Gas Station Business 101 Podcast - How to Start, Run and Grow a Successful Gas Station Business Shabbir Hossain : Entrepreneur, Business Coach and Blogger

Remember the store I helped some investors buy in 2015 that was losing money? I shared two updates so far and now here is the 3rd one about how that store is doing now. This is a long awaited episode, but here it is. Enjoy!
Welcome to Gas station business 101 podcast, I am Shabbir Hossain, and this is episode 61. This is the show where we discuss everything under the sun about the gas station and convenience store business, how to buy these businesses, how to operate them and how to grow them to be a million dollar success.
Now on to the show.....
On Episode 23, I brought you a real life store sales data and analysis, where I was helping a group of buyers decide if they should buy a location or not. If you recall, in that episode I published the real sales figures of the store and some projected ones as well. Based on their sales data I created some P&L's of my own and it showed for the month of October the seller had lost about $2500. But despite the fact that the store was losing money, I did go ahead and recommended that they buy the store based on few factors which I discussed in that episode 23 as well. If you recall, in that episode (episode 23) I discussed few issues, and few opportunities of the store and we covered 9 points:
The store and its location Demographics Age and brand Physical inspection of the store and the issues we noticed Recommended upgrades and how much those upgrades would cost Indoor Issues Outdoor Issues Sales and financials Projected P&L vs. Real P&L If you have time, please go back and listen to Episode 23 and 29 this way you will know the whole story.
In episode 29 I shared some P&L for March 2016, in that episode, I did compare P&L’s from October 2015 which the sellers provided us to what the new owners did in March 2016, and if you recall there was a drastic difference between those two. The new owners increased the business and made it a very profitable one. But to get to that increase, the new owners implemented these nine strategies that I proposed.
Strategies we implemented:
 
Address all maintenance issues Upgrade all lighting and put a fresh coat of paint Clean up the store Remerchandising the store based on its traffic flow Bringing in products that sell in the area Advertise heavily via reader board, pump toppers and on the front door Bringing in EBT and money order Implementation of new fuel and merchandise pricing strategy Full on marketing and promotional campaign As you can see it was not one single strategy that made the business profitable but a combination of many factors. It was not an easy task, but the credit goes to the management team of the store who were able to follow directions and implement everything we suggested for the store.
Now let’s take a look what and how the store has done since March 2016 until December 2016, instead of showing you month by month P&L, I can tell you that the new owners have seen a gradual increase in business and enjoyed a positive growth each month. Let’s now take a look at the P&L from this last December.
But remind you in most areas, November through February are usually the slowest winter months. Business usually slows down quite a bit compare to the summer months. So I figured if we can see something positive even in December then we can be assured that the business will make more sales and show more profit during the summer months.
 
Here is the P&L for the same month of December 2016
 (If the Excel Spreadsheet is not viewable, please visit my blog at GasStationBusiness101.com to view them)
Let’s look at the Profit and Loss history of this store. If you remember in October 2015 right before the new owners took over the store lost $2574.51, then the new owners took over in December, and by March the store became profitable which I shared in episode 29, the P&L then showed a profit of $5193.33.
Now fast forward to December 2016, which is a slower month for most gas station business, and with less fuel sal

In this 2nd part of our last Q&A episode, I answer remaining 5 questions all related to buying gas stations and how to understand the numbers and if the stores are really making money or losing money. I also answer questions about how to grow your business with financing and how to take on a new partnership. I think you may find this episode helpful if you are in the market to buy a business. Here I analyze some sales numbers and see which ones are making money and which ones are not. Stay tuned.
Welcome to Gas station business 101 podcast, I am Shabbir Hossain, and this is episode 60. This is the show where we discuss everything under the sun about gas station and convenience store business, how to buy these businesses, how to operate them and how to grow them to be a million dollar success.
Question #4
Hope this email finds you and your family well.
 
I personally want to thank you for writing a book about Gas Station Business. You have explained very well process of how to buy and what to keep in mind before purchasing store.
 
I am in Gas Station with C-Store business since The year 2005. I have been thru many challenges similar to yours which you have explained in your book. I am currently looking for something to understand how to get finance to expand like big national corporations? Can you explore few points of financial strategies in order to expand in gas station business?
 
Your help will be highly appreciated.
 
