UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

OR

For the transition period from to .

Commission file number 001-39828

ARKO Corp.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

______________________________________________

8565 Magellan Parkway

Suite 400

Richmond, Virginia 23227-1150

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes  No 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes  No 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes  No 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes  No 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ý

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No 

As of June 30, 2021, the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed second quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant's common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $790.5 million based on the closing price as reported on the Nasdaq Capital Market on that date. For purposes of

determining this number, all named executive officers and directors of the registrant as of June 30, 2021 were considered affiliates of the registrant. This number is provided only for the purposes of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and does not represent an admission by either the registrant or any such person as to the affiliate status of such person.

As of February 23, 2022, the registrant had 124,608,334 shares of its common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (“common stock”) outstanding.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking statements,” as that term is defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PSLRA”), Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Forward-looking statements include statements about our expectations, beliefs or intentions regarding our product development efforts, business, financial condition, results of operations, strategies or prospects, including the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our businesses, operating results, cash flows and/or financial condition. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that these statements do not relate strictly to historical or current matters. Rather, forward-looking statements relate to anticipated or expected events, activities, trends or results as of the date they are made. Because forward-looking statements relate to matters that have not yet occurred, these statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Many factors could cause our actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in forward-looking statements. These factors include those described in “Item 1A-Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We do not undertake an obligation to update forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law. We intend that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the PSLRA. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and reflect our views as of the date they are made with respect to future events and financial performance.

Risks and uncertainties, the occurrence of which could adversely affect our business, include the following:

Table of Contents

i

PART I

Unless the context otherwise requires, all references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the “Company,” “ARKO,” “we,” “our,” “ours,” and “us” refer to ARKO Corp., a Delaware corporation, including our consolidated subsidiaries.

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Background

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, which we refer to as Arko Holdings. Our shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (“common stock”), and publicly-traded warrants were registered to trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market on December 22, 2020 and commenced trading on December 23, 2020. Arko Holdings was organized under the laws of Israel on May 4, 1970 and the main activity of Arko Holdings prior to the foregoing business combination was its holding, through its subsidiaries, of controlling rights in GPM Investments, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company formed on June 12, 2002, which we refer to as GPM.

Unless the context otherwise requires, all references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the “Company,” “ARKO,” “we,” “our,” “ours,” and “us” refer to ARKO Corp. including its consolidated subsidiaries. We maintain a website at www.arkocorp.com. 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.

Overview

We own, indirectly, 100% of GPM, which is our operating entity. Based in Richmond, VA, we are a leading independent convenience store operator and, as of December 31, 2021, we were the sixth largest convenience store chain operator in the United States ranked by store count, operating 1,406 retail convenience stores. As of December 31, 2021, we operated the stores under 19 regional store brands including 1-Stop, Admiral, Apple Market®, BreadBox, ExpressStop®, E-Z Mart®, fas mart®, fastmarket®, Handy Mart, Jiffi Stop®, Li’l Cricket, Next Door Store®, Roadrunner Markets, Rstore, Scotchman®, shore stop®, Town Star, Village Pantry® and Young’s. As of December 31, 2021, we also supplied fuel to 1,628 independent dealer locations. We are well diversified geographically and as of December 31, 2021, operated across 33 states and the District of Columbia in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwestern, Northeastern, Southeastern and Southwestern United States (“U.S.”). We believe we benefit greatly by using established store banners. Our community of brands have been in existence for an average of approximately 50 years. We leverage their long-term community involvement, highly recognizable brands and customer loyalty in their respective markets. Our stores derive significant value from the scale, corporate infrastructure and centralized marketing programs associated with our large network.

We derive our revenue from the retail sale of fuel, the wholesale distribution of fuel and from the retail sale of a wide array of products offered in our retail stores, together with foodservice offerings.

The Business

We primarily operate in two business segments: retail and wholesale. Additionally, our third segment, GPMP, engages in the wholesale distribution of fuel. For the year ended December 31, 2021, the retail segment generated total revenues of approximately $4.7 billion, including approximately $1.7 billion of in-store sales and other revenues. In addition, the retail segment sold a total of 1,038.6 million gallons of branded and unbranded fuel to its retail customers. As a wholesale distributor of motor fuel, we distribute branded and unbranded motor fuel from refiners through third-party transportation providers. As of December 31, 2021, we distributed fuel to 1,628 independent dealer locations and spot and bulk purchasers throughout our footprint. For the year ended December 31, 2021, the wholesale segment sold 978.0 million gallons of fuel, generating revenues of approximately $2.7 billion. Our subsidiary, GPM Petroleum LP, which we refer to as GPMP, distributes motor fuels on a fixed fee per gallon basis to both our retail and wholesale sites. For the year ended December 31, 2021, 99.9% of the total fuel gallons distributed by GPMP were to GPM sites. GPM purchases all of its fuel from GPMP and we own 100% of the general partner of GPMP and, as of December 31, 2021, 99.8% of the GPMP limited partner units.

Retail Business

Our retail convenience stores offer a wide array of cold and hot foodservice, beverages, cigarettes and other tobacco products, candy, salty snacks, grocery, beer and general merchandise. Almost all stores sell fuel. We operate our stores under 19 regional store brands, including 1-Stop, Admiral, Apple Market®, BreadBox, ExpressStop®, E-Z Mart®, fas mart®, fastmarket®, Handy Mart, Jiffi

1

Stop®, Li’l Cricket, Next Door Store®, Roadrunner Markets, Rstore, Scotchman®, shore stop®, Town Star, Village Pantry® and Young’s.

In October 2017, we entered into an agreement to develop 10 Dunkin’ restaurants in the tri-cities area (Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky). To date, we have opened four sites and plan to open two additional sites in 2022. The current development deadline under the agreement is October 2023.

We offer foodservice at over 400 company-operated stores. The foodservice category varies by store and includes hot and fresh foods, deli, fried chicken, bakery, pizza, roller grill items and other prepared foods. In many stores, we offer value priced food items such as hot dogs and chicken sandwiches. In addition, we operate over 90 branded quick service restaurants consisting of major national brands, including Dairy Queen, Dunkin’, Sbarro, Subway and Taco Bell. We provide a number of traditional convenience store services that generate additional income, including lottery, prepaid products, gift cards, money orders, ATMs, gaming, and other ancillary product and service offerings. We also generate revenue from car washes at approximately 90 of our locations.

Wholesale Business

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

In October 2020, we consummated our acquisition of the business of Empire Petroleum Partners, LLC, which we refer to as “Empire” and collectively, the “Empire Acquisition.” The Empire Acquisition added significant scale to our wholesale segment in terms of fuel gallons sold (including 195 sites on a consignment basis) and materially increased our footprint by adding 10 new states and the District of Columbia.

Trends Impacting Our Business

We operate within the large and growing U.S. convenience store industry. According to the National Association of Convenience Stores, the U.S. convenience store industry has grown in-store sales from $182.4 billion in 2009 to $255.6 billion in 2020, which represents a compound annual growth rate (“CAGR”) of 3.1%. Pretax income for the industry also grew from $4.8 billion in 2009 to $16.0 billion in 2020, representing a CAGR of 11.6%.

The U.S. convenience store industry was comprised of 148,026 stores as of December 31, 2021 and remains highly fragmented as single-store operators account for approximately 60% of all convenience stores, a 3.1% decrease from 2020, and the 10 largest convenience store retailers account for less than 20% of the store base in the United States (as of the end of 2020). We have achieved strong store growth over the last several years, primarily by implementing a successful acquisition strategy within this highly fragmented convenience store industry. From 2013 through 2021, we completed 20 acquisitions. As a result, our site count, including retail and wholesale, has grown from 320 sites in 2011 to 3,034 sites as of December 31, 2021. These strategic acquisitions have had, and we expect will continue to have, a significant impact on our reported results and can make period to period comparisons of results difficult. With our achievement of significant size and scale, we have added an additional focus of organic growth, including implementing company-wide marketing and merchandising initiatives, which we believe will result in significant value accretion to all the assets we have acquired. We believe that this complementary strategy will help further our growth through both acquisitions and organically and improve our results of operations. We also plan to pursue accretive opportunities that will help execute our overall strategy.

2

There is an ongoing trend in the convenience store industry focused on increasing and improving in-store foodservice offerings, including fresh foods, quick service restaurants and proprietary food offerings. We believe consumers may be more likely to patronize convenience stores that include such new and improved food offerings, which may also lead to increased inside merchandise sales or fuel sales for such stores. Although our food and beverage sales have been negatively impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe this trend will reverse when the effects of the pandemic subside.

The U.S. convenience store industry has shown resilience to the negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including due to the designation of convenience stores as essential businesses during the statewide shutdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, convenience stores drew more “fill-in” visits for various food and other grocery items during the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that convenience retail is a dynamic industry that flexes and evolves with changing consumer preference and will continue to do so as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We believe that we will continue to benefit from several key industry trends and characteristics, including:

Competitive Strengths

We believe that the following competitive strengths differentiate us from our competitors and contribute to our continued success:

Leading industry consolidator with a proven track record of integrating acquisitions and generating strong returns on capital. We believe we are one of the largest, most active consolidators in the highly-fragmented convenience store industry. Between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2021, we completed 20 acquisitions, expanding our retail store count approximately 6.9x. As an experienced acquirer, we have demonstrated the ability to generate strong returns on capital and meaningfully improve target performance post-integration through operating expertise and economies of scale. We believe that continued scale advantage has enabled us to become a formidable industry player, enhanced our competitiveness, and positioned us as an acquirer of choice within the industry. As a “super-jobber” wholesaler, we believe we are better positioned to gain and renew supply contracts from independent dealers in addition to retail convenience store and wholesale fuel portfolios, and we incentivize our wholesale sales staff based on renewals.

Leading Market Position in Highly Attractive, Diversified and Contiguous Markets. As of December 31, 2021, our network consists of approximately 3,034 locations across 33 states and the District of Columbia. We are well diversified across geographies in the Midwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southwest and Northeast regions of the United States. We have traditionally acquired a majority of our stores in smaller towns with less concentration of national-chain convenience stores. We believe that our focus on

3

secondary and tertiary markets allows us to preserve “local” brand name recognition and aligns local market needs with capital investment.

