ARKO Corp. (ARKO) Business

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Overview

Based in Richmond, Virginia, ARKO Corp. is one of the largest operators of convenience stores and wholesalers of fuel in the United States (“U.S.”), ranked by store count and gallons sold, respectively.

As of December 31, 2025, we operated 1,118 retail convenience stores under more than 25 regional store brands. Our brands have been in existence for an average of more than 50 years, and we consider them “a Family of Community Brands.” While maintaining multiple established brand names, our stores derive significant value from the scale, corporate infrastructure and centralized marketing programs associated with our large network, including a common operating platform and a loyalty program that we use as a platform for promotions and marketing initiatives across our convenience stores.

As of December 31, 2025, we supplied fuel to 2,099 dealer locations. Additionally, we operate a fleet fueling business that included the operation of 295 proprietary and third-party cardlock locations (unstaffed fueling locations), as of December 31, 2025, and the issuance of proprietary fuel cards that provide customers access to a nationwide network of fueling sites.

We are diversified geographically and, as of December 31, 2025, operated in the District of Columbia and in more than 30 states in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwestern, Northeastern, Southeastern and Southwestern U.S.

We have achieved strong site count growth over the last decade, primarily through our implementation of a highly successful acquisition strategy. From 2013 through 2025, we completed 26 acquisitions, and our site count has grown from 320 sites in 2011 to 3,512 sites as of December 31, 2025. Since the second half of 2024, we have been implementing a multi-year transformation plan (the “Transformation Plan”) that includes the conversion of a significant number of retail stores to dealer locations, leveraging our position as a leading wholesale distributor of motor fuel.

Corporate Information

ARKO Corp. was incorporated under the laws of Delaware on August 26, 2020 for the purpose of facilitating the business combination of Haymaker Acquisition Corp. II, a Delaware corporation, and ARKO Holdings Ltd., a company organized under the laws of the State of Israel. Our shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (“common stock”), are listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol “ARKO.”

We own 100% of GPM Investments, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“GPM”), which was our primary operating entity for all of our reportable segments through the closing of the initial public offering of the Class A common stock of our subsidiary, ARKO Petroleum Corp., a Delaware corporation (“APC”), on February 13, 2026 (the “APC IPO”), after which GPM became our primary operating entity for our retail segment and APC became the primary operating entity for our wholesale, fleet fueling and GPMP segments (the “APC Business”). APC’s Class A common stock began trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “APC” on February 12, 2026. We currently own 75.9% of the economic interests and 94.0% of the combined voting power of APC. We continue to consolidate and present the APC Business as our segments subsequent to the APC IPO.

Our Business Segments

We operate in four segments: retail, wholesale, fleet fueling and GPMP. As of December 31, 2025, all of our business segments were operated by GPM. Commencing February 13, 2026, our wholesale, fleet fueling and GPMP segments became part of the APC Business.

Retail Segment

Our retail segment includes the operation of a chain of retail stores, which includes convenience stores selling fuel products and merchandise to retail customers, from which we generate a significant portion of our revenue and a large proportion of our profitability. We operate our stores under more than 25 regional store brands (which we consider “a Family of Community Brands”), including 1-Stop, Admiral, Apple Market®, BreadBox, Corner Mart, Dixie Mart, ExpressStop®, E-Z Mart®, fas mart®, fastmarket®, Flash Market, Handy Mart, Jetz, Jiffi Stop®, Jiffy Stop, Li’l Cricket, Market Express, Next Door Store®, Pride, Roadrunner Markets, Rose Mart, Rstore, Scotchman®, shore stop®, Speedy’s, SpeedyQ, Town Star, Uncle’s, Village Pantry® and Young’s. Our brands have been in existence for an average of more than 50 years, and their names are highly recognizable to local customers.

