Benchmark Fuel
Signal Brief · BFA-1018
Confidential · Buyer Evaluation

Four Shell stations.
One engine you are underwriting.

A (4) c-store and gas package on the Phenix City, AL corridor west of Columbus, GA. Sold together or one at a time. Priced on operations only.

The fuel margin band
$886K$1.47M
You set the number.
regular $0.20 floor · $0.30 base · $0.38 to $0.49 recent actual

The package at a glance. Four recently Shell-branded stations, modern canopies and EMV pumps, turnkey with staff who wish to stay. The ask is $1,140,000 for operations only, which means you buy the operating businesses and pay ground rent to the property owner. Stores can be acquired as a package or individually.

Package, 2025 verified actuals
StoreFuel gallonsInside salesInside gross profitNet (OM basis)
Store 1 · Opelika Rd464,705$334,689$83,832$50,884
Store 2 · US-80 W1,870,377$1,517,809$380,908$496,913
Store 3 · Fort Mitchell Rd927,241$1,012,965$301,138$235,663
Store 4 · Hwy 165488,797$742,572$224,868$153,438
Package3,751,120$3,608,035$990,746$936,898
Inside figures verified from full-year 2025 point-of-sale department reports. Net is on the offering basis (fuel margin modeled at conservative cents per gallon, see Numbers and Upside).
How to read this deal in one line. At the conservative fuel margin the offering is built on, the four stores together net about $937,000 a year, so the operations-only ask of $1.14M equals roughly 1.2 years of cash flow. The strength is the yield. The risk that earns it is fuel volume, which is moving. Both are laid out plainly in the next tab.
What you are actually buying
  • A fuel-margin stream first. Strip out fuel and the four stores net about $50,650 combined after rent and payroll. Stores 2 and 4 carry themselves inside; Stores 1 and 3 lean on fuel. The center of gravity is the pump.
  • A real foodservice asset at Store 3. A deli doing $147,667 at a 47% margin, plus installed hot-food capacity sitting idle across the package.
  • Four separable assets. Store 2 is the clear standout. You are not forced to take all four.
  • Turnkey operations. Staff, systems, inventory, and a recent Shell rebrand across all locations.

Ready To Set Your Benchmark

The Benchmark Signal is sourced and tagged verified or modeled, across six tabs: the financial read & economics, the upside stack, the location intelligence, and the diligence list.

914.246.7036

The trend, stated straight. Inside sales and fuel volume are verified from point-of-sale exports. Fuel margin is modeled, because the offering carries a conservative cents-per-gallon assumption rather than the raw point-of-sale fuel figure. Where a number is an estimate, it is labeled.

Verified · POS / P&L actuals Modeled · fuel CPG, go-forward payroll Confirm in DD · fuel transfer, lease terms
Fuel volume by year, verified gallons
Store20242025YoYMonth 1 / 2026 ×12
Store 1694,404464,705-33.1%492,526
Store 22,252,8811,870,377-17.0%1,706,147
Store 31,574,332927,241-41.1%792,396
Store 4663,081488,797-26.3%405,219
Package5,184,6983,751,120-27.7%3,396,288
Month 1 / 2026 column annualizes a single January, which is seasonally the lowest fuel month. Treat it as a directional run-rate, not a forecast. The decline is decelerating off the 2024 step-down.
Inside sales and gross profit, verified
Store2024 sales2025 salesYoY2025 gross profit
Store 1$395,210$334,689-15.3%$83,832
Store 2$1,323,992$1,517,809+14.6%$380,908
Store 3$1,208,651$1,012,965-16.2%$301,138
Store 4$909,581$742,572-18.4%$224,868
Store 2 grew inside sales while every other store contracted. Inside performance is not uniform across the package, which matters when stores can be bought individually.
Month 1 / 2026 snapshot, single month
StoreFuel galFuel marginInside salesInside profit
Store 141,044not costed$24,577$7,320
Store 2142,179$67,265$131,937$34,758
Store 366,033$38,820$74,435$22,467
Store 433,768$22,129$55,103$16,877
Package283,024$128,214$286,051$81,423
January 2026, one month, do not annualize. For Stores 2, 3 and 4 the fuel cost basis is loaded, so their fuel margin here is real and ran $0.38 to $0.49 per gallon on regular, well above the offering assumption. January is a seasonal high for fuel margin. Store 1 fuel cost was not loaded in the export.
Historical context, consolidated CastleFuel

The combined business ran $20.9M (2021), $21.1M (2022) and $23.2M (2023) in total income, with 2023 the peak at $864k net before owner add-backs. That history shows the asset's earning power at higher volume. It is not a go-forward comparison, because the operations-only structure carries roughly $516,000 a year of ground rent that the 2023 statements did not. Read 2023 as ceiling evidence, not as your year-one number.