Entrenched Local Brands with a Large Store Portfolio. As of December 31, 2021, we operated our stores under 19 regional brand names (which we consider to be “a Family of Community Brands”). Upon closing of an acquisition, rather than rebranding a group of stores, we have typically left the existing store name in place to leverage customer familiarity and loyalty associated with the local brand. We believe we benefit greatly from the established brand equity in our portfolio of store banners acquired over time. Our acquired brands have been in existence for an average of approximately 50 years and each brand, with its respective long-term community involvement, is highly recognizable to local customers. These advantages of regional store branding are complemented by the significant value derived from the scale, corporate infrastructure, and centralized marketing programs associated with our large store network. These benefits include:

Dual Retail and Wholesale Business Model Generates Stable and Diversified Cash Flow. We believe that our business model of operating both retail convenience stores and wholesale motor fuel distribution generates stable and diversified cash flows, providing us with advantages over many of our competitors. We are able to take advantage of the combined fuel purchasing volumes to obtain attractive pricing and terms while reducing the variability in fuel margins. We believe that operating a wholesale business also provides strategic flexibility as we are able to convert certain lower performing company-operated sites to consignment agent and lessee-dealer trade channels.

Flexibility to Address Consumers Changing Needs. Despite our large size, we believe we are a nimble retail marketer with the ability to alter store offerings quickly in the face of changing consumer needs. Our ability to pivot is facilitated by our streamlined and efficient internal decision-making structure and process that allows for the rapid implementation of new initiatives. Our flexibility is complemented by deep relationships with a host of manufacturers and suppliers worldwide. By way of example, upon the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to fully stock our stores with essential items, such as hand sanitizer, wipes and face masks, ahead of many of our competitors, as well as partner with DoorDash at over 680 of our sites.

Experienced Management with Significant Ownership. Our management team, led by Arie Kotler, our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, has a strong track record of revenue growth and profitability improvement. Arie Kotler purchased majority ownership and control of GPM in 2011, when it directly operated or supplied fuel to 320 stores and had revenues of approximately $1.2 billion. We have a highly tenured and talented management team across all facets of our organization, including operations, marketing, facilities, fuel, environmental, wholesale, real estate, finance and administrative, and have added leaders in key positions intended to enable continued business growth. Our management team has an average tenure with GPM and in the convenience store industry of 16 years and 23 years, respectively. Arie Kotler is our largest individual stockholder, currently owning approximately 17% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock.

Experienced Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors is comprised of executives with decades of experience in industries highly relevant to our business, including convenience stores, quick service restaurants, energy, finance, real estate and marketing. With a majority independent structure guided by strong governance bylaws and guidelines, the board adds significant strategic value based upon its view of what is in the best interest of our business and stockholders.

4

Strong Balance Sheet with Capacity to Execute Growth Strategy. As of December 31, 2021, we had significant cash on our balance sheet and capacity available under existing lines of credit. In addition, we generally finance inventory purchases on customary trade credit terms, which is aided by relatively quick inventory turnover, enabling us to manage the business without large amounts of cash and working capital. As a result of these financial resources, we believe that we will have ample financial flexibility to execute on our growth strategy.

Growth Strategy

We believe that we have a significant opportunity to increase our sales and profitability by continuing to execute our operating strategy, growing our store base in existing and contiguous markets through acquisitions, and enhancing the performance of current stores. With our achievement of significant size and scale, we believe that our refocused organic growth strategy, including implementing company-wide marketing and merchandising initiatives, will add significant value to our assets. We believe that this complementary strategy will help further enhance our growth and results of operations. We expect to use a portion of the cash available to us to fund our growth strategy. Specific elements of our growth strategy include the following:

Continue to Implement Merchandise and Fuel Initiatives to Drive Profitability and Growth:

Enhanced Marketing Initiatives. We plan to continue to pursue numerous in-store sales growth and margin enhancement opportunities that exist across our expansive footprint. The initiatives we are currently implementing or evaluating include, among others:

Foodservice Opportunity. Our current foodservice offering, which varies by store, primarily consists of hot and fresh foods, deli, fried chicken, bakery, pizza, roller grill items and other prepared foods. In many stores, we offer value priced food items such as hot dogs and chicken sandwiches. We have historically relied upon a limited number of franchised quick service restaurants and in-store delis to drive customer traffic rather than other foodservice offerings. As a result, we believe that our under-penetration of foodservice presents an opportunity to expand foodservice offerings and margin in response to changing consumer behavior. In addition, we believe that continued investment in new technology platforms and applications to adapt to evolving consumer eating preferences, including contactless checkout, order ahead service, and delivery will further drive growth in profitability.

Utilize Real-time Fuel Pricing Analysis. Our fuel pricing software enables real-time insight into street-level pricing conditions across our entire portfolio and estimates demand impacts from various pricing alternatives. This allows us to rapidly make pricing decisions intended to satisfy gallon and gross profit targets. Many of our competitors are smaller operators who may not have such visibility into their fuel pricing strategies and as a result forego opportunities to optimize total fuel margin.

Pursue Acquisitions in Existing and Contiguous Markets. We have completed 20 acquisitions in the last nine years, adding approximately 1,400 retail stores and approximately 1,500 independent dealer locations. We believe that our acquired locations combined with our scalable infrastructure represents a strong platform for future growth through acquisitions and organic growth within the highly fragmented convenience store industry. With approximately 70% of the convenience store market composed of chains with 50 or fewer locations as of 2020, we believe that there is ample opportunity to continue to consolidate. We have traditionally acquired a majority of our stores in smaller towns with less concentration of national-chain convenience stores. Approximately 45% of all our retail stores are in cities with populations of fewer than 20,000 people. Additionally, approximately 17% of all 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 and align local market needs with capital investment. We have established a dedicated in-house M&A team that focuses on identifying, closing and integrating acquisitions. We have a highly actionable pipeline of potential targets, and we currently focus on existing and contiguous markets where demographics and overall market characteristics are similar to our existing markets. In addition, we believe that our unique retail/wholesale business model provides us with strategic flexibility to acquire chains with both retail and independent dealer locations.

5

Store Remodel and Organic Growth Opportunities. We believe that we have an expansive, embedded opportunity to enhance our existing store base through multiple organic growth initiatives. We have driven significant synergies from acquisitions but have yet to further optimize the performance of certain stores we have purchased. Two stores were remodeled in 2021 and we completed a raze-and-rebuild in Rock Hill, South Carolina in November 2021. In addition, six stores are undergoing remodeling to be completed in the first half of 2022 and we plan to break ground on a new-to-industry (“NTI”) store in Atlanta, Texas in the fourth quarter of 2022 and have identified additional NTI opportunities for which we plan to commence the planning and engineering phase in 2022 with expected construction completed in 2023. As part of our history of opening successful quick service restaurants such as Dunkin’ and Sbarro, we opened one new Dunkin’ in 2021 and are planning to open additional new Dunkin’ locations in 2022. We also routinely remodel our Dunkin’ locations.

We constantly monitor macroeconomic factors such as rising materials costs, shortages, construction industry price fluctuations and labor shortages and we closely analyze key performance indicators in our remodel program. While we plan our pace moving forward, including review of further raze-and-rebuild and NTI opportunities and analyze results so far, strategic organic growth strategies that we intend to deploy in 2022 include 50 in-store Sbarro as part of our quick service restaurant partnerships, and a combination of improvements, such as bean-to-cup coffee offerings, which will be expanded to 525 stores, and our successful grab-n-go and freezer strategy that was implemented in 2021 and to be expanded to even more stores.

Suppliers

We leverage both our relationships with major consumer packaged goods supplier partners and wholesale distributors such as Core-Mark and Grocery Supply Company, as well as approximately 700 direct store delivery supplier distributors.

We purchase motor fuel primarily from large, integrated oil companies and independent refiners under supply agreements. In addition, we purchase unbranded fuel from branded and unbranded fuel suppliers to supply 239 unbranded retail fueling locations. As of December 31, 2021, approximately 82% of our retail fuel locations sold branded fuel. We sell branded fuel under the Valero®, Marathon®, BP®, Shell®, and Motiva® brand names, plus several other brands. In addition to driving customer traffic, we believe that our branded fuel strategy enables us to maintain a secure fuel supply.

Competition

We operate in a highly competitive retail convenience market, which includes businesses with operations and services that are similar to ours, 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. In particular, large convenience store chains have expanded their numbers of locations and remodeled their existing locations in recent years, enhancing their competitive position. We believe that convenience stores managed by individual operators that offer branded or non-branded fuel are also significant competitors in the market. 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; 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.

The convenience store industry is also experiencing 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) have expanded their product offerings to 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) have expanded their fuel offering 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.

We believe that the primary barriers to entry in this 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.

The wholesale business is also competitive. Our wholesale segment competes with refiners that distribute their own products, as well as other independent third-party motor fuel distributors. Wholesale fuel distributors typically compete by offering shorter contract commitments, lesser collateral requirements and larger incentives to enter into contracts. We distribute fuel sourced from a number of major oil company suppliers which allows us to approach a wide variety of branded and unbranded independent dealers in order offer a variety of alternative supply arrangements.

6

In the wholesale segment, we supply fuel to third parties both at sites owned or leased by the third party, sites that we own or have a long-term lease, as well as bulk and spot purchasers. In order to mitigate this competition, we typically offer the independent 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.

Government Regulation

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 independent dealers, regarding the marketing of branded fuel. The law is intended to prevent the arbitrary or discriminatory cancellation, or non-renewal, of dealership agreements and stipulates limitations on the cancellation, or non-renewal, of agreements for distribution of branded fuel, unless certain conditions are satisfied.

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, menu labeling, money orders, money transfer services, gaming, lottery, adult magazines and ephedrine. 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 held by us, 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.

