Kum & Go: A Fresh Perspective
August 6, 2022
Kum & Go was established by William A. Krause and Tony S. Gentle in 1959. Currently, they operate 406 stores in 11 states.
Founded by William A. Krause and Tony S. Gentle, who established the Hampton Oil Company in 1959, Hampton Oil eventually became the Krause Gentle Corporation, and is today a part of Krause Group.
In 1963, the company’s first convenience stores were introduced. The stores offered both fuel and merchandise.
To unify the company’s assortment under a single brand name, the Kum & Go name was adopted in 1975.
Kum & Go is a play on the phrase, “come and go,” using the initials of the founders, Krause and Gentle.
In 1988, Krause Gentle moved the company’s corporate headquarters to West Des Moines.
In the late 1990s, Kum & Go went through a rapid expansion, building new stores and acquiring stores from chains such as 7-Eleven, QuikTrip and Git’n’ Go and converting them all to Kum & Go stores.
In the late 2000s, Kum & Go auctioned off more than 40 of its smaller stores to focus on building larger stores ranging in size from 3,600 to 5,000 square feet (460 m2).
In 2010 the company announced a major expansion of 100 stores throughout the Midwest and included Kansas for the first time.
In June, 2011, Kum & Go sold twenty-two stores, allowing for reinvestment in other stores, as well as helping to drive long-term growth.
On June 1, 2018, Kum & Go named family member, Tanner Krause, as president, with his father, CEO and President Kyle Krause, becoming chairman and CEO. Tanner was a fourth-generation family member.
In 2018, Kum & Go moved its headquarters to the Krause Gateway Center in downtown Des Moines, Iowa.
Forbes magazine ranked Kum & Go 178th on the list of the largest private companies in the United States.
In 2022, Kum & Go announced it would be opening 20 to 25 stores in the Boise metropolitan area.
Gloria Sauvé
Communications and Marketing