Price against cash flow
Offering basis. Package net about $936,900 on a $1,140,000 ask. That is roughly 82% of net, or a 1.2x cash-flow multiple, before any adjustment for your own payroll model and the fuel margin you choose to underwrite.
The swing factor. Move regular fuel margin from the $0.20 floor to a normalized $0.30, and package net rises to about $1.26M, even before counting Store 2's inside growth. The full band is in Upside.

Four assets, four different stories. The package average hides real divergence. Here is each store on its own merits, 2025 verified, with the single feature that defines it.

Store 2 · The engine

3930 US-80 W · built 1995 · 1 ac
Fuel volume 20251,870,377 gal
Inside sales 2025$1,517,809
Inside YoY+14.6%
Net (OM basis)$496,913
+$0.05/gal regular adds+$84,270/yr
Half the package volume and the only store growing inside. The crown jewel and the one a single-asset buyer comes for first.

Store 3 · The kitchen

409 Fort Mitchell Rd · built 1993 · 1 ac
Fuel volume 2025927,241 gal
Inside sales 2025$1,012,965
Deli$147,667 @ 47%
Net (OM basis)$235,663
+$0.05/gal regular adds+$36,296/yr
Biggest foodservice in the package and a new Hunt Brothers pizza vendor coming on. Steepest fuel volume slide too, so the kitchen is the offset to underwrite.

Store 4 · The steady one

128 Highway 165 · built 2006 · 2.20 ac
Fuel volume 2025488,797 gal
Inside sales 2025$742,572
Inside net before fuel+$32,094
Net (OM basis)$153,438
+$0.05/gal regular adds+$19,851/yr
Newest build, largest lot, deli at 55% margin and rental income on top. Covers its own rent and labor before a gallon is sold.

Store 1 · The fixer

3814 Opelika Rd · built 1994 · 0.31 ac
Fuel volume 2025464,705 gal
Inside sales 2025$334,689
Inside net before fuel-$52,693
Net (OM basis)$50,884
+$0.05/gal regular adds+$21,204/yr
Smallest box, thinnest inside, fully dependent on fuel margin. Lowest entry price and the clearest operational fix, including a switched-off pizza line.
Read the divergence honestly. Two stores carry their own overhead inside; two do not. A package buyer averages them. A single-asset buyer should price each on its own fuel dependence and its own volume trend, not on the blended headline.

Where the return moves. The ask is built on a deliberately conservative fuel margin. That is the floor. Recent verified actuals show the market paying well above it. We do not pick your number. We show the band and let you set it.

Fuel margin band, on 2025 volume
Floor · ask basis
regular $0.20/gal
$886k
package fuel margin. What the $1.14M ask is priced on.
Base · normalized
regular $0.30/gal
$1.21M
a normal street margin, still below recent actuals.
Recent actual
regular $0.38 to $0.49
$1.47M+
Jan 2026 verified, Stores 2-4. Seasonally high, shown as headroom.
What the band means for the deal. At the floor, package net is about $937k and the ask is 82% of it. At a normalized $0.30, package net is about $1.26M and the ask is roughly 90% of a single year. Even loading payroll up to a conservative $461k at that $0.30 margin, year-one net still clears the full purchase price. The conservative case already works. The upside is real and sourced, not asserted.
The inside levers
  • Foodservice is switched off. Store 1's Noble Romans line rang $4.76 for all of 2025. Store 3's rang $1.19. The equipment footprint exists across the package. NACS reports foodservice is now 38.9% of in-store gross profit industry-wide, and Store 3 already proves the lane with a deli throwing off about $70k of gross profit on its own.
  • Store 2 inside is compounding. Up 14.6% in 2025 against a declining-volume backdrop. Whatever is working there is worth protecting and copying.
  • Margin mix, not just volume. Cigarettes ring large but margin thin. Energy, deli, fountain and packaged beverage carry the real points. There is room to shift mix toward the categories that already margin at 40% and up.
  • Buy the strong ones. Individual sale means a buyer can concentrate on Store 2 and Store 4, the two that carry overhead inside, and pass on the fixers.
The honest counterweight. Every dollar of fuel margin above rides on gallons, and gallons fell 27.7% last year. The band is generous on price per gallon. Your underwrite should pressure-test the gallon count, not just the cents, and decide where the volume curve settles.

One corridor, four sites. All four sit in close proximity on the west side of Columbus, GA near the Alabama state line, in Phenix City, AL. Newly Shell-branded with modern imaging, on a high-traffic commuter and local corridor.