EMV, which stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, is a global standard for credit cards that use computer chips to authenticate and secure chip-card transactions. The liability for fraudulent credit card transactions shifted from the credit card processor to us in October 2015 for transactions processed inside the convenience stores and shifted to us in April 2021 for transactions at the fuel dispensers. We have upgraded all of our inside point-of-sale machines to be EMV-compliant, and, in connection with a limited amount of incentive funds provided by fuel suppliers, we are actively upgrading our fuel dispensers to be EMV-compliant at the fuel dispenser with approximately 37% of retail locations completed as of December 31, 2021. Both due to the unavailability of the correct software from branded fuel suppliers, the required time and cost necessary to upgrade each site, and supply chain constraints, we did not upgrade all of our sites prior to April 2021, but anticipate being approximately 65% complete by the end of 2022 and being substantially complete by the end of 2023. Accordingly, we may be subject to liability for fraudulent credit card transactions processed at fuel dispensers. We do not believe that this will expose us to material liability.

Our operations are subject to federal and state laws governing such matters as minimum wage, overtime, working conditions and employment eligibility requirements. Proposals have emerged at local, state and federal levels to increase minimum wage rates.

We are subject to local, state and federal laws and regulations that address our properties and operations, including, without limitation the transportation, storage and sale of fuel, which have a considerable impact on our operations, including compliance with the requirements and regulations of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and comparable state counterparts. We are required to comply with the following regulations, among others:

7

The EPA, and several states, have established regulations concerning the ownership and operation of underground fuel storage tanks (“UST”), 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. 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 $7.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, and we anticipate expenditures of approximately $3.0 million for the year ending December 31, 2022. Our environmental department maintains direct interaction with federal, state and local environmental agencies for each state in which we operate. As part of our environmental risk management process, we engage environmental consultants and service providers to assist in analyzing our exposure to environmental risks by developing remediation plans, providing other environmental services, and taking corrective actions as necessary.

Human Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2021, we employed 11,236 employees, with 10,197 employed in our stores and 1,039 in corporate and field management positions. As of December 31, 2021, 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.

We value our employees and believe that employee development and training are key elements of our effective performance. Through training, we feel that improving the skills of current staff increases productivity and boosts our bottom line, at a fraction of the cost of hiring new employees. We offer training based on our employees’ specific job requirements and employee levels through the use of training modules and on-the-job training conducted by store managers or our Regional Training team. Our Regional Training team conducts the Company and industry-specific training to ensure store management is well-versed in the latest operating policies, standards and techniques. Trainings vary based on employee level, but generally focus on topics such as customer service, safety, environmental issues and regulations, as well as our operations and policies. We have developed training centers for new employees at certain of our regional offices. Our experienced store managers and our corporate trainers conduct the training of store managers from acquired sites in a classroom setting pre- and post-acquisition, as well as on-the-job training. We have also developed designated training programs for Store Manager Trainees, Assistant Managers and Food Service Managers. We have developed, and continue to refine, additional training programs for store and district managers, focusing on leadership and other “soft skills.” We help identify clear career paths to retain current employees and attract new employees by encouraging them to grow with the Company through educational training programs, matching employees with their interests or identifying a career trajectory other employees have taken.

The annual turnover rate of our store employees was approximately 168% in 2021. We seek to recruit and retain qualified personnel to work in our stores. The impact from the COVID-19 pandemic on employment trends and the prevailing 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 may continue to do so in the future.

We seek to promote employee retention by providing attractive employee benefits, raising wages where applicable and by granting 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, in response to COVID-19, 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.

8

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, including: “E-Z Mart®,” “fas fuel®,” “fas mart®,” “fas REWARDS®,” “Scotchman®,” “shore stop®” and “Village Pantry®.”

We also rely on trademarks that we license from third parties to identify the goods and services that we provide to our customers. 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 controls and contractual restrictions in an effort to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of our proprietary or confidential information.

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.

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 routinely 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.

Additionally, we use Twitter to distribute Company information, and you can follow us on our Twitter feed (@ARKOInvestors). We encourage investors, the media and other interested parties to review the information we post on our website and on Twitter, together with the information we file with the SEC and announce via press releases, conference calls and webcasts.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.

You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as other information contained in this report, including the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” The occurrence of any of the events discussed below could significantly and adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Changes in economic conditions and consumer confidence in the U.S. could materially adversely affect our business.

Our operations and the scope of services we provide are affected by changes in the macro-economic situation in the United States, which has a direct impact on consumer confidence and spending patterns. A number of key macro-economic factors, such as rising interest rates, inflation and unemployment, could have a negative effect on consumer habits and spending, and lead to lower

9

demand for fuel and other products sold at our convenience stores and gas stations. Significant negative developments in the macro-economic environment in the United States could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we do not make acquisitions on economically acceptable terms, our future growth may be limited. Furthermore, any acquisitions we complete are subject to substantial risks that could result in losses.

Our ability to grow depends substantially on our ability to make acquisitions. We intend to expand our retail business and independent dealer distribution network through acquisitions. However, we may be unable to take advantage of accretive opportunities for any of the following reasons:

If we are unable to make acquisitions, our future growth will be limited. In addition, if we complete any future acquisitions, our capitalization and results of operations may change significantly. We may complete acquisitions, which, contrary to our expectations, ultimately prove to not be accretive. If any of these events were to occur, our future growth would be limited.

We may make acquisitions that we believe are beneficial, which ultimately result in negative financial consequences. Any acquisition involves potential risks, including, among other things:

We may be unable to successfully integrate acquired operations or otherwise realize the expected benefits from our acquisitions, which could adversely affect the expected benefits from our acquisitions and our results of operations and financial condition.

Any acquisition involves the integration of the business of two companies that have previously operated independently. The difficulties of combining the operations of the two businesses include:

10

The process of integrating operations could cause an interruption of, or loss of momentum in, the activities of the business, and the loss of key personnel. The diversion of management’s attention and any delay or difficulty encountered in connection with the integration of the two companies’ operations could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

The success of our acquisitions will depend, in part, on our ability to realize the anticipated benefits from combining the acquired business with ours. If we are unable to successfully integrate an acquired business, the anticipated benefits of such acquisition may not be realized fully or may take longer to realize than expected. For example, we may fail to realize the anticipated increase in earnings anticipated to be derived from an acquisition. In addition, as with any acquisition, a significant decline in asset valuations or cash flows may also cause us not to realize expected benefits.

Our future growth depends on our ability to successfully implement our organic growth strategies, a part of which consists of remodeling our convenience stores.

A part of our organic growth strategy consists of remodeling our convenience stores in order to improve customers’ shopping experience by offering high-quality, convenient and efficient facilities. Such large-scale remodeling projects entail significant risks, including shortages of materials or skilled labor, unforeseen engineering, environmental and/or geological problems, work stoppages, weather interference, unanticipated cost increases and non-availability of construction equipment. Such risks, in addition to potential difficulties in obtaining any required licenses and permits, could lead to significant cost increases and substantial delays in the opening of the remodeled convenience stores. Historically, we have not previously undertaken such large-scale remodeling projects. For the limited number of remodeling projects we have completed and are in progress, these factors have led to certain delays and increased costs for our remodel program, and although we believe we are successfully navigating these challenges, there can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our growth targets by successfully implementing this strategy.

Labor, raw materials and building supply shortages and price fluctuations in the construction industry could delay or increase the costs of our store upgrade and remodel program and our maintenance capital expenditures, which could adversely affect our operating results.

We rely on many raw materials and skilled labor for our store upgrade and remodel program and our routine maintenance capital expenditures. The construction industry has, from time to time, experienced labor and raw material shortages and has been adversely affected by volatility in global commodity prices. In particular, shortages and fluctuations in the prices for labor, concrete, steel, drywall, lumber or other important raw materials could result in the continuance of the delays in the start or completion of, or further increases to the cost of, our store upgrade and remodel program or routine maintenance expenditures, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Significant changes in current consumption of and regulations related to tobacco and other tobacco products could materially adversely affect our business.

Tobacco and other tobacco products, which accounted for approximately 10% of our total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021, are a significant revenue source for us. Significant increases in wholesale cigarette and other tobacco product prices, current and future tobacco legislation, including restrictions or bans on flavored tobacco products, national, state and local campaigns to discourage smoking, reductions in manufacturer rebates for the purchase of tobacco products and increases in, and new, taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products could have a material adverse effect on the demand for tobacco products and, in turn, on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our financial condition and results of operations are influenced by changes in the wholesale prices of motor fuel, which may materially adversely impact our sales, customers’ financial condition and the availability of trade credit.

During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, fuel sales were approximately 77% of our total revenues and 48% of our combined fuel and merchandise margin. Historically, we have not carried retail fuel inventory on hand for more than nine days in the ordinary course of our business and have not engaged in hedging transactions. Our operating results are influenced by prices for motor fuel, variable retail margins and the market for such products. Crude oil and domestic wholesale motor fuel markets are volatile. General political conditions, acts of war or terrorism and instability in oil producing regions, particularly in the Middle East, Russia, Africa and South America, could significantly affect crude oil supplies and wholesale fuel prices. Significant increases and volatility in wholesale fuel prices could result in substantial increases in the retail price of motor fuel products, lower fuel gross margin per gallon, lower demand for such products and lower sales to consumers and independent dealers. This volatility makes it extremely difficult to predict the impact future wholesale cost fluctuations will have on our financial condition and results of operations. Increases in fuel prices generally compress retail fuel margin because fuel costs typically increase faster than retailers are able to pass them along to customers. In addition, when prices for motor fuel rise, some of our independent dealers may have insufficient credit to purchase motor fuel from us at their historical volumes. Furthermore, when motor fuel prices decrease, so do prompt payment

11

incentives, which are generally calculated as a percentage of the total purchase price of the motor fuel distributed. Additionally, because the interchange fees we pay when credit cards are used to make purchases are based on transaction amounts, higher fuel prices at the pump result in higher credit card expenses. These additional fees increase operating expenses. Finally, higher prices for motor fuel may reduce our access to trade credit or worsen the terms under which such credit is available to us, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Significant changes in demand for fuel-based modes of transportation could materially adversely affect our business.