1

We operate our retail stores centrally with consistent marketing, merchandising and assortment strategies across our brands, but we occasionally offer regional items based on consumer demand in select markets or brands. We believe this approach increases operational efficiencies while preserving flexibility. Our marketing initiatives and merchandising and assortment strategies are centered around offering our customers an assortment of products with an attractive value proposition. Our retail offering includes a wide array of grab-n-go hot and cold prepared foods and dispensed beverages, take home packaged beverages and beer, candy, salty snacks, bakery and packaged sweet snacks, general and seasonal merchandise, cigarettes, and other tobacco products, such as moist tobacco, vape, nicotine pouches, and cigars. We have various foodservice offerings at approximately 965 stores, with options including hot and cold grab-n-go foods, such as bakery, Nathan’s® hot dogs and Tornado® roller grill items. We have 140 stores with delis offering a more robust foodservice menu that includes fried chicken, pizza, breakfast sandwiches, chicken tenders, potato wedges and more. We supplement our foodservice offering with approximately 90 quick service major national brand restaurants, such as Dunkin’ and Subway. Additionally, we offer a number of traditional convenience store services, including lottery, prepaid products, gift cards, money orders, ATMs, skill gaming, Bitcoin® ATMs and other ancillary product and service offerings. We sell fuel at 1,095 of our retail sites, and we had 211 electric vehicle (“EV”) chargers at 72 of our locations across 16 states as of December 31, 2025. We also generate revenue from car washes at approximately 65 of our locations.

In June of 2025, as part of our Transformation Plan discussed below, we launched our new format fas craves flagship location showcasing our key strategic priority to offer food that is relevant, delicious, and affordable and do so within stores that are completely remodeled with modernized interior and exterior designs, with layouts intended to provide a strong focus on our food offerings. fas craves food elevates our assortment of hot and cold grab-and-go food and dispensed beverages. The new fas craves format stores are designed to elevate the customer experience and better reflect our commitment to foodservice, convenience, efficiency and value. We have since completed several additional remodels. Our Transformation Plan is built around strategically targeted retail stores with a goal of increasing traffic, sales and improving profitability through a higher margin mix of sales, and we believe our new fas craves format stores will help us reach that goal.

We have traditionally acquired our stores in smaller towns that have lower concentrations of national-chain convenience stores. Approximately 46% of our retail stores are in cities with populations of fewer than 20,000 people, and approximately 23% of our retail stores are in cities with populations between 20,000 and 50,000 people. We believe that our focus on secondary and tertiary markets allows us to preserve “local” brand name recognition.

By maintaining the regional store branding of our stores, we believe we retain the goodwill associated with the respective brands’ long-term community presence. Concurrently, our Family of Community Brands benefits significantly from being part of a leading convenience store operator given their access to:

•
Centralized merchandising, marketing and procurement programs;

•
Fuel price optimization and purchasing functions;

•
Common loyalty program under the name fas REWARDS®;

•
A comprehensive portfolio of fuel brands with strong consumer recognition through national advertising;

•
Common IT and point-of-sale platforms; and

•
Centralized environmental management and environmental practices.

For the year ended December 31, 2025, the retail segment generated total revenues of approximately $4.4 billion, including approximately $1.5 billion of in-store sales and other revenues. Gross profit dollars from in-store merchandise accounted for 52.4% of our gross profit dollars from our retail segment for the year ended December 31, 2025. In addition, the retail segment sold approximately 922.7 million gallons of branded and unbranded fuel to our retail customers.

Wholesale Segment

The wholesale segment supplies fuel to dealers, sub-wholesalers and bulk and spot purchasers, on either a consignment or cost plus basis.

•
Fuel supply contracts — 1,801 sites as of December 31, 2025 plus bulk and spot purchasers. In arrangements of this type, the dealer purchases the fuel from us. We make final sales to dealers (referred to as a “lessee-dealer” if the dealer leases the station from us or an “open-dealer” if the dealer controls the site), sub-wholesalers and bulk and spot purchasers on a fixed-fee basis. The sales price is determined according to the terms of the relevant agreement, which typically reflects our total fuel costs plus the cost of transportation, taxes and a fixed margin, with us generally retaining any prompt pay discounts and rebates, largely eliminating our exposure to commodity price movements.