Question #5
Dear Shabbir,
 
I will be running a gas station from April 1st. Let me give you the picture; the store owner still has 3.4 million volume of gas volume under contract. He splits his profit, expenses, credit card fees, and maintenance fees with a small oil company.
 
If I take his contract, I have to split the fuel profit 50/50, but I get 3 cents cheaper than other gas store. If I don't take his contract, I have to pay 3 cents more than his contract price. Which deal will generate more profit for me? Being a 1st-time business runner, I would appreciate your suggestions.
 
Question #6
Hi Shabbir
 
Thanks for the great article, it helps a lot. One question, though: when a seller say his store sales are 37k, does that figure normally including lotto and scratch off sales?
 
I am asking because one of the stores I looked at treated lotto, scratch off tickets and prepaid phone cards separate, so inside sales were more than what they were saying.
 
Thanks and keep it up
 
Question #7
Thanks for the great info. I had limited fund like around 100k, and most money making gas stations as I saw on websites are expensive. Do you think it is a good idea to go in partnership with a stranger? I have posted on cl for partnership and got responses, but I am curious about it.
Answer: Check out episode #21 where I spoke in details about how to create effective partnerships.
 
Question #8
Andres sent me this question, he is a long time listener and contributor of this show, he asked
Hi Shabbir I hope you are fine. Do you have a good template to control cigarettes in your stores? I would imagine your employee has to count the cigarette boxes when he starts the shift and also at shift end to reconcile the daily sales, right? If not, how do you do it?
Tune in and listen to this episode for all the answers.
If you have any question, feel free to send me an email at shabbir@gasstationbusiness101.com, or you can post it on my Facebook group page by going to shabbirhossain.net
Don't forget to sign up for my very important newsletter; you can simply sign up for it by going to http://gasstationbusiness101.com/subscribe
In the meantime, if you haven't subscribed to this podcast, feel free to do so, and if you like this show, I would love to see a review from you on iTunes or where ever you download this episode from.
Here is a link to my podcast page on iTunes, if you follow this link you can give me a review right on that page. Trust me it will make my day and won't cost y

In this episode, I answer three questions all related to buying gas stations and how to understand the numbers and if the stores are really making money or losing money. I think you may find this episode helpful if you are in the market to buy a business. Here I analyze some sales numbers and see which ones are making money and which ones are not. Stay tuned.
Welcome to Gas station business 101 podcast, I am Shabbir Hossain, and this is episode 59. This is the show where we discuss how to start, run and grow a gas station business successfully and give you an inside look at many real life case studies so you can follow and be successful in this business.
First my apology once again for not coming up with an episode sooner, I was busy with a few projects and had to put the blog and the podcast on the backburner for just a bit, but I am back, and hopefully I will be posting new episodes sooner rather than later. I still haven’t forgotten about the episode I promised you where I would share the new P&L of the subject store I helped some investors buy about 14 months ago. I have some new updates on that store and recorded that episode halfway through already, which I will share soon I promise.
Now as for this episode, I had to do this one first because I have had way too many emails lately where many of the blog readers and podcast listeners have been asking me various due diligence questions, and it is hard to answer them via email. So I have decided to pick just 6 out of them since they are mostly all similar in nature, and I thought by sharing them with rest of you, it will benefit everyone. For various privacy reasons, I have decided not to mention any names of the people that sent me these emails here.
Let’s dive right on…
 
Question #1
I need your advice about the valuation for the store based on the following information.
Inside Sale# $55000/month (27% profit margin)
$55,000 x 27% = $14,850
Outside Sale# 25000 Gallon/month (10 cents per gallon)
25,000 gallon x 10cents =$2,500
Lottery commission# 4000/month, ATM# $200/month

Total Gross Profit $21,550
Owner absentee
Capability to open deli with grill.
Store located in small town and mostly neighborhood business.
 
Expense:
Rent# 5000 "NNN."
Utility# 1300
Credit# 1000
Payroll# 2400 (Two full-time employees)
Other# 500
______________________
Total Expenses: $10,200
Net profit: $21,550 – $10,200 = $11,350
Asking price is $225,000
What would be the price we should go for?
Question#2
Shabbir, here are few questions.
Please note that I do not have prior experience, so how can I convince them that I am serious and are there any training provided by gas companies?
 