The road transportation fuel and convenience business is generally driven by consumer preferences, growth of road traffic and trends in travel and tourism. Automotive, industrial and power generation manufacturers are developing more fuel-efficient engines, hybrid engines, electric vehicles and alternative clean power systems. In 2021, hybrid and electric vehicles accounted for approximately 8.3% of all light vehicle sales in the United States. A number of key factors could impact current customer behavior and trends with respect to road transportation and fuel consumption. These include new technologies providing increased access to non-fuel dependent means of transportation, legislation and regulations focused on fuel efficiency and lower fuel consumption, and the public’s general approach with regard to climate change and the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Significant developments in any of the above-listed factors could lead to substantial changes in the demand for petroleum-based fuel and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We operate in a highly competitive industry characterized by low entry barriers.

We compete with other convenience stores, gas stations, large and small food retailers, quick service restaurants and dollar stores. Since all such competitors offer products and services that are very similar to those offered by us, a number of key factors determine our ability to successfully compete in the marketplace. These include the location of stores, competitive pricing, convenient access routes, the quality and configuration of stores and fueling facilities, and a high level of service. In particular, many large convenience store chains have expanded their number of locations and remodeled their existing locations in recent years, enhancing their competitive position. In addition, some of our competitors have greater financial resources and scale than us, which may provide them with competitive advantages in negotiating fuel and other supply arrangements. Our inability to successfully compete in the marketplace by continuously meeting customer requirements concerning price, quality and service level could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

12

Negative events or developments associated with branded motor fuel suppliers could have a material adverse impact on our revenues.

The success of our operations is dependent, in part, on the continuing favorable reputation, market value and name recognition associated with the motor fuel brands sold at our gas stations and to independent dealers. An event which adversely affects the value of those brands could have a negative impact on the volumes of motor fuel we distribute, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We depend on several principal suppliers for our gross fuel purchases and two principal suppliers for merchandise. A failure by a principal supplier to renew its supply agreement, a disruption in supply or an unexpected change in supplier relationships could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We depend on several principal suppliers for our gross fuel purchases. Our fuel supply agreements expire on various dates through June 2031. If any of our principal suppliers elects not to renew its contracts with us, we may be unable to replace the volume of motor fuel we currently purchase from such supplier on similar terms or at all. We rely upon our suppliers to timely provide the volumes and types of motor fuels for which they contract. We purchase motor fuels from a variety of suppliers under term contracts. In times of extreme market demand or supply disruption, we may be unable to acquire enough fuel to satisfy the demand of our customers. Any disruption in supply or a significant change in our relationship with our principal fuel suppliers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We depend on two major vendors to supply a majority of our in-store merchandise. Due to COVID-19, driver shortages, and supply chain disruptions, manufacturers and our suppliers are currently experiencing stock shortages and shipping delays of both fuel and merchandise. A significant disruption or operational failure affecting the operations of our suppliers, including their ability to provide timely deliveries, could materially impact the availability, quality and price of products sold at our convenience stores and gas stations, cause us to incur substantial unanticipated costs and expenses, and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A portion of our revenue is generated under fuel supply agreements with independent dealers that must be renegotiated or replaced periodically. If we are unable to successfully renegotiate or replace these agreements, then our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

A portion of our revenue is generated under fuel supply agreements with independent dealers. As these supply agreements expire, they must be renegotiated or replaced. Our fuel supply agreements generally have an initial term of 10 years and, as of December 31, 2021, had a volume-weighted average remaining term of approximately 5.5 years. Our independent dealers have no obligation to renew their fuel supply agreements with us on similar terms or at all. We may be unable to renegotiate or replace our fuel supply agreements when they expire, and the terms of any renegotiated fuel supply agreements may not be as favorable as the terms of the agreements they replace. Whether these fuel supply agreements are successfully renegotiated or replaced is frequently subject to factors beyond our control. Such factors include fluctuations in motor fuel prices, an independent dealer’s ability to pay for or accept the contracted volumes and a competitive marketplace for the services offered by us. If we cannot successfully renegotiate or replace our fuel supply agreements, or must renegotiate or replace them on less favorable terms, revenues from these agreements could decline and our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

The retail sale, distribution and storage of motor fuels is subject to environmental protection and operational safety laws and regulations that may expose us or our customers to significant costs and liabilities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We and our facilities and operations are subject to various federal, state and local environmental, health and safety laws, and regulations. These laws and regulations continue to evolve and are expected to increase in both number and complexity over time and govern not only the manner in which we conduct our operations, but also the products we sell. For example, international agreements and national, regional, and state legislation and regulatory measures that aim to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions or otherwise address climate change are currently in various stages of implementation. There are inherent risks that increasingly restrictive environmental and other regulation could materially impact our results of operations or financial condition. Most of the costs of complying with existing laws and regulations pertaining to our operations and products are embedded in the normal costs of doing business. However, it is not possible to predict with certainty the amount of additional investments in new or existing technology or facilities, or the amounts of increased operating costs to be incurred in the future, to prevent, control, reduce or eliminate releases of hazardous materials or other pollutants into the environment; remediate and restore areas damaged by prior releases of hazardous materials; or comply with new or changed environmental laws or regulations. Although these costs may be significant to the results of operations, we do not presently expect them to have a material adverse effect on our liquidity or financial position. Accidental leaks and spills requiring cleanup may occur in the ordinary course of business. We may incur expenses for corrective actions or environmental investigations at various owned and previously owned facilities or leased or previously leased and at third-party-owned waste disposal sites used by us. An obligation may arise when operations are closed or sold or at non-company sites where company products have been handled or disposed of. Expenditures to fulfill these obligations may relate to facilities and sites where past

13

operations followed practices and procedures that were considered acceptable at the time but may require investigative or remedial work or both to meet current or future standards.

We do not physically transport motor fuels. Rather, third-party transporters transport the motor fuels to our retail and independent dealer sites. The transportation of motor fuels by third-party transporters, as well as the associated storage of such fuels at locations including convenience stores, are subject to various federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations, including those relating to ownership and operation of underground storage tanks, the release or discharge of regulated materials into the air, water and soil, the generation, storage, handling, use, transportation and disposal of hazardous materials, the exposure of persons to regulated materials, and the health and safety of employees dedicated to such transportation and storage activities. These laws and regulations may impose numerous obligations and restrictions that are applicable to motor fuels transportation and storage and other related activities, including acquisition of, or applications for, permits, licenses, or other approvals before conducting regulated activities; restrictions on the quality and labeling of the motor fuels that may be sold; restrictions on the types, quantities and concentration of materials that may be released into the environment; required capital expenditures to comply with pollution control requirements; and imposition of substantial liabilities for pollution or non-compliance resulting from these activities. Numerous governmental authorities, such as the EPA, and analogous state agencies, have the power to monitor and enforce compliance with these laws and regulations and the permits, licenses and approvals issued under them, including fines, which can result in increased pollution control equipment costs or other actions. Failure to comply with these existing laws and regulations, or any newly adopted laws or regulations, may trigger administrative, civil or criminal enforcement measures, including the assessment of monetary penalties or other sanctions, the imposition of investigative, remedial or corrective action obligations, the imposition of additional compliance requirements on certain operations or the issuance of orders enjoining certain operations. Moreover, the trend in environmental regulation is for more restrictions and limitations on activities that may adversely affect the environment, which aligns with a growing trend in investor sentiment, and such regulation may result in increased costs of compliance.

Where releases of motor fuels or other substances or wastes have occurred, federal and state laws and regulations, and our lease agreements, require that contamination caused by such releases be assessed and remediated to meet applicable clean-up standards. Certain environmental laws impose strict, joint and several liability for costs required to clean-up and restore sites where motor fuels or other waste products have been disposed or otherwise released. The costs associated with the investigation and remediation of contamination, as well as any associated third-party claims for damages or to impose corrective action obligations, could be substantial and could have a material adverse effect on us or our customers who transport motor fuels or own or operate convenience stores or other facilities where motor fuels are stored.

For more information on potential risks arising from environmental and occupational safety and health laws and regulations, please see “Business—Government Regulation.”

Business disruption and related risks resulting from the outbreak of COVID-19 and variants of the virus could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

In December 2019, Chinese officials reported a novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) outbreak. COVID-19 has since spread throughout the world, leading the World Health Organization to declare on March 11, 2020, that COVID-19 reached the magnitude of a global pandemic. The rapid spread of COVID-19 throughout the U.S. led federal, state and local governments to take significant steps in an attempt to reduce exposure to COVID-19 and variants of the virus and control their negative effects on public health and the U.S. economy. Such governmental measures remain ongoing, change over time, and vary by locality. While the COVID-19 pandemic has generally impacted our results of operations positively, the pandemic negatively impacted our foodservices sales and same store fuel sales volumes, and we have seen shortages in labor and supply chain disruptions. Notwithstanding the recent resurgence of economic activity, in light of variant strains of the virus that have emerged, the COVID-19 pandemic could once again impact our operations and the operations of our customers and suppliers as a result of quarantines, location closures, illnesses, and travel restrictions. The ultimate duration and severity of COVID-19 and variants of the virus, including any future resurgence, remain uncertain, however, a substantial and continuous deterioration in the business environment in the United States could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, including:

14

Failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations could result in liabilities, penalties, costs, or license suspension or revocation that could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our operations are subject to numerous federal, state and local laws and regulations, including regulations related to the sale of alcohol, tobacco, nicotine products, lottery/lotto products, other age-restricted products, operation of gaming machines, various food safety and product quality requirements, environmental laws and regulations, and various employment and tax laws. There have been, and we expect will continue to be, frequent changes and variation in local and state regulations in response to COVID-19 and variants of the virus, including the regulation of in-house dining and capacity restrictions, which vary by jurisdiction and locality. Currently, we have devoted substantial resources in order to comply with this changing regulatory environment and have implemented compliance protocols that vary based on local requirements and regulations, and expect this to continue as the regulatory environment continues to change.

Our violation of, or inability to comply with, state laws and regulations concerning the sale of alcohol, tobacco, nicotine products, lottery/lotto products, other age-restricted products and operation of gaming machines could expose us to regulatory sanctions ranging from monetary fines to the revocation or suspension of our permits and licenses for the sale of such products. Such regulatory action could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. To the extent we are not able to provide such information because owners of our stock do not provide the necessary documentation to comply, we may have those licenses suspended or revoked.