2

•
Consignment contracts — 298 sites as of December 31, 2025. In arrangements of this type, we own the fuel until the date of sale to the end consumer, and the gross profit created from the sale of the fuel is allocated between us and the dealer based on the terms of the relevant agreement. In certain cases, gross profit is split based on a percentage and in other cases we pay a fixed fee per gallon to the dealer.

In 2024, as part of our Transformation Plan, we utilized our wholesale platform to convert retail stores that we believe will provide more economic benefit as dealer locations leased from us and supplied through our fuel agreements, and in certain cases, providing benefits under our vendor agreements.

For the year ended December 31, 2025, the wholesale segment sold 989.1 million gallons of fuel (approximately 47.9% of our total gallons sold in 2025), generating revenues of approximately $2.8 billion.

Fleet Fueling Segment

The fleet fueling segment includes the operation of proprietary and third-party cardlock locations (unstaffed fueling locations) with sales to commercial and municipal entities, and commissions from the sales of fuel using proprietary fuel cards that provide customers access to a nationwide network of more than 320,000 retail and private fueling sites, truck stops, maintenance providers and service locations. Diesel fuel currently accounts for approximately 80% of our fleet fueling sales.

For the year ended December 31, 2025, the fleet fueling segment sold 142.8 million gallons of fuel, generating revenues of approximately $483.8 million.

GPMP Segment

The GPMP segment engages in the wholesale distribution of fuel to substantially all of our sites that sell fuel in the retail and wholesale segments. GPM Petroleum LP (“GPMP”) sells fuel at GPMP’s cost of fuel (including taxes and transportation) plus a fixed margin (through December 31, 2025, 5.0 cents per gallon; 6.0 cents per gallon thereafter) and charges an inter-segment fixed fee primarily to sites in the fleet fueling segment that are not supplied by GPMP.

Growth Strategy

We believe that the ongoing implementation of our Transformation Plan, together with the new organizational operating structure following the APC IPO creates a significant opportunity to increase our sales and profitability by executing on our organic and inorganic strategies described below.

Site Conversion Strategy (Dealerization)

As part of our Transformation Plan, we are leveraging our unique, multi-segment operating model through active conversion of retail stores within our retail segment to dealer locations within our wholesale segment. Conversions of certain retail stores benefit both our retail and wholesale segments. In such cases, we realize higher profit from ongoing fuel supply agreements and rental income than from continued operation of these stores in our retail segment. These conversions also allow us to focus on, and better prioritize, future investments in our remaining retail stores. During the year ended December 31, 2025, we converted 256 retail stores to dealer locations, and we have converted a total of 409 stores since the beginning of this initiative in the middle of 2024. We expect to convert a meaningful number of additional stores throughout 2026. These conversions have resulted in approximately $11.8 million in incremental operating income before general and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Retail Organic Growth Opportunities

Our retail organic growth strategies are focused on improving the performance of our retail stores through enhanced marketing and merchandising initiatives across our brands, such as our loyalty program, which deepens our relationship with our customers, enhancing our existing retail store base and expanding our foodservice offering to meet our customers’ needs, through the implementation of our Transformation Plan.

Enhanced Marketing and Merchandising Initiatives

(i)
Increased focused on both our pricing and procurement strategies across our retail stores to support ongoing merchandise margin rate growth, including using customer centric data-driven decisions to expand our six core destination merchandise categories, which are packaged beverages, candy, salty snacks, packaged sweet snacks, alternative snacks and beer. These categories represented approximately 54% of our same store merchandise contribution for the year ended December 31, 2025. Because our core destination merchandise categories represent a high concentration of our merchandise

3

contribution, we focus on marketing and merchandising initiatives within these categories because we believe that they will have the greatest impact on our performance.

