or otherwise challenge our use of the

trademarks. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our products or services, which could result in loss of brand recognition, and could require us to devote resources advertising and marketing new brands. Further, we cannot assure you that competitors will not infringe our trademarks, or that we will have adequate resources to enforce our trademarks. Any claims of intellectual property infringement, even those without merit, could be expensive and time consuming to defend and divert management’s attention, cause us to cease making, licensing or using the products or services that incorporate the challenged intellectual property, require us to rebrand our products or services, if feasible, or require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements in order to obtain the right to use a third-party’s intellectual property.

We also rely on trademarks that we license from third-parties to identify the branded fuels that we supply and trademarks in our quick service food offerings. If we violate the terms of these licenses, we could be liable for damages, and the licenses could be terminated. The termination or non-renewal of any of these licenses could require us to rebrand or to replace the licensed goods and services, and accordingly could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.

We also rely on unpatented proprietary technology. It is possible that others will independently develop the same or similar technology or otherwise obtain access to our unpatented technology. We use access controls in an effort to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of our trade secrets and proprietary or confidential information, however, we cannot assure you that these controls will not be circumvented. We also generally require employees, consultants, advisors and collaborators to enter into confidentiality agreements. We cannot assure you that these agreements will provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information in the event of any unauthorized use, misappropriation or disclosure of such trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information. If we are unable to maintain the proprietary nature of our technologies, we could be materially adversely affected.

We depend on third-party transportation providers for the transportation of most of our motor fuel. Thus, a change of providers, a significant incident related to a provider, or a significant change in our relationship with these providers could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Most of the motor fuel we distribute is transported from terminals to gas stations and cardlock locations by third-party transportation providers. Such providers may suspend, reduce or terminate their obligations to us if certain events (such as force majeure) occur. A change of key transportation providers, a disruption or cessation in services provided by such providers, a significant accident or other incident involving a transportation provider, or a significant change in our relationship with such providers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our operations present risks which may not be fully covered by insurance.

We carry comprehensive insurance against the hazards and risks underlying our operations. We believe our insurance policies are customary in the industry; however, some losses and liabilities associated with our operations may not be covered by our insurance policies. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain similar insurance coverage on favorable terms (or at all) in the future. Significant uninsured losses and liabilities could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, our insurance is subject to high deductibles. As a result, certain large claims, even if covered by insurance, may require a substantial cash outlay by us, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our variable rate debt could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Certain of our outstanding term loans and revolving credit facilities bear interest at variable rates, subjecting us to fluctuations in the short-term interest rate. The U.S. Federal Reserve Board significantly increased the federal funds rate in 2022 and 2023, which has increased the borrowing costs on our variable rate debt and may increase the cost of any new debt we incur. Any further additional federal fund rate increases could in turn make our financing activities, including those related to our acquisition activity, more costly and limit our ability to refinance existing debt when it matures or pay higher interest rates upon refinancing and increase interest expense on refinanced indebtedness. As of December 31, 2023, approximately 46% of our debt bore interest at variable rates, which is based on CME Group’s forward-looking Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”). Consequently, significant increases in market interest rates would create substantially higher debt service requirements, which could have a material adverse effect on our overall financial condition, including our ability to service our indebtedness.

The agreements governing our indebtedness contain various restrictions and financial covenants that may restrict our business and financing activities.

We depend on the earnings and cash flow generated by our operations in order to meet our debt service obligations. The operating and financial restrictions and covenants in our credit facilities and our 5.125% Senior Notes due 2029 (the “Senior Notes”),

and any future financing agreements, may restrict our ability to finance future operations or expand our business activities. For example, certain of our credit facilities and our Senior Notes restrict our ability to, among other things: incur additional debt or issue guarantees; incur or permit liens to exist on certain property; pay dividends, redeem stock or make other distributions; make certain investments, acquisitions or other restricted payments; enter into certain types of transactions with affiliates; agree to certain restrictions on the ability of restricted subsidiaries to make payments to us; engage in certain asset sales; modify or terminate certain material contracts; and merge or dispose of all or substantially all of certain entities’ assets.

In addition, certain of the credit agreements governing our credit facilities contain covenants requiring us to maintain certain financial ratios. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Contractual Obligations and Indebtedness” for additional information about our credit facilities and our Senior Notes.

