Casey’s General Stores has shuttered JF Heritage Food Company, the former food distribution arm of Fikes Wholesale, a company spokesperson confirmed to C-Store Dive.
Casey’s acquired Fikes and all of its assets — including nearly 200 CEFCO-branded convenience stores — in late 2024. JF Heritage was included in the deal.
JF Heritage began as a kolache bakery inside a CEFCO c-store in West Texas in 2018. Two years later, it opened inside a second CEFCO location and expanded its product line to also include cookies and muffins. In 2021, JF Heritage opened its 60,000-square-foot facility in Belton, Texas, and added doughnuts to its product lineup.
Besides sweets, JF Heritage also produced and distributed salads, sandwiches, pizzas and pre-packaged items.
Casey’s leaders have been upfront about its plans to add its own food program — headlined by its homemade pizza — into CEFCO’s stores. When the deal to acquire Fikes was announced last July, Chairman, President and CEO Darren Rebelez said that Casey’s would spend about $150 million remodeling CEFCO’s stores, including adding new kitchens in about 85% of these locations.
However, in December, Rebelez said Casey’s would test a dual foodservice program that featured both brands’ offerings in some CEFCO locations. Rebelez said at the time that this would help Casey’s understand how its and CEFCO’s food programs performed together.
While it’s unclear if JF Heritage was part of the dual program, Casey’s spokesperson said that the c-store retailer decided to shutter the producer and distributor “after considerable assessment and analysis.”
The spokesperson was unable to share how many individuals were impacted by the closure.
“We appreciate the team’s work and dedication to the CEFCO stores and have provided support and transition services for everyone impacted,” Casey’s spokesperson said.
JF Heritage also announced its cessation last week in a social media post.
“We took immense pride [in] delivering delicious and innovative food produced in a clean, safe environment,” JF Heritage said. “And our team … they achieved the unthinkable — and then some. Anyone would be lucky to employ any of these individuals.”
