Good Oil, now helmed by the third generation of the family business, is celebrating 85 years in business in 2026.
The chain was founded by Don Good Sr. and his wife Mary Good, in Monterey, Ind., in 1941, and got its start as a small petroleum supplier serving local farms and homes. Their sons — Don Jr. and Dean — joined the business and developed the convenience store end of the company. They opened their first c-store in 1971 in Winamac, Ind., where the company’s headquarters are today.
That original c-store “was more of a traditional model,” said Nikki Earp, CEO of Good Oil, with a shop that included the full range of products and services customers expected at the time. From there, the brothers started slowly acquiring “a store here, a store there, as opportunities arose,” Earp said. “It just kind of grew into a life of its own naturally.”
Today, the chain operates 19 stores — 13 in Indiana, five in Ohio and one in Illinois — under the Good To Go banner. Four of the sites are full truck stops.
Earp is Don Jr.’s daughter. She officially stepped into the CEO role earlier this year but, like many next-generation leaders, she’s been active in the family business her entire life.
“I worked through high school, worked through college, came out of college, worked in the stores, did various accounting functions and different positions in the accounting department, then moved to chief financial officer and then slowly transitioned into the CEO role. It’s been a couple-year transition,” Earp said. “And I probably would say within the last year I really took a hold of the CEO role and moved into that role with my dad exiting more day-to-day (responsibilities). It was a slow transition.”
Her cousin, Wyatt Good, Dean’s son, assumed the duties of president around the same time. Like Earp, he worked at the company throughout high school and moved up through the ranks.
“I came into the business full time in 2010 … working various positions on maintenance, environmental, transportation and then transitioning into the president role, overseeing the real estate construction, still within our commercial bulk divisions and transportation,“ Good said.
Earp’s oldest daughter, Maci, who is in high school, has also entered the family business, and is currently painting curbs and doing the type of tasks that the generation before her did at her age.
Transitioning Leadership
Succession planning in a family business isn’t for the faint of heart, but Earp and Good credit their parents for setting them up for success by preparing them to lead and making the transition, which is still underway, as easy as possible.
Don Jr. and Dean are now finalizing the passing of the torch to the next generation with Don Jr. transitioning out of the president role, and Dean continuing to oversee environmental compliance but stepping back from day-to-day operations.
“They set us up for a really good foundation coming in, with a very strong, financially healthy company that allowed us to look for continued growth,” Earp said.
One of the most significant contributions of the second generation to the business has been its deep commitment to community involvement, Good pointed out.
“That was a big thing that they’ve built throughout the years — just how Good Oil has interacted with the communities and has given back, along with employees,” he said. “Even to this day, the family has a very close relationship with, not only the employees, but also the customers, and I think that’s something that they’ve instilled in Nikki and I. …”
The key to keeping a family-owned c-store chain successful across three generations and counting goes back to surrounding yourself with great people, Earp noted.
“You can’t build anything if you don’t have a strong support team (where) you support them and they support you and build long-lasting relationships with your customers. We have employees that have been with us over 30-some years. One of them used to tuck me into bed at night when I visited her daughter. So, you have those trustworthy people that help you along the way,” Earp said.
Knowing your customers is also key, she said. “I’ve known some of the customers since I was in elementary school, and they met my daughter when she was a baby, and now she’s painting their gas stations, so it’s fun to watch.”
Those close relationships with team members and customers make the business successful and worthwhile, she added.
Earp and Good’s advice to other members of family-owned businesses is to be patient with each other and plan proactively for the future.
“Start early and have conversations to set expectations, (such as) what those roles look like and timelines,” Earp said. “Don’t be scared to get outside help to help push that progress along.”
Good concurred that it’s important to have tough conversations. “Those are easy to avoid in family businesses. Nobody wants to hurt anybody’s feelings, but you know those tough conversations are part of it,” he said. “Get those processes and policies in place that help guide everybody to avoid any type of conflict or rub points that may arise. Get those things in place ahead of time, so everybody knows the expectations.”
Good also credits his family’s practice of requiring family members to begin at the ground level and work their way up through the business in setting them up for a successful transition into leadership.
