Casey's continues to see private label success, sets sights on future

Casey’s General Store is continuing to see success with its own brand collection, according to Darren Rebelez, president and CEO of the company. In the past year, the Iowa-based convenience chain, which operates over 2,300 stores in 16 states, has greatly expanded its collection of private label products and prepared food. Rebelez spoke about the growth at the recent ICR Conference 2022.

“Private label has really been a great benefit for us, and something that we have begun to appreciate is just how strong the Casey’s brand is and how much it resonates with our guests,” said Rebelez at the virtual Jan. 11 conference. “We ended the second quarter [of 2022] with about 4.3% private brand penetration and we’re on track to achieve the goal of 5% by end of this fiscal year. We most recently re-merchandised all of our stores to broaden and deepen the assortment across most categories, and that’s really resonated with our guests.”

Rebelez added that 10% private label penetration is achievable over time, and that the company is “well on its way” to getting there. Newly added items such as chips, nuts and new beverages add to Casey’s signature pizza as popular own brand offerings.

“No categories are off limits with private brand potential,” he said. “We think we can play in the private brand space in virtually every category. Ice cream as an example, we thought pints were the way to go, but we expanded into half gallons. In the chip category, single serve has resonated well. Packaged bakery is another one. As we’re expanding into categories, people like the products so we’re going to expand that assortment even more.”

Due to the recently announced 40-store acquisition of Pilot convenience stores, the chain now expects to add approximately 225 units during fiscal 2022.