Gas Stations & Convenience Stores

Fuel supply agreements lock operators into long term volume commitments, pricing formulas, and brand standards, often for a decade or more. When fuel margins compress or a supplier fails to perform, the supply agreement determines whether the operator has room to move or is trapped in an unprofitable arrangement.

We review and negotiate fuel supply and branding agreements before operators sign: volume commitments, pricing and rebate structures, brand image requirements, exclusivity terms, and exit provisions. For operators already under contract, we assess options when suppliers underperform or terms have become unworkable.

• Long term volume commitments that outlast market conditions
• Pricing formula and rebate disputes with suppliers
• Brand image and upgrade obligations with unclear cost allocation
• Termination and de-branding provisions with heavy penalties

Whether an operator owns the ground or leases it, the site is the business. Gas station real estate carries obligations that ordinary commercial property does not: underground storage tanks, environmental conditions, access and signage rights, and lease terms that interact with fuel supply commitments.

We handle purchases, sales, and leases of station and store sites: negotiating purchase agreements with appropriate environmental protections, reviewing leases for terms that conflict with supply agreements, and structuring transactions so environmental history is accounted for before closing rather than discovered after it.

• Environmental due diligence gaps in site purchases
• Lease obligations that conflict with fuel supply commitments
• Underground storage tank ownership and compliance responsibility
• Access, signage, and easement disputes affecting the site

Station operators answer to a stack of regulators: underground storage tank programs, petroleum cleanup rules, stormwater requirements, and state environmental agencies. Compliance failures produce fines, cleanup liability, and complications that can freeze a future sale of the site.

We advise operators on environmental compliance obligations, respond to agency notices and enforcement actions, and manage the legal side of tank upgrades, closures, and discharge incidents. When operators buy or sell sites with contamination history, we structure the deal around the cleanup status and available state programs.

• Storage tank registration, testing, and upgrade obligations
• Discharge incidents and petroleum cleanup program participation
• Agency enforcement notices and penalty assessments
• Contamination discovered during site transactions

Convenience operations depend on licenses: alcohol, tobacco, lottery, and food service. A single failed compliance check on age restricted sales can put a license, and the revenue tied to it, at risk. License issues also surface at the worst possible moments, during transfers, renewals, and store sales.

We help operators obtain, maintain, and transfer the licenses their stores depend on, defend against administrative actions after compliance violations, and build the employee policies and training documentation that regulators expect to see when violations occur.

• Administrative actions after failed age verification checks
• License transfer complications in store purchases and sales
• Lottery and alcohol license renewal and compliance conditions
• Employee training and policy documentation gaps

High traffic sites open around the clock generate premises claims: slip and falls, fuel island incidents, security claims, and vehicle damage allegations. Operators without a documented safety and response program pay more to resolve claims that better documentation would have contained.

We defend operators against premises liability claims and help them build the incident documentation, camera retention, and maintenance records that make claims defensible. We also review policies and vendor arrangements that affect liability exposure across locations.

• Slip and fall and fuel island injury claims
• Inadequate incident documentation and video retention
• Security and parking lot liability claims
• Maintenance record gaps that weaken defenses

Multi-site operators manage a distributed hourly workforce across locations, often with thin site level management. Wage and hour compliance, scheduling, rules for younger workers, and manager classification all create exposure that scales with the number of stores.

We help operators build employment practices that hold up across locations: wage and hour compliance, manager classification, policies for minor employees, and the handbook and documentation practices that contain claims when they arise.

• Overtime and off the clock claims across locations
• Assistant manager classification exposure
• Minor labor law compliance for younger workers
• Inconsistent discipline and documentation across stores

Station and store operators run capital intensive, heavily regulated businesses on thin margins, and the legal issues touch everything from the ground under the tanks to the license behind the counter. Pomeranz Law provides practical, business focused counsel that understands how operators actually make money and where the legal risk sits.

• We understand the interplay between fuel supply agreements, site control, and licensing
• We structure site transactions around environmental history instead of ignoring it
• We defend the licenses and permits that store revenue depends on
• Transparent, practical counsel without the overhead of a large firm