“You understand all areas because you’ve done it, and you can relate to the employees when they have something that arises. You can have those conversations and help them work through it, because you understand it,” Good said.
Celebrating 85 Years
Being able to lead the company her grandparents started as it celebrates its 85th anniversary milestone “means the world to me,” Earp said. “I feel incredibly blessed to have this opportunity that a lot of people don’t get (to have). … I’ve never wanted to do anything else. There’s nothing else in the world I’d rather be doing than doing this and creating the opportunity for Wyatt’s and my kids to continue that tradition and have those same opportunities that we were lucky enough to be afforded,” she said.
While Good Oil’s actual anniversary was May 15, it’s celebrating its 85th anniversary in July. “We wanted to get through some of the rainier weather, so that we can do some fun stuff with the customers,” Earp said. That includes a number of giveaways.
“We’re going to be giving away tons of points on our loyalty cards,” Earp said. “There’s a lot of drawings for $85 on your loyalty cards throughout mostly July and August.”
Marketing Director Lynn Wood has created Good To Go’s 85th birthday cake design, and individual-sized cakes featuring the design are available for sale in the stores this July.
All employees are receiving 85th anniversary shirts to help celebrate.
A New Look
With 85 years under its belt and a new generation leading the way forward, Good To Go is preparing to grow under an updated brand image and store design.
In May of last year, Good Oil acquired five Big Mike’s c-stores in Ohio, which it rebranded to its Good To Go banner, increasing its retail presence in the Midwest by 33%. Good To Go also has about five new builds on the docket that are scheduled to open within the next one to two years, which will boost its retail presence by another 26%.
The chain is now planning to standardize its store design going forward after growing to 19 stores primarily through small acquisitions.
“We liked what the Big Mike’s stores offered over in Ohio, as far as the footprint and the layout on some of those facilities,” Good said. “We are going to look at incorporating some of that into our store models going forward and, more or less, have a cookie-cutter layout and design based off of the market and what we feel those volumes are or (the revenue) that store is going to generate.”
The five new builds on the schedule are expected to measure around 4,800 square feet.
Good To Go recently launched a new logo and is in the process of finalizing a new interior design that it plans to introduce with its upcoming new builds and then roll out to its legacy stores.
“We worked with an outside marketing company and re-imaged our logo, so that will be coming to the stores soon,” Earp noted. “We haven’t realized the (interior design) theme yet, but it’s going to be a pretty cool interior design, something that’s going to differentiate us a little bit and that will probably be starting with those new stores — we’re almost there with it,” Earp said.
In the forecourt, Good To Go partners with a range of gas brands, including BP, CITGO, Phillips 66, Marathon and Shell. It also features Good To Go-branded diesel at its four truck stops.
The chain also operates four car washes on its c-store properties, and it plans to add electric vehicle (EV) charging to a location on I-65 within the next year.
“With that location, it could be helpful (to have EV) being right off the interstate. We’re trying to provide the customers with the services they need. We have two foodservice offerings (at that site), so it would just be a convenient place for them to stop,” Earp said.
Good To Go Café
Foodservice is a high priority for the chain. Good To Go features a proprietary hand-breaded chicken offering at five locations, while all other sites feature a more traditional c-store proprietary food menu. Both food programs operate under the name Good To Go Café. The traditional c-store menu includes a wide variety of items, including hamburgers, egg rolls, stuffed jalapeños and cheese sticks, prepared in house. Two locations also feature Subway franchises.
“One of the most popular menu items at Good To Go stores with the chicken program is the hand-breaded fish. “That’s a staple that a lot of people like, and shockingly we bread livers and gizzards, and people actually are so excited that those are there,” Earp said.
At the other stores, egg rolls are a crowd favorite, including with team members. “Our accounting team goes up for breakfast egg rolls in the morning,” Earp added.
Customers can order ahead and pick up their order in-store, or at eight sites they can go through the drive-thru.
The five stores acquired in Ohio feature full drive-thrus. “You pull into like a garage and your whole vehicle is covered,” Earp explained. The chain also has three traditional drive-thrus. Customers can order anything the store offers through the drive-thrus.