Our ability to comply with these restrictions and covenants is uncertain and will be affected by the levels of cash flow from operations and other events or circumstances beyond our control. If market or other economic conditions deteriorate, our ability to comply with these covenants may be impaired. If we violate any provisions of our credit facilities or Senior Notes that are not cured or waived within the appropriate time periods provided in the agreements governing such indebtedness, a significant portion of our indebtedness may become immediately due and payable, and our lenders’ commitment to make further loans to us under certain of our credit facilities may terminate. We might not have, or be able to obtain, sufficient funds to make these accelerated payments.

If we were unable to repay the accelerated amounts, the lenders under our secured credit facilities could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure such debt. If the payment of our debt is accelerated, our assets may be insufficient to repay such debt in full, which could result in our insolvency.

Risks Related to Our Organizational Structure

The majority of our common stock is held by a limited number of stockholders and management and their interests may conflict with yours in the future.

Our executive officers and directors and a limited number of stockholders beneficially owned approximately 71% of our outstanding voting stock as of December 31, 2023. Each share of common stock entitles its holders to one vote on all matters presented to stockholders. Accordingly, this limited number of stockholders can have a material impact in the election and removal of our directors and thereby determine corporate and management policies, including potential mergers or acquisitions, payment of dividends, asset sales, amendment of the certificate of incorporation and bylaws and other significant corporate transactions for so long as they retain significant ownership. This concentration of ownership may delay or deter possible changes in control, which may reduce the value of an investment in the common stock. So long as they continue to own a significant amount of the combined voting power, even if such amount is less than 50%, they will continue to be able to strongly influence or effectively control our decisions.

Our corporate structure includes Israeli subsidiaries that may have adverse tax consequences and expose us to additional tax liabilities.

Our corporate structure includes Israeli subsidiaries that file tax returns in Israel. Israeli tax authorities may challenge positions taken by such subsidiaries with respect to their tax returns. To the extent such a challenge is sustained, this could increase our worldwide effective tax rate and adversely impact our financial position and results of operations. In addition, tax law or regulations in Israel may be amended and Israeli tax authorities may change their interpretations of existing tax law and regulations such that we may be subject to increased tax liabilities, including upon termination or liquidation of our Israeli subsidiaries. We may face additional tax liabilities in transferring cash through our Israeli subsidiaries by means of dividends or otherwise to support us, primarily due to withholding tax requirements imposed pursuant to the provisions of the Israeli tax law (which may be reduced under the provisions of the convention between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Israel with respect to Taxes on Income), which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates specific courts as the exclusive forum for certain litigation that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us.

Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for any state law claim for (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (2) any action asserting a claim of or based on a breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of ours to us or our stockholders; (3) any action asserting a claim pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our bylaws; or (4) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine (the “Delaware Forum Provision”). The Delaware Forum Provision

will not apply to any causes of action arising under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation further provides that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the United States District Court in Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act (the “Federal Forum Provision”). In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of common stock is deemed to have notice of and consented to the Delaware Forum Provision and the Federal Forum Provision; provided, however, that stockholders cannot and will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

We recognize that the Delaware Forum Provision and the Federal Forum Provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may impose additional litigation costs on stockholders in pursuing any such claims, particularly if the stockholders do not reside in or near the State of Delaware. Additionally, the forum selection clauses in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may limit our stockholders’ ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that they find favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees, which may discourage the filing of lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and employees, even though an action, if successful, might benefit our stockholders. While the Delaware Supreme Court ruled in March 2020 that federal forum selection provisions purporting to require claims under the Securities Act be brought in federal court were “facially valid” under Delaware law, there is uncertainty as to whether courts in other jurisdictions will enforce the Federal Forum Provision. If the Federal Forum Provision is found to be unenforceable, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters. The Federal Forum Provision may also impose additional litigation costs on stockholders who assert that the provision is not enforceable or invalid. The Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware may also issue different judgments than would other courts, including courts where a stockholder considering an action may be located or would otherwise choose to bring the action, and such judgments may be more or less favorable to us than our stockholders.

Risks Related to Our Securities

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, stockholders could lose confidence in our financial and other public reporting, which is likely to negatively affect our business and the market price of our common stock.

Effective internal control over financial reporting is necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in our implementation could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. In addition, any testing conducted by us, or any testing conducted by our independent registered public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses or that may require prospective or retroactive changes to our financial statements or identify other areas for further attention or improvement. Inferior internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which is likely to negatively affect our business and the market price of our common stock.