Our failure to comply with applicable labor and employment laws pertaining to, among others, minimum wage, mandated healthcare benefits or paid time-off benefits could result in increased regulatory scrutiny, monetary fines and substantial costs and expenses related to legal proceedings.

Our business, particularly the operation of gas stations, and the storage and transportation of fuel products, is directly affected by numerous environmental laws and regulations pertaining, in particular, to the quality of fuel products, the handling and disposal of hazardous wastes and the prevention and remediation of environmental contaminations. Such laws and regulations are constantly evolving and have generally become more stringent over time. Our compliance with such evolving regulation requires significant and continuously increasing capital expenditures. Our business may also be (indirectly) affected by the adoption of environmental laws and regulations intended to address global climate change by limiting carbon emissions and introducing more stringent requirements for the exploration, drilling and transportation of crude oil and petroleum products. Increasingly wide-spread implementation of such laws and regulations may lead to a significant increase in the cost of petroleum-based fuels and, in turn, lower demand for road transportation fuel. Our failure to comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations, or a significant contamination at one of our sites requiring remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater on a large scale, could expose us to substantial fines and penalties, as well as administrative, civil and criminal charges, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to extensive tax liabilities imposed by multiple jurisdictions, including income taxes, fuel excise taxes, sales and use taxes, payroll taxes, franchise taxes, property taxes and tobacco taxes. Many of these tax liabilities are subject to periodic audits by the respective taxing authorities. Substantial changes or reforms in the current tax regime could result in increased tax expenses and potentially have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on a large number of store employees. If we do not effectively manage our workforce, our labor costs and results of operations could be adversely affected.

With over 11,000 store employees, our labor costs represent one of our largest store operating expenses, and our business is dependent on our ability to attract, train, and retain the appropriate mix of qualified employees. Most of our store employees are in entry-level or part-time positions, which have historically high turnover rates. The impact from the COVID-19 pandemic on employment trends and the prevailing 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 may

15

continue to do so in the future. Our ability to meet our changing labor needs while controlling our costs is subject to external factors outside of our control such as labor laws and regulations, unemployment levels, prevailing wage rates, benefit costs, changing demographics, and our reputation and relevance within the labor market. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel to work in our stores, our operations, customer service levels, reputation, and competitiveness could suffer and our results of operations could be adversely affected.

The loss of key senior management personnel or the failure to recruit or retain qualified personnel could materially adversely affect our business.

We are dependent on our ability to recruit and retain qualified individuals to work in and manage our convenience stores, and our operations are subject to federal and state laws governing such matters as minimum wages, overtime, working conditions and employment eligibility requirements. Economic factors, such as a decrease in unemployment and an increase in mandatory minimum wages at the local, state and federal levels and social benefits, could have a material impact on our results of operations if we are required to significantly increase wages and benefits expenditures in order to attract and retain qualified personnel. The ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could impact our ability to recruit and retain qualified personnel. Additionally, we are dependent on our senior management to operate our business. The loss of any of our executive officers or other key senior management personnel could harm our business.

Unfavorable weather conditions could adversely affect our business.

Weather conditions have a significant effect on our sales, as retail customer transactions in higher profit margin products generally increase when weather conditions are favorable. Consequently, our results are seasonal, and we typically earn more during the warmer second and third quarters of the year. In addition, severe weather phenomena, such as hurricanes, may adversely affect our results of operations and could result in significant damage to our gas stations, convenience stores and infrastructure, potentially resulting in substantial costs and expenses. Temporary or long-term disruptions to our supply chain in connection with unfavorable weather conditions could impact our network of suppliers and distributors, significantly impacting the quality, variety and pricing of merchandise sold at our sites.

We may be held liable for fraudulent credit card transactions on our fuel dispensers.

Europay, MasterCard and Visa, or EMV, is a global standard for credit cards that uses computer chips to authenticate and secure chip-card transactions. The liability for fraudulent credit card transactions shifted from the credit card processor to us in October 2015 for transactions processed inside the convenience stores and shifted to us in April 2021 for transactions at the fuel dispensers. We have upgraded all of our inside point-of-sale machines to be EMV-compliant, and, in connection with a limited amount of incentive funds provided by fuel suppliers, we are actively upgrading our fuel dispensers to be EMV-compliant at the fuel dispenser with approximately 37% of retail locations completed as of December 31, 2021. Both due to the unavailability of the correct software from branded fuel suppliers, the required time and cost necessary to upgrade each site, and supply chain constraints, we do not expect to upgrade all of our sites prior to the end of 2022 and accordingly, may be subject to liability for fraudulent credit card transactions processed at fuel dispensers.

We are subject to payment-related risks that may result in higher operating costs or the inability to process payments, either of which could harm our brand, reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

We accept a variety of credit cards and debit cards in our convenience stores and at our fuel dispensers and, accordingly, we are, and will continue to be, subject to significant and evolving regulations and compliance requirements, including obligations to implement enhanced authentication processes that could result in increased costs and liability (see “—We may be held liable for fraudulent credit card transactions on our fuel dispensers”) and reduce the ease of use of certain payment methods. In addition, we pay interchange and other fees, which may increase over time. We rely on independent service providers for payment processing, including credit and debit cards. If these independent service providers become unwilling or unable to provide these services to us, if the cost of using these providers increases, or if such providers have a data breach or mishandle our data, our business could be harmed. We are also subject to payment card association operating rules and agreements, including data security rules and agreements and certification requirements which could change or be reinterpreted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply. In particular, we must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS, a set of requirements designed to ensure that all companies that process, store or transmit payment card information maintain a secure environment to protect cardholder data. If we fail to comply with any of these rules or requirements, or if our data security systems are breached or compromised, we may be liable for losses incurred by card issuing banks or customers, subject to fines and higher transaction fees, lose our ability to accept credit or debit card payments from our customers, or process electronic fund transfers or facilitate other types of payments. Any failure to comply with such rules or requirements could significantly harm our brand, reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

16

Significant disruptions of information technology systems, breaches of data security, or compromised data could materially adversely affect our business.

We rely on multiple information technology systems and a number of third-party vendor platforms (collectively, “IT Systems”) in order to run and manage our daily operations, including for fuel pricing, loyalty programs, payroll, accounting, budgeting, reporting, and store operations. Such IT Systems allow us to manage various aspects of our business and to provide reliable analytical information to our management. The future operation, success and growth of our business depends on streamlined processes made available through our uninhibited access to information systems, global communications, internet activity and other network processes. Like most other companies, despite our current security measures and process controls, our information technology systems, and those of our third-party service providers, may be vulnerable to information security breaches, ransomware or extortion, mishandled data, acts of vandalism, computer viruses and interruption or loss of valuable business data. Stored data might be improperly accessed due to a variety of events beyond our control, including, but not limited to, damage and interruption from power loss or natural disasters, computer system and network failures, loss of telecommunications services, physical and electronic loss of access to data and information, terrorist attacks, hackers, security breaches or other security incidents, and computer viruses or attacks. We rely on third parties to provide maintenance and support of our IT Systems, and a failure of any of these third parties to provide adequate and timely support could adversely affect the operation of our IT Systems. We have technology security initiatives and disaster recovery plans in place to mitigate our risk to these vulnerabilities, but these measures may not be adequately designed or implemented to ensure that our operations are not disrupted or the data security breaches do not occur.

Hackers and data thieves are increasingly sophisticated and operate large-scale and complex automated attacks which may remain undetected until after they occur. Any breach of our network may result in damage to our reputation, the loss of valuable business data, the misappropriation of our valuable intellectual property or trade secret information, misappropriation of our consumers’ or employees’ personal information, key personnel being unable to perform duties or communicate throughout the organization, loss of retail sales, significant costs for data restoration and other adverse impacts on our business. Despite our existing security procedures and controls, if our network was compromised, or the network of one of our service providers, it could give rise to unwanted media attention, materially damage our customer relationships, harm our business, reputation, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition, result in fines or litigation, and may increase the costs we incur to protect against such information security breaches, such as increased investment in technology, the costs of compliance with consumer protection laws and costs resulting from consumer fraud. In addition, successful cyberattacks, data breaches, or data security incidents, at one of our vendors, other convenience store operators, large retailers or other market participants, whether or not we are directly impacted, could lead to a general loss of customer confidence or affect our supply chain which could negatively affect us, including harming the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures or harming the reputation of the industry in general, which could result in reduced use of our products and services.

The costs of mitigating cybersecurity risks are significant and are likely to increase in the future. These costs include, but are not limited to, retaining the services of cybersecurity providers; compliance costs arising out of existing and future cybersecurity, data protection and privacy laws and regulations; and costs related to maintaining redundant networks, data backups and other damage-mitigation measures. While we maintain cyber liability insurance, our insurance may not be sufficient to protect against all losses we may incur if we suffer significant or multiple attacks.

We are subject to evolving laws, regulations, standards, and contractual obligations related to data privacy and security regulations, and our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our reputation, subject us to significant fines and liability, or otherwise adversely affect our business.

As a fuel and merchandise retailer, we collect and store large amounts of data on our network, including personal data from customers and other sensitive information concerning our employees, customers and vendors. As such, we are subject to, or affected by, a number of federal, state, and local laws and regulations, as well as contractual obligations and industry standards, that impose certain obligations and restrictions with respect to data privacy and security, and govern our collection, storage, retention, protection, use, processing, transmission, sharing and disclosure of personal and other information including that of our employees, customers, and others. If we are found to have breached any such laws or regulations, we may be subject to enforcement actions that require us to change our business practices in a manner which may negatively impact our revenue, as well as expose us to litigation, fines, civil and/or criminal penalties and adverse publicity that could cause our customers to lose trust in us, negatively impacting our reputation and business in a manner that harms our financial position.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) expects a company’s data security measures to be reasonable and appropriate in light of the sensitivity and volume of consumer information it holds, the size and complexity of its business, and the cost of available tools to improve security and reduce vulnerabilities. Our failure to take any steps perceived by the FTC as appropriate to protect consumers’ personal information may result in claims by the FTC that we have engaged in unfair or deceptive acts or practices in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act. State consumer protection laws provide similar causes of action for unfair or deceptive practices for alleged privacy, data protection and data security violations.