(ii)
Development and strengthening of customer relationships through our fas REWARDS loyalty program, which is available in all of our retail stores and offers enrolled loyalty members the most value in our stores, in-app member only deals not available without the app, and the ability to earn points that can be redeemed for either fuel or merchandise savings. Other in-app features include the ability to convert earned points to fas BUCKS, which can be spent like cash on most merchandise categories in our stores, or stackable fuel cents off up to $2.00 off per gallon, up to 20 gallons at the pump as part of our Fueling America’s Future promotion. To celebrate America’s 250th anniversary in 2026, members can now save up to $2.50 per gallon in fuel savings. Currently, approximately 2.4 million customers are enrolled in our fas REWARDS loyalty program. In the first quarter of 2026, we plan to relaunch our fas REWARDS loyalty program app, which will include personalized features such as easy enrollment, an employee hub, store locators with individual member fuel pricing, Fueling America’s Future deals, value meals, age verified offers for tobacco and alcohol, and gaming.

Remodels and New-to-Industry (“NTI”)

As part of our Transformation Plan, we have allocated additional targeted capital toward strategic sub-segments of our retail stores, with a goal of increasing traffic and improving profitability. Complementing our remodeling initiative in 2025, we opened a Dunkin’ store and two NTI (new to industry) retail stores. Two additional NTI retail stores opened thus far in 2026, and we plan to open one more NTI retail store and three Dunkin’ stores in 2026. We intend to continue leveraging our experienced management team to identify attractive geographic markets for NTI site development. Additionally, we are planning approximately 25 remodels, all which will feature the fas craves food and beverage elements. We also plan to expand components of fas craves food and beverage to certain non-remodel stores where space permits while awaiting their remodel. In the past two years, we continued to upgrade existing stores through functional remodels, such as adding bean-to-cup coffee offerings, roller grills, enhanced dispensed beverage offerings and our successful grab-n-go and freezer strategy.

Wholesale Organic Growth

Starting in the middle of 2024, as part of our Transformation Plan, we expanded our wholesale fuel distribution network by converting a meaningful number of retail stores throughout our chain to dealer locations, and we are in the process of converting a meaningful number of additional retail stores to dealer locations throughout 2026.

Fleet Fueling Organic Growth

We plan to grow our fleet fueling business by increasing fuel volumes with existing commercial accounts and municipalities and growing our network of accounts. We plan to invest in targeted equipment upgrades and branding enhancements to drive volume growth at existing sites. Additionally, our in-house sales team will be focused on organically growing existing and new accounts at our existing cardlocks.

We intend to leverage our experienced management team to identify attractive geographic markets for NTI site development in both existing and new markets. We are targeting 20 NTI fleet fueling locations with target openings during 2026, 10 of which we are currently advancing, which we anticipate will have a positive impact on our results of operations given the attractive, durable cash flow profile of our fleet fueling business. New fleet fueling locations can offer high return, capital-efficient organic growth. We also expect that there is room to grow the number of third-party fleet fueling locations we supply through territorial expansion and moderate pricing power.

Inorganic Growth Opportunities

Given the ownership fragmentation across the fuel distribution and retail convenience store industries, we believe that there is considerable opportunity for us to capitalize on industry consolidation. We have a dedicated in-house M&A team that focuses on identifying, closing and integrating acquisitions. Our experienced M&A team is continually evaluating opportunities, leveraging a breadth of industry relationships, our strong reputation and a long track record of success in M&A. Our scale and the experience of our management team gives us the flexibility to pursue a wide range of acquisition opportunities from small bolt-on acquisitions to large-scale transactions. We have a strong track record of successfully acquiring and integrating businesses that have expanded our market presence, operational scale and increased fuel volumes with fuel suppliers, demonstrating our ability to generate strong returns on capital and meaningfully improve target performance post-integration through operating expertise and economies of scale, with minimal additional back-office costs. We believe that our business model provides us with strategic flexibility to acquire chains with retail, dealer and cardlock locations. We believe our significant size and scale aids our efforts to successfully deploy our organic growth strategies in our acquired assets, which we anticipate will result in value accretion.

4

As a “super-jobber” wholesaler, we believe we are better positioned to gain and renew supply contracts from dealers in addition to convenience store and wholesale fuel portfolios, and we incentivize our wholesale sales staff based on renewals.