We are required to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires annual management assessments of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting and a report by our independent registered public accounting firm on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of year-end. In particular, we are required to perform system and process evaluation and testing of our internal controls over financial reporting to allow management to report on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting, as required by Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We are also subject to the compliance requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which has resulted in us incurring substantial expenses and expending significant management efforts to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which will continue. We cannot assure you that we will at all times in the future be able to report that our internal controls are effective. Material weaknesses in the design and operation of the internal control over financial reporting of businesses that we acquire could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results. If we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act or if we identify or our independent registered public accounting firm identifies deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses, the market price of our common stock could decline and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC, or other regulatory authorities, which would require additional financial and management resources.

The market price and trading volume of our common stock may be volatile and could decline significantly.

The Nasdaq stock market on which we list our common stock, has from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations. Even if an active, liquid and orderly trading market is sustained for our common stock, the market price of our common stock may be volatile and could decline significantly. In addition, the trading volume in our common stock may fluctuate and cause significant price variations to occur. If the market price of our common stock declines significantly, you may be unable to resell your shares at or above the market price of our common stock as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We cannot assure you that the market price of our common stock will not fluctuate widely or decline significantly in the future in response to a number of factors, including, among others: the realization of any of the risk factors presented in this Annual Report on Form 10-K; actual or anticipated differences in our estimates, or in the estimates of securities analysts, or the expectations of stockholders, or changes by securities analysts in their estimates of our future earnings; failure of our operating results to meet our published guidance; the

performance and market valuations of other similar companies; and broad disruptions in the financial markets, including sudden disruptions in the credit markets.

In the past, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against companies following periods of volatility in the market price of their shares. This type of litigation could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention and resources, which could have a material adverse effect on us.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could cause the price of our common stock to decline.

As of December 31, 2023, we had 116,171,208 shares of common stock outstanding and warrants to purchase approximately 18.4 million shares of common stock. We have registered shares of common stock that we may issue under our equity compensation plan. These shares may be sold freely in the public market upon issuance, subject to relevant vesting schedules, and applicable securities laws. Additionally, in the past we have issued, and may issue in the future, equity as part of the purchase price for an acquisition.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market or the perception that these sales might occur could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. We are unable to predict the effect that sales may have on the prevailing market price of our common stock.

We may not continue to declare cash dividends or may reduce the amount of cash dividends in the future.

In February 2022, we announced that our board of directors (the “Board”) authorized a regular dividend program under which we commenced payment of quarterly dividends on our common stock, subject to quarterly declarations in the sole discretion of our Board. Any future declarations of dividends, as well as the amount and timing of such dividends, are subject to capital availability and the discretion of our Board, which must evaluate, among other things, whether cash dividends are in the best interest of our stockholders and are in compliance with all applicable laws and any agreements containing provisions that limit our ability to declare and pay cash dividends.

Our ability to pay dividends in the future and their amount will depend upon, among other factors, our cash balances and potential future capital requirements, debt service requirements, earnings, financial condition, the general economic and regulatory climate, and other factors beyond our control that our Board may deem relevant. Our dividend payments may change from time to time, and we may not continue to declare dividends in the future. A reduction in or elimination of our dividend payments could have a negative effect on our stock price.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.

None.

ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY.

Cybersecurity risk management is a component of our overall risk management systems and processes and we recognize the importance of evaluating, detecting, and mitigating significant risks related to cybersecurity threats, including operational risks, theft of intellectual property, fraud, injury to employees or customers, and breach of applicable laws.

Our information security program aims to manage these cybersecurity risks and threats that we can reasonably anticipate using different methods, such as third-party assessments, internal IT audits, governance oversight, and risk and compliance reviews. We use various security tools designed to help protect our information systems from cyberattacks and to address any vulnerabilities or incidents in a timely manner, and we rely in part on third-party services to identify, prioritize, assess, reduce, and remediate cybersecurity threats and incidents.

Our information security program also evaluates potential risks associated with certain third-parties with whom we do business, especially our service providers that deal with sensitive employee, business, or customer data. This includes risk evaluation before choosing such vendors, periodic assessment thereafter and if a third-party has a reported cybersecurity incident, we perform an assessment to find and reduce risks related to such third-party incident that may affect us.

