Type: Public
On the web: http://www.couche-tard.qc.ca
Employees: 53,000
Employee growth: 0.0%

Alimentation Couche-Tard can gas up you and your car on both sides of the US-Canada border. It's the second-largest convenience store operator in North America and the leader in Canada with some 5,875 outlets: Couche-Tard in Québec; Mac's in central and western Canada; and more than 3,800-plus Circle K shops in about 40 US states. (It bought the Circle K chain in the US from ConocoPhillips in 2003.) More than 75% of its sales are rung up in the US. Alimentation Couche-Tard, French for "food for those who go to bed late," sells gas at more than two-thirds of its stores. The fast-growing company acquired about 40 convenience stores from ExxonMobil in 2009 and abandoned a hostile bid for Casey's General Stores.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending April, 2011:
Sales: $18,965.9M
One year growth: 15.4%
Net income: $370.1M
Income growth: 22.2%

Officers:
Chairman: Richard Fortin
President, CEO, and Director: Alain Bouchard
COO: Brian P. Hannasch

Competitors:
7-Eleven
Exxon Mobil
Royal Dutch Shell

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