California-based Loop Neighborhood Marketplace and its sister brand, Poppy Market, are entering a new phase of strategic growth following their recent acquisition of National Petroleum.
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Early Beginnings
Loop Neighborhood’s parent company Vintners Distributors was founded in 1978 by Nick Goyal, an engineer who transitioned into the retail fueling business. He was soon joined by his brothers Raj, Kris and Raman Goyal, and together they quickly grew the company to 31 stores.
By 2010, Vintners Distributors had grown to 47 locations and capitalized on an opportunity to enter a joint venture with Shell. Winning the bid significantly accelerated the company’s expansion, bringing its footprint to 130 locations under the AU Energy banner — a partnership between Vintners Distributors and Shell Oil, with Shell fuel featured on the forecourts.
In June 2013, the company officially launched the Loop Neighborhood brand (through the AU Energy joint venture), when the very first Loop location opened its doors in Northern California
As the business evolved, so did the company’s leadership. Nick Goyal’s sons — Varish, Sunny and Kpish — joined the business. Following Nick’s passing in 2018, his son Varish Goyal stepped into the role of CEO. Sunny Goyal serves as vice president, and Kpish Goyal is the company’s general counsel.
Now the third generation of the family business is beginning to step in. Raman Goyal’s daughter works in the human resources department, while two other family members are finishing college. “There are certain hurdles in order to get into the family business, and they’re working through that, and then ultimately, hopefully they’ll join the company,” Pir said.
Loop Neighborhood launched the Poppy Market banner in early 2023, with its first location debuting in March 2023 near Arbuckle, Calif. Today, Loop operates 153 company-owned and operated stores today, 26 in Southern California and 127 in Northern California.
Fifteen of the sites operate under the Poppy Market banner, while 138 operate under the Loop Neighborhood banner.
Going forward, the company is focused on growing both banners.
“If we have the opportunity, we’ll grow both,” explained Pervez Pir, director of retail operations for Loop Neighborhood. “But Poppy Market is something we jumped into, and we think it has a lot of legs for the future, so maybe there’s a little bit more weight on that.”
Expanding Via Acquisition & New Builds
In May, Loop announced the acquisition of National Petroleum, adding 11 c-stores to its portfolio that will be converted to the Poppy Market banner. The deal also brought more than 100 dealer sites into Loop’s fuel network under the National Petroleum brand.
One site has already transitioned to Poppy Market, with two larger sites to follow shortly.
The remaining locations will undergo renovations starting next quarter, pending permit approvals that will allow the chain to expand some of the smaller locations.
The Poppy Market stores are predominantly new-to-industry (NTI) sites and are congregated in the Bay area.
“We are trying to build more NTIs in rural areas where there’s a need for neighborhood stores,” Pir said. “We will take over any Shell sites that we can acquire in the Bay Area. … We’re trying to build that corridor going from Lake Tahoe, and then from Pismo all the way to Southern California — that would be an ideal scenario for us from a logistics and operations standpoint. …”
Store sizes for Loop and Poppy Market range from 2,500 to 3,900 square feet, with a smaller format “Little Loop” banner for footprints under 2,000 square feet. All formats feature modern layouts with low gondolas so it’s easy to see across the store. The stores include night windows for safety, allowing a cashier to lock the doors and serve customers via the window, if they are alone.
Food is a big focus for the company across both banners, and the foodservice area in the stores feature white subway tiles, offering a clean, fresh appearance. Poppy Market stores typically include a kitchen. Loop features an orange color pallet while Poppy Market distinguishes itself with red.
While Shell remains the dominant fuel partner, the company also operates some Chevron, 76, National and proprietary fuel sites.
“Why we’re heavily weighted on Poppy a bit more as we grow or acquire is because we want to really get into the private label fuel, and that’s Poppy fuel. We find a lot of benefits doing that. A lot of people have realized the quality of the fuel is not compromised with having a lower price,” Pir noted of the Poppy fuel brand.