Our systems regularly face attacks that aim to interrupt and delay our operations or obtain information from our systems. Any major disruption or nefarious access, to our systems or a third-party’s systems, could lead to disclosure or destruction of data, including employee, customer and corporate information, which may expose us to business, regulatory, litigation and reputation risk and could negatively affect our business and results of operations. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we have not

encountered risks from cybersecurity threats that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our business strategy, results of operations or financial position. Refer to “Item 1A. Risk factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including “Significant disruptions of information technology systems, breaches of data security, or compromised data could materially adversely affect our business” for additional discussion about cybersecurity-related risks.

We perform various tasks designed to protect the Company from cybersecurity incidents, such as: conducting proactive cybersecurity reviews of systems and applications; performing penetration testing using external third-party tools and techniques; conducting employee training; and monitoring emerging laws and regulations related to data protection and information security. We evaluate risks from cyberattacks and technology threats and check our information systems for possible weaknesses. We use a risk quantification model created by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to find, assess and rank cybersecurity and technology risks and create related security controls and protections. Using third-party organizations and ongoing internal assessments, we regularly review and test our information security program to enhance our security measures and planning. We also engage an external auditor to perform an annual payment card industry data security standard review of our security controls protecting payment information, as well as quarterly third-party penetration testing of our cardholder environment and related systems.

We follow incident response and breach management processes that principally consist of four interrelated steps to identify and assess material risks from cybersecurity threats: (1) preparing for a cybersecurity incident; (2) detecting and analyzing a cybersecurity incident; (3) containing, eliminating and recovering from the cybersecurity incident; and (4) analyzing the cybersecurity incident after it is resolved. We assess, rank and prioritize cybersecurity incidents based on their severity and impact on our operations and business. Our information security team, with assistance from our legal team, oversees cybersecurity incident response and breach management processes and commencing with the formation of the Board’s Cybersecurity Special Committee, reports to such committee.

GPM’s Senior Vice President of Information Technology (the “SVP of IT”), who has more than 30 years of technology experience, leads our information security team. We also use additional employees with relevant educational and industry experience to support our information security program.

Until November 2023, our Board had oversight responsibility for cybersecurity threats, and the SVP of IT provided cybersecurity-related information to the Board on a periodic basis. In November 2023, the Board formed a Cybersecurity Special Committee which has oversight over our management of cybersecurity threats and is charged with periodically reporting on cybersecurity matters to the Board. Currently, the Cybersecurity Special Committee consists of four independent directors. The Board’s oversight, including through the Cybersecurity Special Committee, includes receiving periodic reports from the SVP of IT and other information technology team members on various cybersecurity matters, including risk assessments, mitigation strategies, areas of emerging risks, incidents and industry trends, and other areas of importance. In addition, the Cybersecurity Special Committee is now tasked with oversight of our annual cybersecurity assessment of key cybersecurity risks, which was previously overseen by the Board.

In November 2023, the Board adopted cybersecurity processes, which strengthened and formalized company-wide procedures related to identifying, managing and assessing cybersecurity threats. In the event of a cybersecurity incident which is potentially material, the SVP of IT must report such incident to the Company’s CEO, CFO, General Counsel and the chair of the Cybersecurity Special Committee, and these executives and board member determine whether, based on materiality or potential materiality, to report the cybersecurity incident to the Cybersecurity Special Committee, which committee makes a determination if such cybersecurity incident requires a public filing.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES.

As of December 31, 2023, we owned 395 properties, including 267 retail stores, 51 consignment agent locations, 44 lessee-dealer sites and 33 cardlock locations. Additionally, we have long-term control over a leased property portfolio composed of 1,640 locations as of December 31, 2023. Of the leased properties, 1,276 were retail stores, 103 were consignment agent locations, 105 were lessee-dealer sites and 156 were cardlock locations.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we were not party to any material legal proceedings that would require disclosure pursuant to Item 103 of Regulation S-K.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

Our common stock and publicly-traded warrants are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “ARKO” and “ARKOW,” respectively.

As of February 23, 2024, there were 17 holders of record of our common stock and eight holders of record of our publicly-traded warrants to purchase one whole share of common stock at a price of $11.50 per share.

Information concerning the dividends called for by this item is incorporated herein by reference to Note 17, “Equity,” in the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

The following table presents our share repurchase activity for the quarter ended December 31, 2023 (dollars in thousands, except per share amounts):

Performance Graph

The following graph compares the performance of our common stock during the period beginning December 23, 2020 through December 31, 2023, assuming an investment of $100 on December 23, 2020, to that of the total return index for the S&P 500, the Russell 2000 and the S&P Retail Select Industry Index. In calculating total annual stockholder return, reinvestment of dividends, if any, is assumed. The indices are included for comparative purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect management’s opinion that such indices are an appropriate measure of the relative performance of our common stock.

