Midwestern gas station Casey's is eclipsing Domino's and other multinational pizza chains due to its quality ingredients, social media traction and presence in small towns without competitors. JHVEPhoto - stock.adobe.com See more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on Google They’re causing the Domino’s to fall.
Pie-hards have a new go-to fueling station. Midwestern gas station Casey’s is quietly cornering the US market on fast food pizza, beating out Domino’s and other marquee slice slingers.
With over 3,000 stores spanning 19 states, the refilling stop is now the fifth largest pizza purveyor in the nation, according to Bank of America research, the Daily Mail reported.
“You don’t hear the other big pizza players talk about Casey’s,” Tom Brennan, the gas station’s chief merchandising officer, told Fortune. “But at the same time, it’s evident from our growth … we’re taking share as we continue to grow.”
Indeed, the Fortune 500 company appears to be rolling in dough — their stock price as soared by 50% over the past year, with their market capitalization clocking in at 58 billion.
A Wells Fargo report found that their prepared food and dispensed beverage same-store sales growth surpassed Domino’s in 18 out of of the last 20 quarters.
How does a venue that’s traditionally associated with gasoline, scratch lotto, and cigarettes take a bigger slice of the pie?
Unlike the fossilized hot plate offerings offered at most diesel depots, Casey’s serves premium pie with scratch-made dough that’s cooked in pizza ovens inside its stores. The pies themselves, which first debuted in 1984, also come adorned with unusual toppings such as taco pizza and a breakfast pizza with sausage gravy, egg and cheese.
Videos of these unorthodox offerings have spread like wildfire across TikTok and Youtube, with creators expressing disbelief that gas station pizza could be this high-caliber.
“If had to go between Little Caesar’s and Casey’s, I think I’d go Casey’s,” exclaimed travel influencer Tony Cu in a TikTok video with over 400,000 views.
Casey’s social team analysts found that its exposure to Gen Z rose by six percentage points over the past three years based on engagement.
“You can’t manufacture that kind of enthusiasm,” Brennan exclaimed. “It comes from years of delivering great food and becoming part of these communities.”
Best of all, a large Casey’s pizza runs customers around $13.99 while Domino’s, Papa Johns and Pizza Hut’s pizza cost closer to $20, offering a reprieve for inflation-battered customers.
These low prices are somewhat paradoxically borne aloft by rising costs.
With smaller convenience stores hiking up fuel prices in line with rising labor and other expenses, larger operations like Casey’s get to bolster their food margins, thereby allowing them to maintain costs that aren’t pie-way robbery.
Then, of course, there’s the geography. Over half of Casey’s branches are located in towns with fewer than 5,000 people that don’t have Domino’s or other big-name chains, allowing for what Brennan dubs “competitive distance.”
“About half of our stores don’t have a national pizza competitor within what we consider a competitive rating,” Brennan told Fortune. “We’re bringing something that hasn’t been really on offer there. And it’s resonating.”
Casey’s currently has its sights set on Texas, whose approximately 30 million residents comprise ten times greater a consumer base than the company’s home state of Iowa, which has 550 branches.
“We see that as Casey’s country,” Brennan exclaimed.
