Quebec champion and world leader with a strong presence in the United States and Scandinavia, Alimentation Couche-Tard has established itself as the industry’s leading model. Its phenomenal growth and a series of major acquisitions has propelled it to the world’s largest retailers.
The Couche-Tard brand is now only maintained in Quebec under a company-operated stores model. As for its two other banners, 7 Jours and Provi-Soir, they operate under an affiliated store program.
Type of Franchise*
Couche-Tard conducts its convenience store business through two main types of business models, as set out below.
1) Company-Operated Stores.
Couche-Tard has 576 company-operated stores in its Quebec network. All of the company-operated stores in Québec are employee-operated. For employee-operated stores, Couche-Tard is responsible for store operations, owns the equipment, systems and inventory and employs salaried staff. For the few dealer-operated stores of its network, Couche-Tard owns the equipment, inventory and systems and the independent store operator employs the staff, agrees to operate according to Couche-Tard’s standards and is paid a commission based primarily on store revenues to manage the store.
2) Affiliated Store Program.
Couche-Tard’s affiliated store program includes franchise arrangements and license arrangements.
a) Franchised Stores. Couche-Tard’s network has one franchised store in Canada (Provi-Soir). Franchised stores are operated by independent store operators who have entered into a franchise agreement, which typically provides for an upfront franchise fee and/or royalties based primarily on sales to be paid to Couche-Tard. The franchisee typically owns the real property or leases it from third parties and owns all other assets related to the business. The franchisee is responsible for managing the store, hiring and managing staff and maintaining inventory through supply agreements with authorized suppliers.
b) Licensed Stores. Couche-Tard’s licensed stores network is comprised of 418 stores (7 Jours banner) operated under license agreements in Québec that are owned and operated by independent store operators. The licensee typically owns the real property or leases it from third parties and owns all other assets related to the business. The licensee enters into a license agreement with Couche-Tard to use one of Couche-Tard’s proprietary banners and agrees to buy merchandise from certain suppliers in order to benefit from more profitable prices from vendors as negotiated by Couche-Tard. The revenues from licensed stores include license fees and/or a portion of the vendor rebates related to the licensee’s purchases that are paid to Couche-Tard.
*Source: Couche-Tard 2011 Annual Information Form
Network Profile
| Irving (123) Esso (117) Couche-Tard (62) Petro-Canada (32) Ultramar (32) Pétro-T (10) Shell (6), Sonic (4), etc. |
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| Shell (3) Pétro-T (2) Sonic (2) Crevier (2), etc. |
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| Pétro-T (2) Crevier (1) |
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| Couche-Tard (62) | |||||
Banners & brands
Corporate profile
| Nom: | Alimentation Couche-Tard |
|---|---|
| Ranking (chains): | 1st of 20 |
| Ranking (c-stores): | 1st of 17 |
| Total surfaces in Qc: | 1 079 |
| Description: | Integrated retailer, distributor and franchisor |
| Foundation date: | 1980 by Alain Bouchard in Laval |
| Number of employees in Qc: | 4,733 |
| Number of employees total: | 99,000 |
| Main Executives: | Alain Bouchard, Chairman of the Board Brian Hannash, President & CEO Francis Lapointe, Operations Director, Eastern Canada |
| Head Office: | Laval |
| Installations: | Distribution Center managing 2,600 skus in Laval. |
| Website: | Alimentation Couche-Tard |
| Facebook Page: | Couche-Tard on Facebook |