17

Further, we make public statements about our use and disclosure of personal information through our privacy policies that are posted on our websites and in our loyalty applications. The publication of our privacy policies and other statements that provide promises and assurances about data privacy and security can subject us to potential government or legal action if they are found to be deceptive, unfair or misrepresentative of our actual practices.

As described above, we are also subject to the PCI DSS, which is a standard designed to protect credit card account data as mandated by payment card industry entities. We rely on vendors to handle PCI DSS matters and to ensure PCI DSS compliance. Despite our compliance efforts, we may become subject to claims that we have violated the PCI DSS based on past, present, and future business practices. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with the PCI DSS can subject us to fines, termination of banking relationships, and increased transaction fees.

In addition, numerous states already have, and are looking to expand, data protection legislation requiring companies like ours to consider solutions to meet differing needs and expectations of consumers. Similar laws have been proposed at the federal level, reflecting a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States. The enactment of such laws could have potentially conflicting requirements that would make compliance challenging and we may not be able to monitor and react to all developments in a timely manner.

Our failure, and/or the failure by the various third-party service providers and partners with which we do business, to comply with applicable privacy policies or federal or state laws and regulations or any other obligations relating to privacy, data protection or information security, or any compromise of security that results in the unauthorized release of personal data or other user data, or the perception that any such failure or compromise has occurred, could negatively harm our brand and reputation, result in a loss sales and/or result in fines and/or proceedings by governmental agencies and/or customers, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our business could suffer if we fail to adequately secure, maintain, and enforce our intellectual property rights.

We rely on our trademarks, trade names, and brand names to distinguish our products and services from those of our competitors, and have registered or applied to register many of these trademarks. We cannot assure you that our trademark applications will be approved. Third parties may also oppose our trademark applications, or otherwise challenge our use of the trademarks. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our products or services, which could result in loss of brand recognition, and could require us to devote resources advertising and marketing new brands. Further, we cannot assure you that competitors will not infringe our trademarks, or that we will have adequate resources to enforce our trademarks.

We also rely on trademarks that we license from third parties to identify the branded fuels that we supply, including the marks “ExxonMobil,” “Marathon,” “BP,” “Shell,” and “Valero.” In our quick service food offerings, we license trademarks such as “Subway,” “Sbarro” 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. If we violate the terms of these licenses, we could be liable for damages, and the licenses could be terminated. The termination or non-renewal of any of these licenses could require us to rebrand or to replace the licensed goods and services, and accordingly could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.

We also rely on unpatented proprietary technology. It is possible that others will independently develop the same or similar technology or otherwise obtain access to our unpatented technology. To protect our trade secrets and other proprietary information, we use access controls in an effort to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of our proprietary or confidential information, however, we cannot assure you that these controls will not be circumvented. We also require employees, consultants, advisors and collaborators to enter into confidentiality agreements. We cannot assure you that these agreements will provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information in the event of any unauthorized use, misappropriation or disclosure of such trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information. If we are unable to maintain the proprietary nature of our technologies, we could be materially adversely affected.

If third parties claim that we infringe upon their intellectual property rights, our operating profits could be adversely affected.

We face the risk of claims that we have infringed third parties’ intellectual property rights. Any claims of intellectual property infringement, even those without merit, could be expensive and time consuming to defend and divert management’s attention, cause us to cease making, licensing or using the products or services that incorporate the challenged intellectual property, require us to rebrand our products or services, if feasible, or require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements in order to obtain the right to use a third party’s intellectual property.

Any royalty or licensing agreements, if required, may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. A successful claim of infringement against us of third party intellectual property infringement could result in our being required to pay significant

18

damages, enter into costly license or royalty agreements, or stop the sale of certain products, any of which could have a negative impact on our operating profits and harm our future prospects.

We depend on third-party transportation providers for the transportation of all of our motor fuel. Thus, a change of providers or a significant change in our relationship with these providers could have a material adverse effect on our business.

All of the motor fuel we distribute is transported from terminals to gas stations by third-party transportation providers. Such providers may suspend, reduce or terminate their obligations to us if certain events (such as force majeure) occur. A change of key transportation providers, a disruption or cessation in services provided by such providers or a significant change in our relationship with such providers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our operations present risks which may not be fully covered by insurance.

We carry comprehensive insurance against the hazards and risks underlying our operations. We believe our insurance policies are customary in the industry; however, some losses and liabilities associated with our operations may not be covered by our insurance policies. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain similar insurance coverage on favorable terms (or at all) in the future. Significant uninsured losses and liabilities could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, our insurance is subject to high deductibles. As a result, certain large claims, even if covered by insurance, may require a substantial cash outlay by us, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our variable rate debt could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Certain of our outstanding term loans and revolving credit facilities bear interest at variable rates, subjecting us to fluctuations in the short-term interest rate. As of December 31, 2021, approximately 36% of our debt bore interest at variable rates. Consequently, significant increases in market interest rates would create substantially higher debt service requirements, which could have a material adverse effect on our overall financial condition, including our ability to service our indebtedness.

The agreements governing our indebtedness contain various restrictions and financial covenants that may restrict our business and financing activities.

We depend on the earnings and cash flow generated by our operations in order to meet our debt service obligations. The operating and financial restrictions and covenants in GPM’s credit facilities and our 5.125% Senior Notes due 2029 (the “Senior Notes”), and any future financing agreements, may restrict our ability to finance future operations or expand our business activities. For example, certain of GPM’s and GPMP’s credit facilities and our Senior Notes restrict our ability to, among other things:

In addition, certain of the credit agreements governing GPM’s credit facilities contain covenants requiring GPM to maintain certain financial ratios. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Contractual Obligations and Indebtedness” for additional information about GPM’s credit facilities and our Senior Notes.

Our ability to comply with these restrictions and covenants is uncertain and will be affected by the levels of cash flow from operations and other events or circumstances beyond our control. If market or other economic conditions deteriorate, our ability to comply with these covenants may be impaired. If we violate any provisions of our credit facilities or Senior Notes that are not cured or waived within the appropriate time periods provided in the agreements governing such indebtedness, a significant portion of our

19

indebtedness may become immediately due and payable, and our lenders’ commitment to make further loans to us under certain of our credit facilities may terminate. We might not have, or be able to obtain, sufficient funds to make these accelerated payments.

If we were unable to repay the accelerated amounts, the lenders under our secured credit facilities could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure such debt. If the payment of our debt is accelerated, our assets may be insufficient to repay such debt in full, which could result in our insolvency.

The proposed phase out of the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

In 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, announced that it intends to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021, and subsequently extended the phase-out period until June 2023 for the majority of LIBOR rates. In July 2021, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee formally recommended the use of the CME’s Group’s forward-looking Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) as a replacement to LIBOR. As of December 31, 2021, approximately 36% of our debt bore interest at variable rates. Most of our credit agreements were entered into in the past three years. Such credit agreements, as amended, include mechanisms pursuant to which the underlying interest rates will be determined according to an alternative index replacing LIBOR, as customary in the market at such time. Since there is still great uncertainty in the market with respect to the elimination of LIBOR and the potential transition to a replacement rate, the impact of such changes on our future debt repayment obligations, results of operations and financial condition remains uncertain.

Risks Related to the Business as a Public Company

We incur significantly increased expenses and administrative burdens as a public company, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We incur certain increased legal, accounting, insurance, administrative and other costs and expenses as a public company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), including the requirements of Section 404, as well as rules and regulations subsequently implemented by the SEC, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 and the rules and regulations promulgated and to be promulgated thereunder, the PCAOB and the securities exchanges, impose additional reporting and other obligations on public companies. Compliance with public company requirements has increased costs and made certain activities more time-consuming. A number of those requirements require us to carry out activities we had not done prior to the Merger Transaction. For example, we created new board committees and adopted new internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. In addition, additional expenses associated with SEC reporting requirements have been and will continue to be incurred. Furthermore, if any issues in complying with those requirements are identified (for example, if our auditors identify a material weakness or significant deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting), we could incur additional costs rectifying those issues, and the existence of those issues could adversely affect our reputation or investor perceptions of it. Risks associated with our status as a public company may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers. The additional reporting and other obligations imposed by these rules and regulations have increased legal and financial compliance costs and the costs of related legal, accounting and administrative activities and may significantly increase such costs in the future. These increased costs have, and will in the future, require us to divert a significant amount of money that could otherwise be used to expand our business and achieve certain strategic objectives. Advocacy efforts by stockholders and third parties may also prompt additional changes in governance and reporting requirements, which could further increase costs.

Risks Related to Our Organizational Structure

Our principal stockholders and management control us and their interests may conflict with yours in the future.

Our executive officers and directors and significant stockholders beneficially currently own approximately 56% of our outstanding voting stock. Each share of common stock entitles its holders to one vote on all matters presented to stockholders generally. Accordingly, those owners, if voting in the same manner, will be able to control the election and removal of our directors and thereby determine corporate and management policies, including potential mergers or acquisitions, payment of dividends, asset sales, amendment of the certificate of incorporation and bylaws and other significant corporate transactions for so long as they retain significant ownership. This concentration of ownership may delay or deter possible changes in control, which may reduce the value of an investment in the common stock. So long as they continue to own a significant amount of the combined voting power, even if such amount is less than 50%, they will continue to be able to strongly influence or effectively control our decisions.

20

Our corporate structure includes Israeli subsidiaries that may have adverse tax consequences and expose us to additional tax liabilities.

Our corporate structure includes Israeli subsidiaries that file tax returns in Israel. Israeli tax authorities may challenge positions taken by such subsidiaries with respect to its tax returns. To the extent such a challenge is sustained, this could increase our worldwide effective tax rate and adversely impact our financial position and results of operations. In addition, tax law or regulations in Israel may be amended and Israeli tax authorities may change their interpretations of existing tax law and regulations such that we may be subject to increased tax liabilities, including upon termination or liquidation of our Israeli subsidiaries. We may face additional tax liabilities in transferring cash through our Israeli subsidiaries by means of dividends or otherwise to support us, primarily due to withholding tax requirements imposed pursuant to the provisions of the Israeli tax law (which may be reduced under the provisions of the convention between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Israel with respect to Taxes on Income), which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates specific courts as the exclusive forum for certain litigation that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us.

Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for any state law claim for (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (2) any action asserting a claim of or based on a breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of ours to us or our stockholders; (3) any action asserting a claim pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our bylaws; or (4) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine (the “Delaware Forum Provision”). The Delaware Forum Provision will not apply to any causes of action arising under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation further provides that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the United States District Court in Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act (the “Federal Forum Provision”). In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of common stock is deemed to have notice of and consented to the Delaware Forum Provision and the Federal Forum Provision; provided, however, that stockholders cannot and will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

We recognize that the Delaware Forum Provision and the Federal Forum Provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may impose additional litigation costs on stockholders in pursuing any such claims, particularly if the stockholders do not reside in or near the State of Delaware. Additionally, the forum selection clauses in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may limit our stockholders’ ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that they find favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees, which may discourage the filing of lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and employees, even though an action, if successful, might benefit our stockholders. While the Delaware Supreme Court ruled in March 2020 that federal forum selection provisions purporting to require claims under the Securities Act be brought in federal court were “facially valid” under Delaware law, there is uncertainty as to whether courts in other jurisdictions will enforce the Federal Forum Provision. If the Federal Forum Provision is found to be unenforceable, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters. The Federal Forum Provision may also impose additional litigation costs on stockholders who assert that the provision is not enforceable or invalid. The Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware may also issue different judgments than would other courts, including courts where a stockholder considering an action may be located or would otherwise choose to bring the action, and such judgments may be more or less favorable to us than our stockholders.

Risks Related to Our Securities

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, stockholders could lose confidence in our financial and other public reporting, which is likely to negatively affect our business and the market price of our common stock.

Effective internal control over financial reporting is necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in our implementation could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. In addition, any testing conducted by us, or any testing conducted by our independent registered public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses or that may require prospective or retroactive changes to our financial statements or identify other areas for further attention or improvement. Inferior internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which is likely to negatively affect our business and the market price of our common stock.

We are required to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires annual management assessments of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting and a report by our independent registered public accounting firm on

21

the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of year-end. In particular, we are required to perform system and process evaluation and testing of our internal controls over financial reporting to allow management to report on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting, as required by Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We are also subject to the compliance requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which has resulted in us incurring substantial expenses and expending significant management efforts to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which we will continue. We cannot assure you that we will at all times in the future be able to report that our internal controls are effective. Material weaknesses in the design and operation of the internal control over financial reporting of businesses that we acquire could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results. If we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act or if we identify or our independent registered public accounting firm identifies deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses, the market price of our common stock could decline and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC, or other regulatory authorities, which would require additional financial and management resources.

The market price and trading volume of our common stock may be volatile and could decline significantly.

The Nasdaq stock market on which we list our common stock, has from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations. Even if an active, liquid and orderly trading market is sustained for our common stock, the market price of our common stock may be volatile and could decline significantly. In addition, the trading volume in our common stock may fluctuate and cause significant price variations to occur. If the market price of our common stock declines significantly, you may be unable to resell your shares at or above the market price of our common stock as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We cannot assure you that the market price of our common stock will not fluctuate widely or decline significantly in the future in response to a number of factors, including, among others, the following:

In the past, securities class-action litigation has often been instituted against companies following periods of volatility in the market price of their shares. This type of litigation could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention and resources, which could have a material adverse effect on us.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research, publish inaccurate or unfavorable research or cease publishing research about us or the convenience store industry, our share price and trading volume could decline significantly.

The market for our common stock depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us, our business or our industry. As a new public company, we have had limited coverage from securities and industry analysts. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade their opinions about our common stock, publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about us, or cease publishing about us regularly, demand for our common stock could decrease, which might cause our share price and trading volume to decline significantly. Additionally, if securities or industry analysts publish negative information regarding the industry generally or certain competitors of ours, this may affect the market price of all stocks in our sector, even if unrelated to our performance.

22

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could cause the price of our common stock to decline.

As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately 124.4 million shares of common stock outstanding and warrants to purchase approximately 18.4 million shares of common stock. We have registered shares of common stock that we may issue under our equity compensation plan. These shares may be sold freely in the public market upon issuance, subject to relevant vesting schedules, and applicable securities laws.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market or the perception that these sales might occur could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. We are unable to predict the effect that sales may have on the prevailing market price of our common stock.

Certain provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may limit stockholders’ ability to affect a change in management or control.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation includes certain provisions which may have the effect of delaying or preventing a future takeover or change in control that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. Among other things, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides for a classified board of directors serving staggered terms of three years. Our equity plans and our officers’ employment agreements provide certain rights to plan participants and those officers, respectively, in the event of a change in control.

We may not continue to declare cash dividends in the future.

In February 2022, we announced that our board of directors authorized a regular dividend program under we intend to pay quarterly dividends on our common stock, subject to quarterly declarations by our board of directors. Any future declarations of dividends, as well as the amount and timing of such dividends, are subject to capital availability and the discretion of our board of directors, which must evaluate, among other things, whether cash dividends are in the best interest of our stockholders and are in compliance with all applicable laws and any agreements containing provisions that limit our ability to declare and pay cash dividends.

Our ability to pay dividends in the future will depend upon, among other factors, our cash balances and potential future capital requirements, debt service requirements, earnings, financial condition, the general economic and regulatory climate, and other factors beyond our control that our board of directors may deem relevant. Our dividend payments may change from time to time, and we may not continue to declare dividends in the future. A reduction in or elimination of our dividend payments could have a negative effect on our stock price.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.

None.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES.

As of December 31, 2021, we owned 344 properties, including 256 company-operated sites, 48 consignment agent locations, and 40 lessee-dealer sites. Additionally, we have long-term control over a leased property portfolio composed of 1,311 locations as of December 31, 2021. Of the leased properties, 1,150 were company-operated stores, 75 were consignment agent locations, and 86 were lessee-dealer sites.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we were not party to any material legal proceedings other than those arising in the ordinary course of business.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.

Not applicable.

23

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

Our common stock and publicly-traded warrants are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “ARKO” and “ARKOW,” respectively. Our common stock was also listed on the TASE under the symbol “ARKO” until we voluntarily delisted from the TASE effective February 13, 2022. Following the delisting, shares of common stock that previously traded on the TASE were transferred to Nasdaq.

As of February 23, 2022, there were approximately 22 holders of record of our common stock and 13 holders of record of our publicly-traded warrants to purchase one whole share of common stock at a price of $11.50 per share.

On February 21, 2022, our board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.02 per share of common stock, to be paid on March 29, 2022 to stockholders of record as of March 15, 2022, totaling approximately $2.5 million. We have not previously declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock. The amount and timing of dividends payable on our common stock are within the sole discretion of our board of directors, which will evaluate dividend payments on common stock within the context of our overall capital allocation strategy on an ongoing basis, giving consideration to our current and forecast earnings, financial condition, cash requirements and other factors. There can be no assurance that we will continue to pay such dividends or the amount of such dividends.

We repurchased no shares of common stock during the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2021.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

All recent sales of unregistered securities were previously reported in a Current Report on Form 8-K or Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Performance Graph

The following graph compares the performance of our common stock during the period beginning December 23, 2020 through December 31, 2021, assuming an investment of $100 on December 23, 2020, to that of the total return index for the S&P 500, the Russell 1000 and a Custom Peer Group In calculating total annual stockholder return, reinvestment of dividends, if any, is assumed. The indices are included for comparative purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect management’s opinion that such indices are an appropriate measure of the relative performance of our common stock.

24

1 The Custom Peer Group consists of three industry competitors: Murphy USA, Inc., Alimentation Couche-Tard, Inc., and Casey’s General Stores, Inc.

25

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PSLRA”), Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (the “Exchange Act”), about our expectations, beliefs, plans and intentions regarding our product development efforts, business, financial condition, results of operations, strategies and prospects. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that these statements do not relate to historical or current matters. Rather, forward-looking statements relate to anticipated or expected events, activities, trends or results. Because forward-looking statements relate to matters that have not yet occurred, these statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Many factors could cause our actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in forward-looking statements. These factors include those contained in “Item 1A — Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Forward-looking statements reflect our views only as of the date they are made. We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law. We intend that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbor provisions of PSLRA.

For purposes of this Management’s Discussion and Analysis, references to the “Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to ARKO Corp. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

Overview

ARKO Corp. was incorporated under the laws of Delaware on August 26, 2020 for the purpose of facilitating the business combination, which we refer to as the Merger Transaction, of Haymaker Acquisition Corp. II, a Delaware corporation (“Haymaker”), and Arko Holdings Ltd., a company organized under the laws of the State of Israel, which we refer to as Arko Holdings. Our shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (“common stock”), and publicly-traded warrants are listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market (“Nasdaq”). Our common stock has also been listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, however, we terminated such listing, and our common stock ceased trading on such exchange on February 13, 2022. The main activity of Arko Holdings prior to the Merger Transaction was its holding, through its subsidiaries, of controlling rights in GPM Investments, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, which we refer to as GPM. GPM is our operating entity and, upon consummation of the Merger Transaction, became our indirect wholly owned subsidiary. For further information on the Merger Transaction, please refer to our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Based in Richmond, VA, we are a leading independent convenience store operator and, as of December 31, 2021, we were the sixth largest convenience store chain in the United States (“U.S.”) ranked by store count, operating 1,406 retail convenience stores. As of December 31, 2021, we operated the stores under 19 regional store brands, including 1-Stop, Admiral, Apple Market®, BreadBox, ExpressStop, E-Z Mart®, fas mart®, fastmarket®, Handy Mart, Jiffi Stop®, Li’l Cricket, Next Door Store®, Roadrunner Markets, Rstore, Scotchman®, shore stop®, Town Star, Village Pantry® and Young’s. As of December 31, 2021, we also supplied fuel to 1,628 independent dealers. We are well diversified geographically and, as of December 31, 2021, operated across 33 states and the District of Columbia in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwestern, Northeastern, Southeastern and Southwestern United States.