Additionally, we believe we can grow and expand the Company’s fleet fueling platform through further acquisitions, including in conjunction with our retail and wholesale acquisitions.

Suppliers

In 2025, we purchased merchandise inventory from one primary wholesale distributor, Core-Mark, as well as approximately 810 direct store delivery supplier distributors. We leverage our relationships to generate economies of scale across our store base.

We purchase motor fuel primarily from large, integrated oil companies and independent refiners under supply agreements. As of December 31, 2025, approximately 81% of our retail fuel locations sold branded fuel. We sell branded fuel under brand names including, among others, Valero®, Marathon®, BP®, Exxon® and Shell® brand names. In addition to driving customer traffic, we believe that our branded fuel strategy enables us to maintain a secure fuel supply. In addition, we purchase unbranded fuel from branded and unbranded fuel suppliers to supply 207 unbranded retail fueling locations, 193 dealer locations and 295 cardlock locations.

Competition

The retail convenience market, the wholesale motor fuel distribution industry and the fleet fueling business are all characterized by intense competition and fragmentation. The retail convenience market includes operations and services that are similar to those that we provide, primarily the sale of convenience items and motor fuels. We face significant competition from other large chain operators, such as 7-Eleven/Speedway; Circle K; Casey’s; Murphy USA; Quik Trip; Royal Farms; Sheetz; and Wawa, many of which are building NTI sites in our markets. We believe that convenience stores managed by individual operators who offer branded or non-branded fuel are also significant competitors in the local markets in which we operate. Often, operators of both chains and individual stores compete by selling unbranded fuel at lower retail prices relative to the market. We believe that the primary competitive factors influencing the retail segment are: site location; the number of sites in an area; competitive prices; convenient access routes; the quality and configuration of the store and the fueling facility; the range of high-quality products and services offered; a convenient store-front; cleanliness; branded fuel; and the degree of capital investment in the store. In implementing our Transformation Plan, our goal is to better position ARKO to face growing competition.

The convenience store industry experiences competition from other retail sectors, including grocery stores, large warehouse retail stores, dollar stores and pharmacies. In particular, dollar stores (such as Family Dollar and Dollar General) and pharmacies (such as CVS and Walgreens) now sell snacks, beer and wine and other products that have traditionally been sold by convenience stores, while grocery and large warehouse stores (such as Costco and Wal-Mart) sell fuel adjacent to their stores. In smaller towns and more rural areas, we primarily compete with other local convenience stores, local or regional grocery stores, and to some extent, restaurants, and in more heavily populated areas, we often compete with local retailers as well as major national grocery chains, national drug store and warehouse retail stores brands like those mentioned above, traditional convenience stores, expanded fuel stations, and discount food retailers.

In the wholesale segment, we supply fuel to third-parties both at sites owned or leased by dealers, sites that we own or for which we have a long-term lease, and bulk and spot purchasers. For sites that we do not own or lease, in the renewal of contracts, we compete with refiners that distribute their own products, as well as other independent third-party motor fuel distributors.

In order to mitigate this competition, we typically offer our dealers competitive pricing within the framework of our existing fuel supply agreements, such as those we have with Valero, BP, Shell, Motiva, Marathon and ExxonMobil, with the advantage that we distribute fuel sourced from a number of major oil company suppliers which allows us to approach a wide variety of branded and unbranded dealers in order to offer a variety of alternative supply arrangements. Wholesale fuel distributors typically compete by offering lesser collateral requirements and larger incentives and/or rebates to enter into contracts. We believe we have competitive arrangements with respect to fuel equipment, which provides an advantage when negotiating contracts with equipment suppliers by allowing us to be more competitive on upfront investments at sites.

Cardlocks compete against retail gas stations, especially those with a significant number of high-flow diesel pumps, however, we believe that our cardlock footprint allows for easier access and more efficient fueling for commercial vehicles than traditional retail fueling locations. Site growth in the fleet fueling segment is driven by commercial customers outsourcing the provision of on-site fleet fueling. The primary competitors for third-party sites are companies that provide delivered fuels, with national, regional and local

5

companies offering this service. We believe that we are well positioned in the industry because we combine the ability to utilize our proprietary cardlock sites with our fleet card product sales.