The four locations
StoreAddressBuiltLotHours
Store 13814 Opelika Rd, Phenix City 3687019940.31 acMon-Sat 5a-10p
Store 23930 US Hwy 80 W, Phenix City 3687019951 acMon-Sat 5a-10p
Store 3409 Fort Mitchell Rd, Phenix City 3686719931 acMon-Sat 5a-11p
Store 4128 Highway 165, Phenix City 3686920062.20 acMon-Sat 5a-9p
Hours and lot sizes per the offering memorandum. Sunday hours 7a-7p across all four.
Benchmark Intelligence Dossier™

Why owning all four is the real position

BFA-1018 is a four-location Shell-branded portfolio positioned across the Phenix City and Columbus metro. Instead of leaning on one traffic source, it captures several at once, which builds resilience across cycles and opens room for operational upside and long-term appreciation.

Military employment Daily commuters Residential traffic Highway travelers Commercial vehicles Regional logistics
Regional economic drivers
Military. The largest regional employer anchors recession-resistant spending, consistent fuel demand, and steady convenience purchases.
Healthcare. Area hospitals drive shift traffic, 24-hour fuel demand, and food and convenience sales around the clock.
Manufacturing. Industrial employment creates morning and evening commuter peaks plus commercial fleet and diesel opportunity.
Access. US-80, US-431, Highway 165, and Fort Mitchell Road all feed into Columbus, giving the portfolio strong commuter accessibility.
Portfolio intelligence, store by store
91
/ 100

Store 2 · Flagship

3930 US Hwy 80
Regional highway asset · portfolio anchor
Strengths
High visibilityExcellent ingressCommuter corridorRegional travelCommercial traffic
Opportunities
Diesel expansionInside-sales upsideLarge fuel-volume potential
87
/ 100

Store 3

409 Fort Mitchell Rd
Military growth corridor
Demand drivers
Military familiesResidential expansionSchoolsDaily commutingNeighborhood retailStable repeat
Growth
Development expanding southFavorable long-term appreciation
84
/ 100

Store 4

128 Highway 165
Southern gateway
Demand drivers
CommutersLocal residentsRegional travelers
Growth
Future residential expansionLong-term corridor growth
82
/ 100

Store 1

3814 Opelika Rd
Neighborhood anchor
Strengths
Residential densityMorning commutersRepeat baseSchool trafficMilitary households
Opportunities
Expanded food programLoyaltyCar washEV readiness
Risks
Moderate fuel competitionLimited truck traffic
Benchmark Intelligence Score™
CategoryWeight
Location20
Traffic15
Demographics15
Economic drivers15
Competition10
Growth outlook10
Visibility5
Accessibility5
Operational upside5
Total100
Each store scored on the same weighted framework. The portfolio score is the four-store average.
Overall portfolio
86/100
Grade A

Full one, three, and five mile demographic radii and a mapped competitor set are included in the diligence package.

Why Benchmark

Not a gas station. A market-supported investment.

Most brokers say, here is a gas station. Benchmark says, here is a market-supported investment backed by demographic, traffic, economic, and operational intelligence that explains why this asset is positioned to generate durable cash flow and long-term value.

Why the cluster matters. Four sites within one corridor share supply runs, management oversight, marketing and labor pooling. The package buyer gets operating leverage a single store does not, and a credible path to a single regional operator footprint.
What to verify on the ground. Corridor traffic counts, any nearby new-build competition, and the Fort Mitchell Rd development activity visible near Store 3. Location strength is the thesis behind a volume recovery, so confirm it directly.

The signal, undecorated. A four-store fuel-margin business with a real foodservice asset, priced at a strong yield because volume is in transition. The conservative case clears the ask. The diligence is about confirming the structure and sizing the operating model.

What you are buying, in three lines
  • A fuel-margin stream that is 94.6% of the cash flow, currently modeled at a conservative price per gallon with verified headroom above it.
  • An inside business that is uneven: two stores carry their overhead, two lean on fuel, and one foodservice asset is genuinely strong.
  • Operating leverage from a four-store corridor cluster, available whole or piece by piece.
Diligence checklist, the items that move value
  • Fuel margin transfer. Confirm the fuel supply agreement and its margin convey with the operations. The consolidated supply entity books gas sales and purchases at its level, so verify the buyer captures the pump margin.
  • Lease terms. Ground rent of roughly $516,000 a year is the single largest expense. Confirm amount, term, escalations and length per site. Not disclosed in the offering.
  • Payroll model. The offering carries about $341k combined. History ran higher. Size labor to your own operating plan and stress the net accordingly.
  • Volume floor. Decide where gallons settle. The whole return rides on this line.
Verified · 2024 and 2025 POS, 2021-2023 P&L, Jan 2026 Modeled · fuel CPG, go-forward payroll Confirm in DD · fuel transfer, lease terms

Ready To Set Your Benchmark

The Benchmark Signal is sourced and tagged verified or modeled, across six tabs: the financial read & economics, the upside stack, the location intelligence, and the diligence list.

914.246.7036