YATCO CELEBRATES 30 YEARS

Yatco, a second-generation, family-owned c-store chain, eyes expansion through acquisitions, new-toindustry stores and a franchising program, while updating its look and investing in technology.

industry stores and a

Erin Del Conte • Editor-in-Chief

Company

As Yatco celebrates 30 years in business, the family-owned, second-generation c-store chain has aggressive plans to double its company-operated stores and grow its franchising program. The Marlborough, Mass.-based company is currently building four new-to-industry (NTI) stores, updating its exterior branding and investing in technology from mobile payment to self-checkout kiosks.

“Currently, we are in a build phase,” said Hassan Yatim (pictured left), chief operating officer and a second-generation member of Yatco, which operates 13 c-stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Yatim’s parents, Tarek and Khadijeh Yatim, co-founded Yatco. Tarek helms the company as CEO and knows exactly what he wants when it comes to building stores today.

“He’s 30 years in the business, and building stores is what he loves to do at this point; finding prime estate, building beautiful stores with beautiful foodservice and quick-service restaurants available,” Yatim said.

30 YEARS OF GROWTH

Yatco can trace its roots to the early 1990s when Tarek and Khadijeh immigrated to the U.S. to escape civil war in Sierra Leone, Africa.

“When they were in Sierra Leone, my (paternal) grandfather owned a little wholesale business. When he passed away, my dad had to take it over to support his family when he was 16,” Yatim said. Tarek’s two older brothers were in the U.S. at the time, studying at Suffolk University in Boston.

As the civil war broke out in Sierra Leone, Tarek and Khadijeh married.

“My eldest brother, Mohamed, was born in Africa. (My father) had to send my mother to Lebanon during the war while she was pregnant, and she had to give birth there to the second brother, Hussein,” Yatim said.

In 1991, the family immigrated to the U.S., and moved to the Roslindale neighborhood in Boston.

“There, my parents’ work history started in retail,” Yatim said. “My mom was working at a Dunkin’ making about $4 an hour.”

His father found work at a gas station in Boston pumping gas for customers at a full-service station.

But it wasn’t long before they set out to create a business of their own.

In 1993, they acquired an abandoned Exxon gas station on Lincoln Street in Worcester, Mass., and worked in the store 16 to 18 hours a day to grow it into a successful business. One year later, the Yatims opened a second store in Worcester, on Park Ave., and then a third in Marlborough, Mass.

“They just kept working and building, and my dad’s brothers got involved at the second and third acquisitions, and the company just kept growing from there,” Yatim said.

The family formed Yatco Distribution in 2012 to supply its fuel locations as well as external customers in the New England market.

The company’s first NTI store was built in Norfolk, Mass., around 2013.

In 2021, the chain expanded into Connecticut when it acquired a single store there, and in October 2022, it grew its footprint into Rhode Island with the acquisition of a site in Chepachet, R.I.

Three years ago, the family restructured the business. Yatim’s uncles exited the company, leaving Tarek, Khadijeh and their three sons as the primary business owners.

Top left: Tarek Yatim, CEO of Yatco, and his wife Khadijeh Yatim, who handles human resources for the chain, co-founded Yatco in 1993.

Bottom right: Brothers Hussein, Hassan and Mohamed represent the second generation of the family business.

Today, Khadijeh handles talent acquisition and oversees human resources. Hussein, the middle brother, is the vice president of marketing. Mohamed, the eldest brother, is a principal engineer at Boston Scientific but still finds time to help with the family business.

“He’s written a lot of our policies — our dress code policies, the onboarding handbook — that have helped keep us in compliance,” Yatim said.

Yatim started helping out with the family business during the summers starting when he was only 12 years old.

“I gained a mastery level understanding of a point of sale and a cash register at that time,” he said.

Even though he went on to gain a degree in chemical engineering from Northeastern University, Yatim always expected he would work in the family business one day.

“I got my MBA from Northeastern as well. Working in gas stations and convenience stores was always in the family blood, from both of my grandfathers down to us.

Yatim officially joined Yatco as chief operating officer after finishing his MBA in 2021.