We derive our revenue from the retail sale of fuel and the products offered in our stores, as well as the wholesale distribution of fuel. Our retail stores offer a wide array of cold and hot foodservice, beverages, cigarettes and other tobacco products, candy, salty snacks, grocery, beer and general merchandise. We have foodservice offerings at over 400 company-operated stores. The foodservice category includes hot and fresh foods, deli, fried chicken, bakery, pizza, roller grill items and other prepared foods. We offer a value food menu consisting of items such as hot dogs and chicken sandwiches. In addition, we operate over 90 branded quick service restaurants, consisting of major national brands. Additionally, we provide a number of traditional convenience store services that generate additional income, including lottery, prepaid products, gift cards, money orders, ATMs, gaming, and other ancillary product and service offerings. We also generate revenues from car washes at approximately 90 of our locations.

Description of Segments

Our reportable segments are described below.

Retail Segment

The retail segment includes the operation of a chain of retail stores, which includes convenience stores selling fuel products and other merchandise to retail customers. At our convenience stores, we own the merchandise and fuel inventory and employ personnel to manage the store.

26

Wholesale Segment

The wholesale segment supplies fuel to independent dealers, on either a cost plus or consignment basis. For consignment arrangements, we retain ownership of the fuel inventory at the site, are responsible for the pricing of the fuel to the end consumer and share a portion of the gross profit earned from the sale of fuel by the consignment dealers. For cost plus arrangements, we sell fuel to independent dealers and bulk purchasers on a fixed-fee basis. The sales price to the independent dealer is determined according to the terms of the relevant agreement with the independent dealer, which typically reflects our total fuel costs plus the cost of transportation, prompt pay discounts, rebates and a margin.

GPMP Segment

The GPMP segment includes the operations of GPM Petroleum LP, referred to as GPMP, which primarily sells and supplies fuel to GPM and its fuel-selling subsidiaries (both in the retail and wholesale segments) at GPMP’s cost of fuel (including taxes and transportation) plus a fixed margin.

Trends Impacting Our Business

We have achieved strong store growth over the last several years, primarily by implementing a highly successful acquisition strategy. From 2013 through 2021, we completed 20 acquisitions. As a result, our store count has grown from 320 sites in 2011 to 3,034 sites as of December 31, 2021, of which 1,406 were operated as retail convenience stores and 1,628 were locations at which we supplied fuel to independent dealers. These strategic acquisitions have had, and we expect will continue to have, a significant impact on our reported results and can make period to period comparisons of results difficult. In November 2021, we completed our acquisition of 36 Handy Mart retail convenience stores, and in May 2021, we completed our acquisition of 60 ExpressStop retail convenience stores (collectively, the “2021 Acquisitions”). In October 2020, we completed our acquisition of the business of Empire Petroleum Partners, LLC, which business we refer to as Empire, which was significant and added 84 retail sites and 1,453 wholesale sites to our business (the “Empire Acquisition”). The Empire Acquisition was our only business acquisition in 2020. We completed three acquisitions in 2019 for a total of 87 sites, including 64 sites acquired in December 2019 (collectively, the “2019 Acquisitions”). With our achievement of significant size and scale, we have enhanced our focus on organic growth, including implementing company-wide marketing and merchandising initiatives, which we believe will result in significant value accretion to all the assets we have acquired.

The following table provides a history of our acquisitions, conversions and closings for each of the last three years, for the retail and wholesale segments:

1 Excludes bulk and spot purchasers.

2 Includes all signed fuel supply agreements irrespective of fuel distribution commencement date.

27

3 We regularly review our processes for measuring our key metrics, including number of sites, for accuracy and consistency. In the course of such review, we recently discovered an error that caused our reported number of wholesale sites to be overstated for the fourth quarter of 2020 through the third quarter of 2021. We have adjusted the number of wholesale sites as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 to account for the error and have corrected the error going forward. To provide greater accuracy and transparency, the adjusted numbers of wholesale sites as of December 31, 2020, March 31, 2021, June 30, 2021 and September 30, 2021 were 1,597 (previously reported 1,614), 1,597 (previously reported 1,625), 1,610 (previously reported 1,647) and 1,633 (previously reported 1,674), respectively. There was no impact on our previously reported gallons sold or financial results. For additional information, please see the risk factor included under Part II, Item 1A under the heading: “If we do not make acquisitions on economically acceptable terms, our future growth may be limited. Furthermore, any acquisitions we complete are subject to substantial risks that could result in losses.”

There has been an ongoing trend in the convenience store industry focused on increasing and improving in-store foodservice offerings, including fresh foods, quick service restaurants or proprietary food offerings. We believe consumers may be more likely to patronize convenience stores that include such new and improved food offerings, which may also lead to increased inside merchandise sales or fuel sales for such stores. Although our food and beverage sales have been negatively impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe this trend will reverse when the effects of the pandemic subside. Our current foodservice offering, which varies by store, primarily consists of hot and fresh foods, deli, fried chicken, bakery, pizza, roller grill items and other prepared foods. In select stores, we offer value priced food items such as hot dogs and chicken sandwiches. We have historically relied upon a limited number of franchised quick service restaurants and in-store delis to drive customer traffic rather than other types of foodservice offerings. As a result, we believe that our under-penetration of foodservice presents an opportunity to expand foodservice offerings and margin in response to changing consumer behavior. In addition, we believe that continued investment in new technology platforms and applications to adapt to evolving consumer eating preferences, including contactless checkout, order ahead service, and delivery, will further drive growth in profitability.

Our results of operation are significantly impacted by the retail fuel margins we receive on gallons sold. While we expect our same store fuel sales volumes to remain stable over time, even though they have been negatively impacted by COVID-19, and the fuel margins we realize on those sales to remain stable, these fuel margins can change rapidly as they are influenced by many factors including: the price of refined products; interruptions in supply caused by severe weather; refinery mechanical failures; and competition in the local markets in which we operate.

The cost of our main products, gasoline and diesel fuel, is greatly impacted by the wholesale cost of fuel in the United States. We attempt to pass wholesale fuel cost changes to our customers through retail price changes; however, we are not always able to do so. The timing of any related increase or decrease in retail prices is affected by competitive conditions. As a result, we tend to experience lower fuel margins when the cost of fuel is increasing gradually over a longer period and higher fuel margins when the cost of fuel is declining or more volatile over a shorter period of time. For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we experienced historically high fuel margins as a result of the volatile price of gasoline and diesel fuel.

We also operate in a highly competitive retail convenience market that includes businesses with operations and services that are similar to those that we provide. We face significant competition from other large chain operators. In particular, large convenience store chains have increased their number of locations and remodeled their existing locations in recent years, enhancing their competitive position. We believe that convenience stores managed by individual operators who offer branded or non-branded fuel are also significant competitors in the market. The convenience store industry is also experiencing competition from other retail sectors including grocery stores, large warehouse retail stores, dollar stores and pharmacies.

We believe that the following competitive strengths differentiate us from our competitors and contribute to our continued success:

In addition to these competitive strengths, we believe that we have a significant opportunity to increase our sales and profitability by continuing to execute our operating strategy, growing our store base in existing and contiguous markets through acquisitions, and enhancing the performance of current stores.

28

Business Highlights

Both the 2021 Acquisitions and the Empire Acquisition contributed to the improvement in our results of operations for 2021, primarily in the wholesale segment, as compared to 2020. Increased merchandise contribution at same stores combined with an increase in other revenues positively impacted our results of operations in 2021. General and administrative expenses increased in 2021, as compared to 2020, primarily as a result of the Empire Acquisition.

COVID-19

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, our convenience stores and independent dealers have continued to operate and have remained open to the public because convenience store operations and gas stations have been deemed essential businesses by numerous federal and state authorities, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and therefore were exempt from many of the closure orders that were imposed on other U.S. businesses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the frequency of customer visits and the number of gallons sold at our sites, however, we have seen increases in fuel margin and merchandise basket which more than offset this reduction. Since the beginning of 2021, we have seen an increase in fuel volume as businesses have continued to reopen and customer traffic has increased. Additionally, our corporate offices transitioned to remote work, but we believe we have maintained or increased productivity while expanding the hiring universe for corporate roles nationwide. However, we have seen shortages in labor and supply chain disruptions which have increased our operating costs, however, we have addressed through several hiring initiatives and leveraging our strong partnerships with our suppliers. Notwithstanding the recent resurgence of economic activity, in light of variant strains of the virus that have emerged, the COVID-19 pandemic could continue to impact our operations and the operations of our customers and suppliers as a result of quarantines, location closures, illnesses, and travel restrictions. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our business, results of operations, and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including, but not limited to, the resumption of high levels of infection and hospitalization, new variants of the virus, the resulting impact on our employees, customers, suppliers, and vendors, supply chain disruptions and the remedial actions and any stimulus measures adopted by federal, state, and local governments, and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions are impacted. Therefore, we cannot reasonably estimate the future impact at this time.

Seasonality

Our business is seasonal, and our operating income in the second and third quarters has historically been significantly greater than in the first and fourth quarters as a result of the generally improved climate and seasonal buying patterns of our customers. Inclement weather, especially in the Midwest and Northeast regions of the U.S. during the winter months, can negatively impact our financial results.

Results of Operations for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019

The period-to-period comparisons of our results of operations contained in this Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation have been prepared using our audited consolidated annual financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The following discussion should be read in conjunction with such audited annual consolidated financial statements and related notes.

Consolidated Results

The Merger Transaction was accounted for as a reverse recapitalization for accounting purposes: Haymaker was treated as the acquired company and Arko Holdings was considered the accounting acquirer. Because Arko Holdings was deemed the accounting acquirer, upon the consummation of the Merger Transaction, the historical financial statements of Arko Holdings became the historical financial statements of the combined company. As a result, the financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and discussed herein reflect the historical operating results of Arko Holdings prior to December 22, 2020, which was the date on which the Merger Transaction closed (the “Merger Closing Date”) and our combined results, including those of Haymaker, following the Merger Closing Date.

29

The table below shows our consolidated results for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, together with certain key metrics.