“Most of our stores are in rural communities and don’t have delivery drivers,” Earp explained, making the drive-thru an even more convenient option for shoppers.
Special Departments
Given Good To Go’s community-rooted approach, it’s no surprise that some stores have a section where guests can find local products, such as honey.
“For example, in Frankfurt, Ind., Glover’s Ice Cream, is owned by a family from Frankfurt, so we sell their ice cream, do some customized local favorites,” Earp said.
That emphasis on local preferences extends beyond just product selection. The chain’s Bedford Park site in Illinois, for example, features casino gaming machines.
Tech Focus
Good To Go is also committed to keeping up with technology trends. The chain features a loyalty program, mobile app and self-checkout kiosks.
Good To Go’s My Good Rewards program has been a main focus this past year for the chain’s marketing director, Lynn Wood, who has been building out the program and better integrating it within the Good To Go Rewards app complete with specials and gaming. The effort has resulted in a 231% increase in loyalty redemptions in the past year and a basket size increase of $3.39.
When customers opt-in to the My Good Rewards loyalty program, every transaction results in points that can be redeemed in-store. For example, customers earn two points per gallon on fuel and two points per dollar spent in-store. Plus, loyalty customers can participate in various club programs to earn free items. Loyalty customers can also take advantage of exclusive promotions — such as $5.99 for two pieces of chicken, a drink and chips — that are updated every two months.
Good To Go’s self-checkout kiosks feature “a flip screen,” Earp explained. “If we’re staffed, we’d like to wait on the customers and have that interaction, but if for some reason we’re short staffed or something’s going on, we can flip the screen and turn it to a self-checkout, and keep the customers moving.”
Three stores use the self-checkout option regularly, but all locations have the capability.
Growing Forward
As Good Oil looks ahead to the next 85 years, it’s poised for continued expansion.
“We’re growing in multiple different avenues,” Earp said. “We have our distribution growth. There continue to be a lot of opportunities for us to help with that, whether it be commercial off the bulk plant or to other gas stations as a supplier. We really have a good team and are adding staff in that department for continued growth and new markets. We are still growing in the retail channel as well, with those land acquisitions that we’ve made, and will continue to grow.”
Good oversees the transportation end of the business where, over the last two years, Good Oil has acquired additional carriers. “One carrier that we purchased, they’re also a jobber so … we not only got their freight business, but we also picked up some additional gallons there for selling and hauling,” Good said.
The company has also established itself as a reliable carrier service-wise for outside suppliers. “Traditionally, a lot of the gallons that we hauled were just our company gallons and, over the recent years, we’re now hauling for other jobbers, other suppliers and hauling ethanol, which has really grown our transportation division,” Good said.
Today, company supplies fuel to 150 gas station sites. “Those are Good Oil customers’ stores,” Good explained. On top of that, the transportation division handles additional distribution, including to farm accounts, factories, school corporations and other businesses.
When it comes to Good Oil’s c-store business, Earp said her goal is to “seize every opportunity that we’re given. (That means), obviously in the near-term adding more retail stores along with other customers for distribution and helping service them long-term. It’s making sure we are staying up with the trends and remaining viable no matter what the changes in the industry bring, so that we have secure jobs for our entire staff, and that we’re ready to make the changes that are necessary as things come up.”
As it grows, Good Oil is committed to the community values and family-oriented company culture that have brought it to where it is today.
“There’s a lot of companies out there where people are just kind of a number to the business, and that’s not us,” Good said. “Whether it’s a driver or staff at the store, we know them by name, and they know us by name. We go in and we have that personal relationship with them.”
“People are very important to us, both customers and employees,” Earp said. “We have a very open-door policy, where … Wyatt and I are accessible to the employees and talk to them on a daily basis, from the boots on the ground in the store and up. And that’s a very important concept that came from the founder, our grandpa Don. That’s how he was, and that’s how we want our culture to continue to be.”
She added, “It’s a really exciting time in our company, and we’re extremely grateful for everybody that’s been part of this journey with us.”
