Kum & Go's Tony Gentle: Iowa Time Machine November 2, 1913

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On November 2, 1913, Tony Gentle was born. Co-founder of the popular Iowa convenience store chain Kum & Go, Gentle helped create one of Iowa’s most iconic brands while pioneering the convenience store concept.

In 1959, Tony Gentle bought a gas station in Hampton, Iowa, and started a partnership with his son-in-law, W. A. "Bill" Krause. The first station, known as the Hampton Oil Company, proved successful, and the two men eventually formed the Krause Gentle Corporation. In 1963, Krause Gentle started selling both fuel and merchandise, changing the Hampton Oil Company gas station into a "station store."

Over the 1960s, the Krause Gentle Corporation expanded its holdings by acquiring gas stations and converting them to the convenience store model. The Kum & Go name, adopted in 1975, unified the company's array of stores under a single brand. The name, a play on the phrase "come and go,” used the initials of founders Krause and Gentle.

In 1988, Krause Gentle moved the company's corporate headquarters to West Des Moines. Kum & Go rapidly expanded in the late 1990s and early 2000s by building new stores and acquiring underperforming stores from chains such as 7-Eleven, QuikTrip, and Git 'n' Go. Sales of Kum & Go-branded merchandise spiked after Johnny Knoxville wore a black Kum & Go T-shirt with the tagline "We go all out!" during a scene in the 2006 movie. In 2023, the national chain Maverik acquired the company, resulting in the retirement of the Kum & Go store name. #Iowa #OTD #History #Innovation #Gas