When asked to reflect on how Global Partners LP has evolved in his nearly 20 years as CEO, Eric Slifka went back even further, to the convenience retailer’s beginnings. 

When Global Partners was founded in 1933, it wasn’t a c-store retailer. And it didn’t even have the same name. Slifka’s grandfather, Abraham, started the company — then called Slifky’s Reliable Oil Burner Service — to deliver heating oil to peoples’ homes and businesses during the Great Depression. 

By the 1950s, Slifka’s father, Alfred, took over the business and began acquiring other home heating companies. According to Slifka, that was the first sign of the company’s eventual growth into a large-scale, multi-region fuel operator.

“[My father] moved from [heating] into the wholesale business, and from that into the supply business,” Slifka said. “He was the one who really changed it.”

By the time Eric Slifka took over as president of CEO in 2005, Global Partners had expanded into the retail gasoline business with operations throughout the Northeast. Today, it has more than 350 convenience stores in the region — as well as an ongoing expansion in Texas — under c-store brands like Alltown Fresh, XtraMart, Honey Farms and Jiffy Mart. It also supplies fuel to about 1,700 locations in 12 states.

Slifka said the comparisons between the generations are “night and day” because change is the one constant in everything that Global Partners does, he noted.

“Sometimes we may not recognize that there's change that's happening, but it is always happening,” he said. “We sort of embrace that, and then try to help and solve what those future problems are.”

That mentality has most recently been reflected in Global Partners’ new brand identity, which the company launched in mid-March. The new website and logo underscore Global Partners’ aim to continue strengthening and differentiating its energy infrastructure in the face of climate change.

Behind the rebrand

Slifka said the rebrand represented a shift in Global Partners’ thinking as a company, and a desire to position itself at the forefront of today’s evolving energy landscape.

Global Partners, he said, is doubling down on its decarbonization efforts, which will include improvements at both its energy terminals and convenience stores.

“The energy industry is at this pivotal moment where we're all trying to decarbonize,” he said. “The question is, how can we help with that policy of decarbonisation and deliver fuels and energies that actually deliver on goals of lower carbon footprints?”

Global Partners is promoting sustainability at its convenience stores through several means, most notably through electric vehicle charging. The company added its first charging stations to six Alltown Fresh locations in 2023, and touted plans to install them at all new Alltown Fresh c-stores moving forward. 

While Slifka hasn’t shied away from the profitability hurdles Global Partners has faced with EV chargers early on, he said the demand for EV charging in certain markets continues to grow, and that its investment in charging will continue.

“We're looking to put charging into locations that don't have them, and make sure that as an idea to differentiate us in the marketplace, that we’ll have high speed charging for electric vehicles at those locations,” he said.

Beyond EV charging, Slifka emphasized Global Partners’ fresh food program as part of its new focus on sustainability. Specifically, he noted the importance of centering its foodservice programs around locally sourced products and a mixture of organic, vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free choices.

Alltown Fresh, in particular, has become popular for its made-to-order foodservice program in recent years. Its fresh food menu includes breakfast sandwiches and burritos, salads, wraps, protein bowls and smoothies. The c-store chain also employs multiple in-house chefs.

“Just having options that allow our guests to get what they need and sort of democratizing that ability to deliver food that can be better for you,” Slifka said.

On the energy front, Global Partners believes that using “drop-in” fuels is the best and fastest way to progress in its decarbonization efforts — at least for now, Slifka said. For example, renewable diesel or biofuel that can be blended with existing petroleum products Global Partners already offers, like gasoline.

“There's a solution right here available today that can be used and dropped into the fuel and effect a lower carbon footprint,” he said. “This is a path that we want because we are concerned about the warming of the planet.”

Nothing stays the same

It’s not just Global Partners that’s always changing, but the convenience store and fueling industries as a whole, Slifka said.

“If you think about pre COVID-19, and you think about where we are today, it's completely different,” he said. “Yet that's been an opportunity for us, because we're still selling convenience.” 

As Global Partners focuses on healthy and sustainable foods moving forward, Slifka pointed to the evolution of c-store foodservice as one of the biggest changes and opportunities the industry has seen over the years — particularly, the focus on made-to-order food and the blurring of the lines with restaurants.

“It takes the right technology, the right people, the right ease of use, [and] the ability to deliver your food quickly,” he said. “And if you can't deliver quickly, you're going to lose [customers].”

Slifka also noted the c-store industry’s increased appetite for larger stores — and in some cases, travel centers — as a mark of significant change and opportunity in the space. 

He said he considers some of Global Partners’ 75 Alltown stores in New England — different from its Alltown Fresh banner — larger-format locations, as they also offer car washes and restaurants like Dunkin or McDonald’s. He noted that Global Partners intends to invest more in larger stores moving forward.

“There's certainly a trend to larger format locations … I'm a believer in that as well,” he said. “We do believe that it fits what we do, and I think companies that are investing in that are smart.”

Whether reflecting on foodservice or types of fuel or electric vehicle charging, Global Partners has come a long way from the days of Slifky’s Reliable Oil Burner Service. Moving forward, Slifka has made it clear that the company is not only set on addressing today’s environmental crisis head-on, but the concept of change as well.

“Nothing is going to stay the same,” he said. “And so leaning in and helping the world decarbonize is an important piece of what we're going to do.”