The performance graph shall not be deemed incorporated by reference by any general statement incorporating by reference this Annual Report on Form 10-K into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, except to the extent we specifically incorporate this information by reference, and shall not otherwise be deemed filed under such acts.

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PSLRA”), Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (the “Exchange Act”), about our expectations, beliefs, plans and intentions regarding our product development efforts, business, financial condition, results of operations, strategies and prospects. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that these statements do not relate to historical or current matters. Rather, forward-looking statements relate to anticipated or expected events, activities, trends or results. Because forward-looking statements relate to matters that have not yet occurred, these statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Many factors could cause our actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in forward-looking statements. These factors include those contained in “Item 1A — Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Forward-looking statements reflect our views only as of the date they are made. We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law. We intend that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbor provisions of PSLRA.

Overview

Based in Richmond, VA, we are a leading independent convenience store operator and, as of December 31, 2023, we were the sixth largest convenience store chain in the United States (“U.S.”) ranked by store count, operating 1,543 retail convenience stores. As of December 31, 2023, we operated the stores under more than 25 regional store brands, including 1-Stop, Admiral, Apple Market®, BreadBox, Corner Mart, Dixie Mart, ExpressStop, E-Z Mart®, fas mart®, fastmarket®, Flash Market, Handy Mart, Jetz, Jiffi Stop®, Jiffy Stop, Li’l Cricket, Market Express, Next Door Store®, Pride, Roadrunner Markets, Rose Mart, Rstore, Scotchman®, shore stop®, Speedy’s, Town Star, Uncle’s, Village Pantry® and Young’s. As of December 31, 2023, we also supplied fuel to 1,825 dealers and operated 298 cardlock locations (unstaffed fueling locations). We are well diversified geographically and, as of December 31, 2023, operated in the District of Columbia and more than 30 states in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwestern, Northeastern, Southeastern and Southwestern U.S.

Our primary business is the operation of convenience stores, and we generate a significant portion of our revenue from the retail sale of products and the fuel at our stores. Consequently, our retail stores generate a large proportion of our profitability. We intentionally focus our marketing and merchandising initiatives at our retail stores to offer our customers an assortment of products with an attractive value proposition. Our retail offering includes a wide array of cold and hot foodservice, beverages, cigarettes and other tobacco products, candy, salty snacks, grocery, beer and general merchandise. We have foodservice offerings at approximately 1,260 stores, which include hot and fresh grab-n-go foods, deli, fried chicken, bakery, pizza, roller grill items and other prepared foods. In 2024, we launched an extensive new pizza program that offers private label pizza, at an attractive value of $4.99 for enrolled loyalty members, which is currently offered at more than 1,000 stores as take-and-bake from the freezer, and currently available at approximately 225 of those stores also as fresh and hot pizza either whole or by the slice. We supplement our foodservice offering with approximately 150 quick service major national brand restaurants. Relevant and delicious food offerings are a key strategic priority for us, and we expect to maintain a high degree of focus on frozen grab-and-go and enhanced hot food capabilities. Additionally, we provide a number of traditional convenience store services that generate income, including lottery, prepaid products, gift cards, money orders, ATMs, gaming, and other ancillary product and service offerings. We also generate revenues from car washes at approximately 95 of our locations.

Enrolled members in our fas REWARDS® loyalty program increased by approximately 171,000 new enrolled members in the fourth quarter of 2023, representing a year over year increase of 170% from the fourth quarter of 2022. Currently, we have approximately 2.0 million enrolled members in our program. During the second and third quarters of 2023, following the launch of our updated fas REWARDS app in the first quarter of 2023, 491,000 new members enrolled, and we attribute this robust growth in part to execution of a special $10 enrollment campaign that lasted from mid-May 2023 through September 2023. Our fas REWARDS® loyalty program is available in the majority of our stores and offers enrolled loyalty members in store exclusive promotional pricing, in-app member only HOT deals not available in stores, as well as the ability to earn points that can be redeemed for either fuel or merchandise savings. Other in-app features include order and delivery, age verified offers on tobacco and alcohol, and a store locator with current gas prices at GPM stores nearby to members.