Car Wash & EV
Car wash is a key growth pillar for Loop, now the chain’s No. 2 strategic focus. The company currently operates around 90 car washes and is rolling out a new brand name, “Mr. Bubbles,” across all sites.
While most sites currently feature rollover washes, Loop is expanding its investment in conveyor systems, which can wash 50–60 cars in the same time a rollover wash handles 12.
Two new conveyor sites are already open, with more under construction.
Though constrained by space and zoning regulations, Loop has about three sites that offer electric vehicle (EV) charging and sees this as a priority going forward.
“If we have a big enough property or land, yes, we will put in EV, but it’s very difficult in the majority of sites because … there’s certain regulations that require you to have X amount of parking spots for the customer, and if you put EV on a smaller lot, and people start parking at your pump, that can hurt the business,” Pir explained.
Foodservice & Private Label
Loop’s proprietary food brand, “Crunchy Munchy,” is offered at 10 locations with full kitchens. Menu favorites include fried chicken, tenders, chicken sandwiches, and classic sides like mac and cheese and biscuits.
“The chicken sandwich is usually the most popular,” Pir said. “The tenders are the probably the next most popular. … We have a big hot case with chicken and sides. And you could come in and make a box and pick what you’d like, but you could also say, ‘I want to make it to order.’ And you could wait a little bit, and we’ll make it for you.”
The chain is also in the process of working on a new foodservice brand that it is currently testing. Stores that don’t have a kitchen feature a grab-and-go deli cases as well as warmers with wings, tornados, jalapeño poppers and other hot food. The chain also features spam musubi, which is being expanded to more locations.
Loop also features a private-label brand called Delish that includes products such as candy, snacks, wine and alkaline and regular water.
“We also just launched tote coolers … and there are other things being worked on like motor oil as well,” Pir said. “We’re trying to continue to expand. We see a lot of benefits having private label.”
Pir added that private label has come a long way over the years, including customer perception of private label products.
“Customers don’t see (private label) as only a value brand, but a quality brand that allows them to save money without compromising the quality,” Pir said. “And, of course, you get the halo effect from others doing it as well and expanding.”
He added that both during COVID-19 and the industry-wide supply chain issues that followed, private label was been helpful in reducing out-of-stock issues, because the chain was able to have its private label products ready to fill holes left by out-of-stock brands.
Technology Focused
Loop features a loyalty program called Loopback Rewards and a mobile app.
“It’s been in place for several years. Customers can earn four points for every dollar they spend in stores, and two points for every gallon they fill,” Pir said.
Loyalty members can redeem their points for anything in-store or for gas discounts.
Loopback members also receive special pricing throughout the store, as well as discounts for buying a car wash.
“In addition to getting 20 cents off a gallon when you buy a car wash, you’ll also get, like $1 off (as a) Loopback member,” Pir explained.
Last year, the chain also started a car wash subscription program though the app.
“That’s been going really well for us, and people are signing up and enjoy having that versus just buying one off car wash,” Pir said.
Customers also have the option of purchasing individual car washes via the app. The chain also runs a number of promotions through the app, including concert giveaways. What’s more, the app has an employee interface that Loop uses to communicate with its team members.
The loyalty engine for Loop and Poppy Market is the same, but the colors — red for Poppy, orange for Loop — are different. At Poppy Market, the program runs under the “Poppy Points” name.
Beyond loyalty, Loop is experimenting with self-checkout. The chain is no stranger to the technology having been one of the early adopters of self-checkout in the industry before it canceled the program. But its initial pilot left the chain with a number of learnings, including what it would need to do to make a self-checkout program more successful in the future.
With those learnings under its belt, the chain is now piloting a new self-checkout system in one location.
“We think this might have legs,” Pir said.
