Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: ARIE KOTLER

In June, Arko, the nation’s sixth largest convenience store chain, with more than 1,500 company-operated stores in 30 states, made the Fortune 500 list for the second time, ranked at No. 460, 38 places higher than its 2022 debut.

The parent company of Henrico-based GPM Investments, Arko brought in $72 million in net income in fiscal year 2022, compared with $59.4 million the previous year.
Arko has 1,848 employees in Virginia and 13,901 worldwide, after a series of acquisitions of convenience store chains and fuel wholesalers.

An Israeli native who relocated to the U.S. in 1997, Kotler founded GPM in 2003, sold the business and reacquired it in 2011. In 2020, Arko merged with Haymaker Acquisition Corp. to create Arko Corp., a U.S.-listed public company.

Arko was unsuccessful this year in its attempt to acquire TravelCenters of America, but in June Arko completed its $140.2 million acquisition of the retail and fleet fueling assets of WTG Fuels Holdings, marking the company’s 24th acquisition.

HOBBY/PASSION: My business is my passion. I love to build. I work every day because I enjoy working with people and our great employees, and I am driven by creative, opportunistic dealmaking.