We also derive revenue from the wholesale distribution of fuel and the sale of fuel at cardlock locations, and we earn commissions from the sales of fuel using proprietary fuel cards that provide customers access to a nationwide network of fueling sites. We believe these revenues result in stable, ratable cash flows which, together with free cash flow from our retail segment, can be deployed to pursue accretive acquisitions and investments in our retail stores. The wholesale segment adds significant fuel volumes to

our robust retail fuel sales, which we believe enhances our purchasing power for our entire platform, including our retail segment, and improves our competitiveness as an acquirer of choice.

Description of Segments

Our reportable segments are described below.

Retail Segment

Our retail segment includes the operation of a chain of retail stores, which includes convenience stores selling fuel products and other merchandise to retail customers. At our convenience stores, we own the merchandise and fuel inventory and employ personnel to manage the store.

Wholesale Segment

Our wholesale segment supplies fuel to dealers, on either a consignment or cost plus basis. For consignment arrangements, we retain ownership of the fuel inventory at the site, are responsible for the pricing of the fuel to the end consumer and share a portion of the gross profit earned from the sale of fuel by the consignment dealers. For cost plus arrangements, we sell fuel to dealers and bulk and spot purchasers on a fixed-fee basis. The sales price to the dealer is determined according to the terms of the relevant agreement with the dealer, which typically reflects our total fuel costs plus the cost of transportation and a margin, with us generally retaining the prompt pay discounts and rebates.

Fleet Fueling Segment

Our fleet fueling segment includes the operation of proprietary and third-party cardlock locations (unstaffed fueling locations), and issuance of proprietary fuel cards that provide customers access to a nationwide network of fueling sites.

GPMP Segment

Our GPMP segment engages in the wholesale distribution of fuel to substantially all of our sites that sell fuel in the retail and wholesale segments and a limited number of third-party dealers and bulk purchasers. GPM Petroleum LP (“GPMP”) sells fuel at GPMP’s cost of fuel (including taxes and transportation) plus a fixed margin and charges a fixed fee primarily to sites in the fleet fueling segment which are not supplied by GPMP.

Trends Impacting Our Business

We achieved strong store growth over the last decade, driven primarily by a highly successful acquisition strategy, inclusive of 25 completed acquisitions from 2013 through 2023. More recently, on March 1, 2023, we acquired 135 convenience stores and gas stations, 181 dealer locations, a commercial, government, and industrial business, and certain distribution and transportation assets from Transit Energy Group, LLC (the “TEG Acquisition”). On June 6, 2023, we completed our acquisition of 24 Uncle’s convenience stores located across Western Texas, 68 proprietary GASCARD-branded cardlock sites and 43 private cardlock sites for fleet fueling operations located in Western Texas and Southeastern New Mexico from WTG Fuels Holdings, LLC (the “WTG Acquisition”). On August 15, 2023, we acquired seven Speedy’s convenience stores located in Arkansas and Oklahoma, which were previously locations operated by a dealer to which we supplied fuel (the “Speedy’s Acquisition” and, together with the TEG Acquisition and the WTG Acquisition, the “2023 Acquisitions”). For additional information regarding the 2023 Acquisitions, please see Note 4 to the Consolidated Financial Statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In July 2022, we completed our acquisition of certain assets from Quarles Petroleum, Incorporated (the “Quarles Acquisition”), which included at closing 121 proprietary Quarles-branded cardlock sites and 63 third-party cardlock sites for fleet fueling operations, and 46 dealer locations, and in December 2022, we completed our acquisition of Pride Convenience Holdings, LLC, which operated 31 Pride convenience stores at closing and had one store under construction that is now opened (the “Pride Acquisition” and together with the Quarles Acquisition, the “2022 Acquisitions”). In May 2021, we completed our acquisition of 60 ExpressStop convenience stores, and, in November 2021, we completed our acquisition of 36 Handy Mart convenience stores.

Our store count has grown from 320 sites in 2011 to 3,666 sites as of December 31, 2023, of which 1,543 were operated as retail convenience stores, 1,825 were locations at which we supplied fuel to dealers and 298 were cardlock locations. Our strategic acquisitions have had, and may continue to have, a significant impact on our reported results and can make period to period comparisons of results difficult. We believe our significant size and scale aids our efforts to successfully deploy our organic growth strategies in our acquired assets, which we anticipate will result in value accretion.