We believe that the primary barriers to entering our industry are the significant financial strength required to enter into agreements with suppliers of fuel products and competition from other fuel companies and retail chains.

Environmental and Other Government Regulations

Our operations are subject to numerous legal and regulatory restrictions and requirements at the federal, state and local levels. With regard to fuel, these restrictions and requirements relate primarily to the transportation, storage, and sale of petroleum products, including stringent environmental protection requirements. In our wholesale and GPMP segments, we are also subject to the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act, which is a federal law that applies to the relationships between fuel suppliers and wholesale distributors, as well as between wholesale distributors and dealers, regarding the marketing of branded fuel.

With regard to non-fuel products, there are legal restrictions at the federal, state and local levels in connection with the sale of food, alcohol, cigarettes and other tobacco products, lottery, ephedrine, menu labeling, video retention, money orders, money transfer services, gaming, pricing, rebates and incentives. Also, regulatory supervision is exercised by health departments at the federal, state and local levels over the food products that are sold in our stores.

With respect to data collected by us or on our behalf, including credit card information and data related to loyalty customers, we are subject to federal, state and local requirements related to the possession, use and disclosure of personally identifiable information, including mandated procedures to be followed in the event a data breach were to occur.

We hold various federal, state, and local licenses and permits, some of which are perpetual, but most of which must be renewed annually. These include general business licenses, lottery licenses, licenses and permits in connection with the sale of cigarettes, licenses in connection with the operation of gaming machines, licenses in connection with the sale of alcoholic drinks, licenses and permits that are required in connection with the sale of fuel, licenses that are required for the operation of convenience stores and licenses to sell food products.

Our operations are subject to federal and state laws governing such matters as minimum wage, overtime, rest breaks, working conditions and employment eligibility requirements. New and proposed regulations at local, state and federal levels have affected minimum wage rates, paid time-off and paid sick leave.

With respect to environmental, health and safety regulations, we are subject to a comprehensive framework of local, state and federal environmental laws and regulations governing our properties and operations, including, but not limited to, the transportation, storage and sale of fuel. These regulations significantly impact on our operations and necessitate strict adherence to the requirements set forth by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and other federal and state agencies. Key applicable federal statutes include the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act; the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; the Clean Air Act; the Occupational Safety and Health Act; the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act; the Energy Policy and Conservation Act; and analogous local and state laws and regulations. Compliance with these laws is essential to our commitment to environmental stewardship and operational integrity.

The EPA and several states also regulate the ownership and operation of underground fuel storage tanks (“USTs”), the release of hazardous substances into the air, water and land, the storage, handling disposal and transportation of hazardous materials, restrictions on exposure to hazardous substances and maintaining safety and health of employees who handle or are exposed to such substances. These regulations require UST owners to demonstrate that they have the financial capacity to pay for environmental cleanup associating with USTs. Several states in which we conduct business have state-sponsored trust fund programs that allow for the sharing and reimbursement of the costs of corrective measures incurred by UST owners. In addition, we are subject to regulations regarding fuel quality and air emissions.

We are committed to compliance with all applicable environmental laws and regulations. Nevertheless, we have ongoing remediation obligations at certain of our facilities to address contamination and spills, both historical and more recent, and we expect that we could be required to remediate additional sites in the future due to the risks inherent to our business. We allocate a portion of our capital expenditure program to compliance with environmental laws and regulations and environmental remediation and such capital expenditures were approximately $3.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2025. We do not expect such capital expenditures to be material for the year ending December 31, 2026. Our environmental department maintains direct interaction with federal, state and local environmental agencies across all jurisdictions in which we operate so that we remain informed of regulatory developments and to promote compliance with evolving environmental standards. As part of our environmental risk management

6

process, we engage qualified environmental consultants and service providers. These experts assist in analyzing our exposure to environmental risks, developing remediation plans, and implementing corrective actions as necessary. We believe this collaborative approach effectively manages potential environmental liabilities while upholding our commitment to sustainability.