When buying just the business, I mean just goodwill without R/E, how do I make sure that my investment is protected? For Example, If I buy the lease for 500k and pay 16K a month. What if the lease is for two years and after two years the owner does not want to renew the lease. How can I make sure 100% that I will not lose everything?  
As far as tax benefits are concerned at the end of the year, which option is better buying or leasing? I would appreciate if you only focus on the tax benefits since you have already talked about pros and cons from other angles. For example, let's say that gas station A is leased with goodwill paid by on-hand cash and gas station B is bought with R/E with a bank loan. Let's say both gas stations have exactly same per month profit after all lease or loan payments.  
Now at the end of the year when I will file income tax, which option will give me bigger return? What is the best way to approach companies which own multiple stations around me?
Question#3
Good Morning Shabbir,
Glad, I ran into your website. I found a gas station business for sale for
$85K. We did our due diligence to look into the traffic, etc. Mostly the sales are from Cigarettes and Beer. The other items are pretty much a stand still.
 
In addition, this station

I am sure you have seen a gas station or two that are closed up in your area and wonder why did someone close it or if you should buy it, or would it do great business if you start it up? Listen and find out as I answer 6 burning questions from our listeners in this episode.
Welcome to Gas station business 101 podcast, I am Shabbir Hossain, and this is episode 58. This is the show where we discuss how to start, run and grow a gas station business successfully and give you an inside look at many real life case studies so you can follow and be successful in this business.
First my apology for coming up with an episode sooner, I was little under the weather at first then got busy with a few projects and had to put the blog and the podcast on the backburner for just a bit. Well, we all have to make money to survive right? I was doing just that too. But I am back, and hopefully, I won’t take much breaks anymore. Even though I told you in the last episode that this next one will be about the update and P&L of the story I helped some investors buy back in December 2015, but I am still analyzing and sorting out those P&L numbers, so hopefully it will be in the next episode.
As I said I have been busy so I didn’t even get to answer some of yours email yet, and if I haven’t, my apology. But I picked out 6 questions out of 30 or so email I looked at in last two days and decided to answer them on this episode this way everyone gets to benefit from the answers.
In this 3rd Q&A episode, I answer 6 questions
I am looking to buy a closed up gas station with the property, what do I need to worry about in this process?  
In one of the podcasts, you had mentioned that one of the reasons someone could sell their gas station is because some competitor is crushing them on fuel prices. How can we figure out if this reason why a seller is selling his gas station.   I am buying a gas station, but the seller wants to sell the tanks, canopy, and pumps for $1.00. What I want to know is if I leave the business at the end of the lease term due to not finding any buyer then what should I do if it is in my name? What if the landlord doesn’t want to buy it for a $1 like I did  I have been meaning to tell you how much I enjoyed the gas station/c-store development podcast you did. Thank you! One point I was not clear on was about reselling or leasing the property. Let’s say I stabilized the business in 3 years and it does:  120,000 Gallons/Month on fuel sales 22,000 gallons of Diesel sales $75,000 on inside merchandise sales $90,000 in Fast food sales My question is what should my resale value be after 3 years of operation?
How much can I sell and/or lease the business for which will not include the R/E
How much can I sell the business with R/E
5. First of all, thanks for your podcast and for all the resources you share with us. It's great to learn from someone with all your experience. Keep it up! The public restroom at my gas station is located outside, meaning people have to ask for the key at the counter to use it. Normally we give the key to customers (people who actually buy) and people we know (customers from the past who might not be buying anything on that day) but sometimes people get very mad when we don't give the keys out if they are not buying anything (people who only stop at the station to use the restroom). That being said, the cashier is many times "forced" to give out the keys to non-customers in order to avoid headaches. The problem is that people don't care about the restroom. They pee on the floor, misuse the toilet paper, soap and paper towels and write graffiti on the walls. Some others use it to consume drugs and have other illegal activities. The main problem is that once every week the toilet gets clogged, sometimes so badly that I've had to actually replace the toilet 3-4 times a year as it is impossible to unclog it. I've been trying to find the best solution for this. It is mandatory to have public r