He pointed out that often self-checkout programs don’t integrate with a convenience store’s fuel, car wash or loyalty program. The self-checkout Loop is currently testing, allows it to integrate with all three, so the chain has high hopes it’s found the right fit this time around. It was also important to Loop that the self-checkout kiosks accepted cash as opposed to only credit cards to accommodate cash-only shoppers.
Pir noted it can be challenging to be able to generate enough manpower to have a dedicated self-checkout attendant. Today, Loop has the self-checkouts facing its associates so they can help if needed, for example, if there’s an age restricted product that needs an ID check.
“It’s the proximity to the existing point-of-sale area and having a recycler or cash … that we think might make us successful, as well as integration with loyalty,” Pir said. “So it’s early still. It’s in testing.”
Given that Loop is based in Silicon Valley, it’s no stranger to testing new technology.
Currently it’s piloting artificial intelligence (AI) technology that uses microphones to detect keywords used in interactions in-store, allowing the chain to identify opportunities, or detect out-of-stocks or other issues in real-time and improve the customer experience.
Another area the chain is exploring is planogram integrity.
“Today, when creating schematics and then executing at an operational level, it can be a lot of work using paper or a picture to make sure your integrity is there with the planogram,” Pir said. “It’ll be much easier if you just take a picture and the system tells you what’s out of place based on your planogram. So that’s the next thing I’m looking at.”
Long-Term Growth
2025 has been a strong year of growth so far for Loop in terms of expanding its footprint, most notably through the National Petroleum acquisition.
“We’re continuing to get more opportunities to bid on things, and we’ve gotten more aggressive, but in the past and continuing forward, NTI seems to be where we’re really focused,” Pir explained.
At the end of the day, Pir noted that Loop views itself as a real estate company.
“We own most of our sites, and so it’s easier for us sometimes to do NTI, even though city permitting can be a challenge,” Pir said. “Going out with our brokers and finding the land is exciting, and we’ll continue to do it. But absolutely, if we want to hit our numbers to try to grow faster, we need acquisitions. It’s always been a challenge finding the right one that makes financial sense, but this year seems to be very fruitful, so we’ll continue to do acquisitions as they present themselves.”
When it comes to growth through NTIs, the chain has a standing goal of about eight to 10 stores per year but has been completing about four to five due to delays with city approval and permitting. The company aspires to reach six to eight new builds in 2026.
“We have the manpower and the ability, and I think we can still find really good sites, but we have to go further out. It’s just getting through the bureaucracy to go faster,” Pir said.
Culture & Community
Culture is a core pillar of Loop’s success, and it strives to continue to build a company that is one of the best places to work.
Pir noted that the chain treats its employees like family and offers a range of perks to help it further attract and retain team members.
For example, Loop offers employees generous fuel discounts based on tenure. Employees who have been with Loop for one to three years receive a fuel discount of 10 cents per gallon. Those with three to five years of service receive 30 cents off per gallon, and team members with five or more years of tenure enjoy a 40-cent-per-gallon discount.
“That goes a long way for a lot of our employees,” Pir said.
Employees also receive free car washes every week, and the chain also runs a number of internal promotions specifically for team members. The company promotes from within when possible and looks at how it can help employees move forward in their careers. It launched an internship program three years ago where it offers paid internships to local college students during the summer.
“At the end, they present their project to the executive team, and if we find they are promising, we will make them an offer, so when they graduate, they have a job,” Pir said. Loop celebrates employee anniversaries with bonuses, provides free dental and vision insurance and paid holidays.
The company takes pride in giving back to the communities it serves. It began its giving program in 2013 and has already given away more than $650,000 to local causes. Core beneficiaries include Cal Fire and local law enforcement, with rotating monthly partnerships like Special Olympics and veterans’ organizations.
“This company has come a very long way,” Pir said. He credited the team that makes up the organization as the driver for the company’s success and continued growth.
“I know I truly enjoy working at this organization,” he said. “I feel it’s the same for our employees, and we hope to continue to grow and acquire and get bigger.”