Human Capital

As of December 31, 2025, we employed 9,748 employees, with 8,438 employed in our stores and 1,310 in corporate and field management positions. Following the APC IPO, we provide management services and certain related services to APC, including by our executive management team.

To build, and continually improve upon, our corporate culture, we emphasize core values such as integrity, teamwork, and customer focus communicated through various channels such as training programs, internal communications, and employee feedback.

We value our employees and believe that communication, training, and employee development are key elements of our performance. Investing in our people is essential to creating a strong and capable team and supporting long-term resilience, growth, and success. Employees benefit from various training programs which are designed to develop their knowledge and skill sets, including on-the-job and structured training, delivered in an office, classroom, or virtual setting. Training delivery is supported by our Learning Management System (LMS), which offers short, job-specific online modules completed upon hire and repeated annually to promote compliance and consistency. Full completion of all training requirements is a necessary condition for promotion. Over the past few years, we have been developing role-specific training programs (“targeted training programs”) to provide structured employee development opportunities, strengthen role clarity, enhance compliance and accelerate readiness across key operational roles. Our targeted training programs are tailored to address specific position requirements, equipping employees with necessary hard and soft skills to perform their duties and improve their performance. Some of the training topics include effective customer service, food preparation, responsible marketing, payment methods, and conflict resolution. By aligning training with role-specific expectations, we seek to ensure operational consistency and long-term workforce development. We have built these targeted training programs into our enhanced new hire checklist and training tools, which we believe drives faster onboarding, reinforces compliance, improves leadership accountability, and supports succession planning.

We have communication vehicles allowing us to send company information and reminders to targeted levels of employees, to keep them informed and improve efficiency, particularly during key times throughout the year such as the 100 days of summer selling season. Employees may also communicate anonymous feedback to the Company, which assists our efforts to improve processes and programs for future and existing employees.

We seek to recruit and retain qualified personnel to work in our stores. Wage rates in the markets in which we operate, including voluntary increases in wages because of current labor market conditions, have increased our costs associated with recruiting and retaining qualified personnel, and expect to continue to do so in the future. We look to promote employee retention by providing employee benefits such as medical, dental, 401(k) retirement plan and insurance. We believe our benefits offerings are competitive in the markets in which we operate.

We evaluate wages and other opportunities available to employees within our markets, and, as applicable, grant sign-on, retention, referral and other bonus opportunities to our employees based on their respective roles. By researching and understanding hiring trends, we have adopted mobile technology to simplify the application process and we have invested in additional recruiting resources and implemented virtual recruiting and interviewing methods. We have also deployed enhanced recruiting techniques to optimize the selection of our talent pool. As of December 31, 2025, none of our employees were represented by a labor union or have terms of employment that are subject to a collective bargaining agreement. We consider our relationships with our employees to be good and have not experienced any work stoppages.

Intellectual Property

We rely on trademarks that we own and trademarks we license from third-parties to protect our brands and identify the source of our goods and services. We have registered or applied to register many of our trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. We license various marks in relation to the branded fuels that we supply, including “ExxonMobil,” “Marathon,” “BP,” “Shell,” and “Valero.” In our quick service food offerings, we license trademarks such as “Subway” and “Dunkin’” to use at our applicable franchised or licensed outlets. We also license the “Jetz” trademark for use at certain of our convenience stores in Wisconsin.

We rely on other forms of intellectual property to help establish and maintain our competitive advantage, including proprietary software, trade secrets and other proprietary and confidential information. We receive confidential information from our franchise and fuel supply partners, and use it in the operation of our stores under agreements that we have with our partners. We also rely on our own proprietary and confidential information, including trade secrets and a limited amount of proprietary software, to conduct our business and preserve our position in the market. As a key part of our broader risk management strategy, we use access

7

controls and contractual restrictions in an effort to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of our proprietary or confidential information.