The following table provides a history of our acquisitions, site conversions and site closings for each of the last three years, for the retail, wholesale and fleet fueling segments:

1 Excludes bulk and spot purchasers.

2 Includes all signed fuel supply agreements irrespective of fuel distribution commencement date.

In recent years, the convenience store industry has focused on increasing and improving in-store foodservice offerings, including fresh foods, quick service restaurants and proprietary food offerings. We believe consumers may be more likely to patronize convenience stores that include new and improved food offerings, which may also lead to increased inside merchandise sales or fuel sales. Our current foodservice offering, which varies by store, primarily consists of hot and fresh grab-n-go foods, deli, fried chicken, bakery, pizza, roller grill items and other prepared foods. We have historically relied upon a limited number of franchised quick service restaurants and in-store delis to drive customer traffic. As a result, we believe that our under-penetration of foodservice presents an opportunity to expand foodservice offerings and margin in response to changing consumer behavior. In the third quarter of 2023, we created and filled a new role at GPM, Senior Vice President of Food Service, to evaluate our current foodservice offering and to expand our company-wide, cross-functional food strategy to position our stores as a food destination for our customers, scaled across our Family of Community Brands. In 2024, we launched an extensive new pizza program.

Our results of operation are significantly impacted by the retail fuel margins we earn on gallons sold. These fuel margins can change rapidly as they are influenced by many factors, including: the wholesale cost of fuel; interruptions in supply caused by severe weather; supply chain disruptions; refinery mechanical failures; and competition in the local markets in which we operate.

The cost of our main products, gasoline and diesel fuel, is greatly impacted by the wholesale cost of fuel in the United States. We attempt to pass wholesale fuel cost changes through to our customers through retail price changes; however, we are not always able to do so. Competitive conditions primarily affect the timing of any related increase or decrease in retail prices. As a result, we tend to experience lower fuel margins when the cost of fuel is increasing gradually over a longer period and higher fuel margins when the cost of fuel is declining or more volatile over a shorter period of time. For the year ended December 31, 2022, we experienced historically high fuel margins as a result of the volatile market for gasoline and diesel fuel. In particular, in the first quarter of 2022, the war in Ukraine significantly affected market conditions and resulted in substantially higher fuel margins. Depending on future

market and geopolitical conditions, the supply of fuel, including diesel fuel in particular, may become constrained. Accordingly, we maintain terminal storage of diesel fuel for short-term supply needs for our fleet fueling sites.

Additionally, throughout 2023, the U.S. economy continued to endure price inflation and the effect of higher prevailing interest rates, which began in 2022 and which has increased merchandise cost and reduced consumer purchasing power. We have mitigated a portion of these higher costs with retail price increases. The persistence of, or increase in, inflation or high interest rates could negatively impact the demand for our products and services, including due to consumers reducing travel, which could reduce sales volumes. Additionally, because of current labor market conditions and the prevailing wage rates in the markets in which we operate, we have voluntarily increased wages, which has increased our costs associated with recruiting and retaining qualified personnel, and may continue to do so in the future.

We also operate in a highly competitive retail convenience market that includes businesses with operations and services that are similar to those that we provide. We believe that convenience stores managed by individual operators who offer branded or non-branded fuel are also significant competitors in the local markets in which we operate. Often, operators of both chains and individual stores compete by selling unbranded fuel at lower retail prices relative to the market. The convenience store industry is also experiencing competition from other retail sectors including grocery stores, large warehouse retail stores, dollar stores and pharmacies.

We believe that we have a significant opportunity to increase our sales and profitability by continuing to execute on our organic and inorganic strategies, which principally seek to improve the performance of current stores through enhanced offerings to meet our customers’ needs and growing our store base in existing and contiguous markets through acquisitions.

Seasonality

Our business is seasonal, and our operating income in the second and third quarters has historically been significantly greater than in the first and fourth quarters as a result of the generally improved climate and seasonal buying patterns of our customers. Inclement weather, especially in the Midwest and Northeast regions of the U.S. during the winter months, can negatively impact our financial results.

Results of Operations for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021

The period-to-period comparisons of our results of operations contained in this Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation have been prepared using the Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto, and the following discussion should be read in conjunction with such audited annual consolidated financial statements and related notes contained elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. All references to fuel contribution and fuel margin per gallon are excluding the estimated fixed margin or fixed fee paid to GPMP for the cost of fuel (intercompany charges by GPMP).

Consolidated Results

The table below shows our consolidated results for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, together with certain key metrics.