I get asked this question often, and I have tried to answer them before as well, but let’s answer it once again in very much details so we can clear up any and all the confusion, let’s discuss how you can figure out how to calculate your fuel profit precisely and accurately.
Welcome to Gas station business 101 podcast, I am Shabbir Hossain, and this is episode 57. This is the show where we discuss how to start, run and grow a gas station business successfully and give you an inside look at many real life case studies so you can follow and be successful in this business.
Before we start, one important announcement, my new email server is working beautifully now, so if you are on my email newsletter list, I am sure you already noticed you are receiving my seven very important how to find and buy a gas station email series. If any of you are not receiving these emails, please sign up again, and that should solve the issue, you can simply go to http://gasstationbusiness101.com/subscribe or go to my blog at http://gasstationbusiness101.com and sign on the landing page. You will also receive my free eBook 9 Passive income idea book for signing up.
Okay now on to the show… 
First take a look at the attached daily fuel price notification that we all receive from our jobber/suppliers. This is the price we pay to buy our fuel. Remember it will vary city to city, state to state and country to country. What I pay for a gallon of regular in Alabama may not be the same as someone buying the same brand fuel in NY City. But a couple of things to consider here, if you look at this fuel prices you will notice there is a difference in price between the regular, Mid-grade and premium right?
Well, typically, your mid-grade price should be around 15 cents higher than your regular price, the same way your premium price should be around 50 cents higher than your regular price. So, you need to price your fuel accordingly.
Let me show you how.
 
Price       Regular         Mid-Grade             Premium
Cost        $1.89             $2.04                   $2.39
Retail       $1.99             $2.39                 $2.89

Profit:   $.10               $.35                     $.50  
(Listen to the show for details on how we price our fuel)
Now let’s look at the Excel image of the fuel margin calculation, it will be easier for you to understand this episode if you can see the excel sheet. You can also download this and use it for your business as well.
(Listen to show for full discussion on this)
To download the Fuel Profit Calculator please click below (In Microsoft Excel Format)
http://www.gasstationbusiness101.com/Fuel-Profit-Calculator
 
If you have any question, feel free to send me an email at shabbir@gasstationbusiness101.com, or you can post it on my Facebook group page by going to shabbirhossain.net
Don't forget to sign up for my very important newsletter; you can simply sign up for it by going to http://gasstationbusiness101.com/subscribe
In the meantime, if you haven't subscribed to this podcast, feel free to do so, and if you like this show, I would love to see a review from you on iTunes or where ever you download this episode from.
Here is a link to my podcast page on iTunes, if you follow this link you can give me a review right on that page. Trust me it will make my day and won't cost you anything other than maybe 30 seconds of your time.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/gas-station-business-101-podcast/
Thank you once again for joining me in this episode; I will see you in the next one.
Cheers!

I want to tell you about five proven marketing strategies that have worked for me for last 18 years. But remind you they will sound silly at first, but I want you to hear them out in their entirety before you knock any of them out.  After you hear me out then maybe you can go try them in your business and see how your business rises to the top.
Welcome to Gas station business 101 podcast, I am your host Shabbir Hossain, and this is episode 56. This is the show where we discuss how to start, run and grow a gas station business successfully and give you an inside look at many real life case studies so you can follow and be successful in this business.
Here are five silly sounding strategies you can take and become a unique retailer in your area. Trust me they work; I have tried and tested them for last 18 years. Just trust me on this okay? Before you knock these proven ideas, hear me out, let me explain each and you will see and hopefully agree with me. So here we go...
Know your Customer Give them something for Free Feed them Free Support your local community Give out Candy to Kids (Listen to the episode for all the details)
If you have any question, feel free to send me an email at shabbir@gasstationbusiness101.com, or you can post it on my Facebook group page by going to shabbirhossain.net
Don't forget to sign up for my very important newsletter; you can simply sign up for it by going to http://gasstationbusiness101.com/subscribe
For all our international listeners, if you are interested in learning about the investment category visas and how to get one of those by investing in a gas station business, do check out my new book USA Investment Visa to Green Card, How to Qualify, Apply and Obtain EB-5, E-2 and L-1 Visa. You can find this book on most online retailers like Amazon, Apple iTunes store, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and most other online booksellers.
In the meantime, if you haven't subscribed to this podcast, feel free to do so, and if you like this show, I would love to see a review from you on iTunes or where ever you download this episode from.
Here is a link to my podcast page on iTunes, if you follow this link you can give me a review right on that page. Trust me it will make my day and won't cost you anything other than maybe 30 seconds of your time.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/gas-station-business-101-podcast/
Thank you once again for joining me in this episode; I will see you in the next one.
Cheers!