Environmental, Social and Governance

As a leading operator of convenience stores and gas stations, we are focused on integrating Environmental, Social and Governance principles that are aligned with our long-term business strategy. Annually, we issue a Sustainability Report which includes a description of our governance framework, environmental initiatives and social responsibility initiatives. Our 2025 Sustainability Report issued in July 2025 is available on our website at www.arkocorp.com. The information related to Environmental, Social and Governance on our website, including our Sustainability Report, is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part hereof or incorporated by reference into this or any of our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

Our Relationship with APC

We believe that the relationship between APC and our retail business fosters a mutually beneficial commercial relationship that allows both entities to benefit from our combined economies of scale and purchasing power. We and APC have entered into the following agreements that govern our ongoing business relationships and operational arrangements.

•
Management Services Agreement. Under the management services agreement (the “Management Services Agreement”) we entered into with APC, we continue to perform or arrange for a broad range of services for the benefit of APC, including support in the areas of operations, human resources, payroll and benefits administration, finance and accounting, financial and public company reporting, information technology, legal, real estate management, executive services and general administrative services. The scope of the services may be modified by mutual agreement of the parties and the related fees are generally based on cost allocations, usage or other metrics, plus reimbursement of direct expenses.

•
Omnibus Agreement. Our amended and restated omnibus agreement (the “Omnibus Agreement”) with APC provides for a long-term, exclusive fuel supply relationship between the companies, and also governs acquisition and other accretive opportunities and how they will be allocated among the parties. If opportunities arise for either GPM or APC to acquire convenience stores, wholesale motor fuel distribution contracts, dealer locations, fleet fueling locations, or related fuel distribution assets, GPM will be offered the opportunity to acquire the convenience store businesses, while APC will be offered the opportunity to acquire wholesale, fleet fueling and supply-related businesses, at a purchase price that the parties negotiate in good faith.

•
Employee and Intercompany Matters Agreement. Our employee and intercompany matters agreement with APC (the “Employee and Intercompany Matters Agreement”) governs the allocation of employee benefit and compensation plans, and certain shared obligations between us and our affiliates, including that all of our subsidiaries shall continue to be covered by joint insurance policies, except with respect to directors and officers insurance. In addition, the Employee and Intercompany Matters Agreement grants our subsidiaries a non-transferable, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use the “GPM” name and related marks.

•
Fuel Distribution Agreement. GPM entered into a third amended, restated and consolidated fuel distribution agreement with certain subsidiaries of APC (the “Fuel Distribution Agreement”), which regulates the exclusive distribution of branded and unbranded gasoline, diesel fuel, ethanol, biodiesel and kerosene for convenience stores and gasoline facilities operated by our subsidiaries. The Fuel Distribution Agreement establishes pricing based on the applicable rack price plus a fixed adder, together with applicable taxes, fees and surcharges.

•
Tax Matters Agreement. We have entered into a tax matters agreement with APC that governs our and APC’s respective rights, responsibilities and obligations with respect to certain tax matters.

Additionally, there are various real estate agreements amongst us and our subsidiaries pursuant to which we lease, sublease or are co-tenants with respect to various properties used in our business operations. These related party agreements are material to our business operations and financial performance.

Available Information

We are required to file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Information that we file with the SEC is available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. We also make available free of charge on or through our website, at www.arkocorp.com, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with the SEC. The information on our website is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part hereof or incorporated into this or any of our other filings with the SEC.

8

Use of our Website and Social Media to Distribute Material Company Information

We use our website as a channel of distribution for important Company information. We post on our website important information, including press releases, investor presentations and financial information, which may be accessed by clicking on the News & Events, Company Info, and Governance sections of www.arkocorp.com. We also use our website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding our Company in advance of, or in lieu of, distributing a press release or a filing with the SEC disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the News & Events, Company Info, and Governance sections of our website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to our website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when certain new information is made available on our website. Information contained on, or accessible through, our website is not a part of and is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We encourage investors, the media and other interested parties to review the information we post on our website, together with the information we file with the SEC and announce via press releases, conference calls and webcasts.