Circle K owner, stymied on deals, goes on food marketing push

Couche-Tard has been looking for a major acquisition but hasn’t done a major deal in years. In the meantime, it’s expanding a marketing push in thousands of outlets, using food trucks to spur consumers to try a lineup of hot sandwiches and other meals.

Circle K parent Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. gets about half of its gross profit from fuel, hardly an ideal situation as the auto industry shifts toward electric vehicles. That has Hannasch, who’s been chief executive officer since 2014, thinking about how to kickstart the company’s fresh food business, which represents just 11 per cent of sales in its 9,000 North American stores. 

Couche-Tard has been looking for a major acquisition -- it came close to buying a French grocery chain last year -- but hasn’t done a major deal in years. So in the meantime, it’s expanding a marketing push in thousands of Circle K outlets, using food trucks and other forms of advertising to spur consumers to try a lineup of hot sandwiches, pizza, chicken and other meals.