FJ Management Inc.,http://www.flyingj.com/flyingjPortalWebProject/flyingjPortal.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=flyingjPortal_portal_page_26_page_27&_subpage=21 formerly known as Flying J Inc., is a

privately held A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...

American

corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

which operates convenience stores (under the Maverik brand), oil and refining, banking, and insurance businesses. Along with

Pilot Corporation A pilot is a person who flies or navigates an aircraft. Pilot or The Pilot may also refer to: Common meanings * Maritime pilot, a person who guides ships through hazardous waters * Television pilot, a television episode used to sell a series to ...

and

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of c ...

, it was a joint-owner of

Pilot Flying J Pilot Travel Centers LLC, trade name, doing business as Pilot Flying J, is a North American chain of truck stops in the United States and Canada. The company is based in Knoxville, Tennessee. The company is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The comp ...

, the largest

truck stop A truck stop (known as a service station in the United Kingdom, a travel center by major chains in the United States and a roadhouse in rural Australia) is a commercial facility which provides refueling, rest (parking), and often ready-made f ...

chain in the United States.

History

The company was founded in 1968 by O. Jay Call and headquartered in

Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...

. A lifelong fan of

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

, Call named it Flying J in honor of the aviation industry. Mr. Call, Richard "Buzz" Germer and his wife Ilene, died while piloting a

Cessna Citation The Cessna Citation is a family of business jets manufactured by Cessna that entered service in 1972. In the fifty years following the type's first flight in 1969, more than 7,500 Citations were delivered, forming the largest business jet flee ...

en route to Sun Valley in March 2003. The company ranked 13th on ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' 2009 list of the largest privately held companies in the U.S.with 2008 revenues of approximately $18.00 billion. It sought Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy protection in December 2008, blaming its financial woes on the collapse in oil prices and tighter credit markets. Pre-bankruptcy, Flying J was the largest retailer of

diesel fuel Diesel fuel, also called diesel oil, heavy oil (historically) or simply diesel, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a re ...

in North America with approximately 220 locations in the United States and Canada and 15,000 employees. The company produces and refines

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

products for its truck stops. The company also offers vehicle

maintenance The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

and

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

services for the trucking industry, and a number of

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

s at its locations. The company had record sales for a privately held company in the industry of $18.0 billion in 2008, but later climbing prices for crude oil and a crumbling demand for gasoline eroded margins and affected cash flow. The company's plans for travel plazas have occasionally met opposition from local residents concerned about

traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

safety and other issues. In 2006 Flying J associated with Shell Canada to improve highway services in Canada.

Pilot merger

In July 2009,

Pilot Travel Centers Pilot Travel Centers LLC, trade name, doing business as Pilot Flying J, is a North American chain of truck stops in the United States and Canada. The company is based in Knoxville, Tennessee. The company is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The comp ...

agreed to acquire Flying J's travel stops. As part of the deal, Pilot will keep the Flying J name on existing locations as opposed to converting them to the Pilot brand, while the in-house Flying J restaurants will be replaced by national chains like

Denny's Denny's (also known as Denny's Diner on some locations' signage) is an American table service diner-style restaurant chain. It operates over 1,400 Restaurant, restaurants in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and several other internationa ...

. The merged entity is called

. In June 2010, Flying J put forth a Chapter 11 plan to repay all creditors in full from the proceeds of the sale of its 250 travel plazas to Pilot, for a combination of cash and stock valued at $1.6 billion. Under Flying J's plan, its lenders and creditors will be paid in cash, and its owners, whose numbers include members of the company's founding Call family, will retain all the equity in a scaled-down Flying J. As of July 2010, hearings on the plan continue under Judge Mary F. Walrath of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Flying J's oil and refining, banking, and insurance businesses will remain separate from the combined Pilot Flying J. To avoid confusion with the merged travel center business, Flying J Inc. renamed itself ''FJ Management Inc.''. Since the merger, Pilot Flying J has continued to open new locations with the Flying J name (in addition to the Pilot name), bringing in locations with the Flying J brand that had no association with the legacy Flying J before the merger. To settle

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

concerns, six Flying J locations as well as 20 Pilot locations were sold to

Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores Love's Travel Stops, doing business as Love's (or stylized as Loves), is an American family-owned and -operated chain of more than 650 truck stops in 42 states in the United States. The company is privately owned and headquartered in Oklahoma ...

on June 30, 2010. On October 3, 2017, it was announced that

would acquire a 38.6% stake in Pilot Flying J, with plans to increase the stake to 80% by 2023. The Haslam family's stake will be reduced to 20% at that time, while FJ Management will sell its stake altogether.

Re-entry into convenience store market

On October 4, 2012, FJ Management re-entered the

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

market with its purchase of Maverik Inc., a gas station/convenience store chain headquartered in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

. The company was founded in 1928 by Jay Call's uncle, Reuel Call, in

Afton, Wyoming Afton is a town in Lincoln County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 2,172 at the 2020 census. Afton is home to the world's largest arch made of elk antlers. Spanning across the four lanes of U.S. Highway 89, the arch, completed in ...

. In April 2023, FJ Management acquired

Kum & Go Kum & Go, L.C. is a convenience store chain primarily located in the Midwestern United States. Started by William A. Krause and Tony S. Gentle, the company is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa and operates 400 stores in 13 states—primarily in ...

and Solar Transport from Krause Group. In May 2024, Maverik announced plans to open its first

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

location in Edgerton. As of October 2024, Maverik has more than 400 locations across 13 states, making it the largest independent fuel marketer in the

Intermountain West The Intermountain West, or Intermountain Region, is a geographic and geological region of the Western United States. It is located between the Rocky Mountain Front on the east and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada on the west. Topography ...

References

External links

* {{authority control, state=expanded Privately held companies based in Utah Companies based in Ogden, Utah Truck stop chains Automotive fuel retailers Gas stations in the United States Gas stations in Canada 1968 establishments in Utah Retail companies established in 1928 Restaurants established in 1928 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008 Convenience stores of the United States