High-Volume I-94 Marathon Truck Stop, Gas Station & Restaurant, Minnesota

$15.5M

Revenue

$1.1M

SDE

8.2x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a Marathon-branded truck stop sitting just off Interstate 94 about an hour northwest of the Twin Cities, a location that turns highway traffic into a captive base of fuel, food, and convenience buyers. The operation stacks multiple revenue streams: retail fuel and DEF sales, a convenience store, a sit-down restaurant, a CAT Scale for commercial trucks, ATM, lottery, and rental income. At roughly $15.5M in gross revenue with 24 employees across a 9,720 square foot building, this is a real logistics-corridor asset rather than a small corner store.

The economics here are classic truck stop: high top-line volume driven largely by pass-through fuel, thin blended margins, and roughly $1.1M in cash flow. That works out to about a 7 percent SDE margin, which is normal for fuel-heavy retail and means the interior businesses (store, restaurant, CAT Scale) carry the real profit. Interstate visibility and accessibility are the moat, this is a fixed piece of real estate that trucks physically route through, and that traffic does not evaporate in a downturn.

Notably, the $9M asking price does NOT include the real estate (separately valued at $2,212,900) or the $341,085 in inventory. That materially changes the math, a buyer is effectively paying 8.2x cash flow for the operating business alone and then still needs to acquire or lease the dirt. The seller is explicit that only experienced, financially qualified gas station or truck stop operators will be considered, which tells you this is an operator's asset, not a passive play.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is anchored in essential, non-discretionary spend: diesel, DEF, food, and CAT Scale weigh tickets are things commercial trucks buy regardless of the economy. The $15.5M top line and $1.1M cash flow are diversified across fuel, store, restaurant, ATM, lottery, and rental income, which reduces single-stream fragility.
The durability comes from physical location, not brand or marketing. An I-94 exit an hour from the Twin Cities is a fixed geographic monopoly on the trucks that route through it, and interstate truck stops cannot be easily replicated next door due to zoning, fuel infrastructure, and site cost.
Freight and interstate trucking volumes are structurally durable, and the CAT Scale plus DEF and fuel infrastructure make this a required stop for a segment of professional drivers. That baseline traffic gives an operator predictable, if margin-thin, throughput to optimize around.
This is a genuine operator advantage business where an experienced fuel/foodservice owner can move margins meaningfully. The seller screening out first-timers signals the operational complexity, and complexity is where a skilled operator earns their return through fuel buying, food margins, and store mix.

How to improve it

Attack inside-store and restaurant margins, which is where truck stops actually make money since fuel is near pass-through. Audit foodservice cost of goods, menu pricing, and store planogram in the first 90 days to lift the high-margin interior sales per fuel customer.
Renegotiate fuel supply and Marathon jobber terms to squeeze cents-per-gallon spread on the $15.5M volume base. Even a fraction of a cent improvement across truck-stop diesel throughput drops directly to the bottom line at this scale.
Add or expand recurring commercial fleet fuel accounts and loyalty programs to lock in repeat truck traffic rather than relying purely on transient exit traffic. Fleet cards and a driver rewards program convert one-time stops into predictable weekly volume.
Optimize the rental income and any underused site square footage on the expansive commercial lot. Evaluate adding parking fees, additional QSR tenants, or overnight truck parking monetization to create higher-margin ancillary revenue streams.
Tighten labor structure across the 24-person team (10 full-time, 14 part-time) with scheduling and shrink controls. Convenience and foodservice labor and inventory shrink are the two biggest leaks in this model, and modest discipline here recovers real cash flow.
Resolve the real estate question decisively before or at close. Either buy the $2.2M property to control the site and capture the rent economics, or negotiate a long, favorable lease so the operating value is not exposed to a landlord repricing.

Diligence notes

Separate fuel revenue from inside sales and analyze margin by stream. The $15.5M top line is misleading on its own because fuel is largely pass-through, so verify how much of the $1.1M cash flow comes from store, restaurant, CAT Scale, and rental versus fuel margin.
Confirm the real estate arrangement in detail since the $2.2M property is NOT in the asking price. Understand whether the buyer must purchase it separately, lease it, and on what terms, because paying 8.2x for operations while facing an uncertain lease is a real risk.
Verify environmental compliance and underground storage tank condition, which is the single largest hidden liability at any fuel site. Obtain tank age, testing records, and any remediation history before committing, since UST cleanup costs can run into six or seven figures.
Scrutinize the Marathon branding and franchise/supply agreement terms, including remaining term, image requirements, and required capital reinvestment. Branded fuel contracts often carry mandatory upgrade obligations that can consume cash flow post-close.
Validate the CAT Scale, ATM, lottery, and rental income streams with contracts and settlement statements. These smaller lines are disproportionately high-margin, so confirm they are contractual and transferable rather than dependent on the current owner.
Reconcile the stated $1.1M cash flow (SDE) to tax returns and bank deposits, and identify owner add-backs. At a 7 percent SDE margin the business is sensitive to fuel volume swings, so stress-test the earnings against a slow freight quarter.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →