Cumberland Farms Brand to Become the Face of EG Group’s Retail Network; Hundreds of Upgrades Planned

Cumberland Farms, formerly known as EG Group, plans to rebrand 600 to 700 of its U.S. stores to Cumberland Farms over the next five years, the company said last week in a public filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company also intends to rebadge stores in its European operations to Cumberland Farms, according to its registration to go public. Cumberland has applied to list ordinary shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “CMBY.” No further information was available on the proposed stock offering, including the stock price and number of shares.

“We are increasingly leveraging the strength of the Cumberland Farms brand in the United States as we strategically and selectively transition away from legacy regional banners and move toward a more unified brand identity,” the document said. “Rebranding creates meaningful opportunities to modernize store formats, improve consistency and elevate the customer experience across our United States footprint.”

As of March 31, Cumberland Farms, based in Charlotte, N.C., operates more than 3,200 sites, 1,463 in the U.S. and 1,779 in Europe. The company said it ranks fifth in U.S. store count, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores and fourth in Europe by store count, according to Straits Research.

“Cumberland Farms serves as the premier brand of our United States operations, representing more than 90 years of heritage and deep customer recognition across the Northeast and Florida,” the company said. It “anchors our brand platform with large-format stores averaging approximately 3,500 square feet across eight states in high-density, difficult-to-replicate locations.”

Parent company EG Group, which was founded in the U.K. in 2001, acquired the Cumberland Farms convenience store network in October 2019. “We have been able to leverage Cumberland Farms’ award-winning coffee program, food production capability and private label brands, including the Farmhouse brand, to expand our capacity to offer customers competitively priced alternatives to global and regional brands,” the registration statement said.

The company began rebranding its Tom Thumb sites in Florida and Sprint sites in Georgia and South Carolina, with 68 sites completed as of April. It also converted nine recently purchased Neon stores in the Northeast. Cumberland said it is rebranding 101 Loaf ‘N Jug sites across Colorado. It is rolling out Krispy Krunchy Chicken, a well-known food service licensing program, in 40 of the rebranded Loaf ‘N Jug locations.

Debt Reduction Progresses

From 2018 to 2022, the company expanded aggressively through acquisitions, including 760 convenience stores from Kroger and 570 Cumberland Farms sites in the U.S., 540 sites from Woolworths in Australia and more than 2,000 Esso sites in Italy and Germany.

It has since divested some operations to reduce debt and invest in organic growth in key markets. From 2023 on, Cumberland Farms divested most of its U.K. business for $3 billion, sold its Italian operations for more than $450 million and divested its Australian operations for about $830 million. Its French operations are under contract to be sold for about $330 million, and the parent company is also divesting its remaining U.K. operations.

“While our near-term focus is to further reduce leverage, we expect that, where we can achieve attractive returns, we will continue to selectively expand our footprint through bolt-on acquisitions that complement our existing network and through new-to-industry store development,” the company said.

Fuel’s Importance

Cumberland said fuel has been an “important and reliable source of cash flow” for convenience store operators, “supporting continued sector growth through investments in store networks, operational improvements and enhanced consumer offerings.”

The company noted that U.S. fuel margins more than doubled over the last 15 years to 43.7cts/gal in 2025, according to NACS CSX Convenience Benchmarking Database.

Over the three months ended March 31, Cumberland said fuel represented 50% of its gross profit, versus 31% for grocery and merchandise and 10% for food service. In the first quarter, it sold 631 million gal, versus 646 million gal a year earlier. However, during Q1, its fuel gross profit was $324 million, and fuel margin was 52.3cts/gal, versus $255 million and 39.5cts/gal a year ago.

“While we expect fuel volumes in our operating geographies to decline gradually over the long term due to improved vehicle efficiency, reduced average vehicle miles traveled and increased adoption of hybrid and EVs – which will be partially offset by continued population growth, we believe scaled operators are structurally positioned to outperform and gain market share,” the company said.

Reporting by Donna Harris, dharris@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com