OTR (convenience store) explained

OTR
Type:Subsidiary
Industry:Convenience store
Foundation: in Adelaide
Founder:Fred Shahin
Location:Australia
Num Locations:170+

OTR, formerly On the Run, is an Australian chain of petrol stations and convenience stores based in South Australia. Unrelated to ExxonMobil's On the Run store branding, the OTR brand was first established in 1999 by the Shahin family (Peregrine Corporation), who were already owning and operating service stations in Adelaide since 1984. They own OTR and Store 24.

On 28 March 2024, OTR was sold to Viva Energy,[1] which retails Shell-branded fuel in Australia. It was reported that most Coles Express sites would rebrand to Reddy Express while others would be replaced by OTR.[2]

Operations

OTR is an umbrella brand of 24-hour convenience stores coupled with service stations owned and operated by Viva Energy. Many OTR outlets operate alongside other brands such as Subway, Wok in a Box, Oporto, Hungry Jack's, Guzman y Gomez and Krispy Kreme. OTR has also developed and launched a series of proprietary food and drinks brands to sell through their stores. These include C Coffee, Moe's Dog & Shake, OhJ!, CHILL and EAT.

, there were over 170 OTR sites across South Australia and Victoria.[3] The majority of the service station sites sell BP fuel, with some sites (such as Western Australia and Northern Territory) selling Caltex fuel. OTR has an agreement with BP for the supply of BP fuel including BP branding on OTR stations.[4] However, a few stations are solely OTR-branded, such as the Glen Osmond site in Adelaide and the Alphington site in Melbourne. And the OTR stores in Lane Cove and Prestons, NSW sell Shell branded fuel.

History

Background

The founder of the chain, Fred Shahin, his wife, their siblings, and their parents, were expelled from Palestine on 15 May 1948, after Israel had declared its independence. Shahin was an accountant and an auditor for the United Nations before migrating to Australia; his son Khalil (Charlie) Shahin said in 2024 that his father's training and occupation was pivotal to the company's success, as he acted as an effective chief financial officer.[5]

Peregrine founder Fred Shahin bought his first BP service station in the Adelaide suburb of Woodville Park and various other tobacco outlets in 1984.[6]

Growth

By January 1999, the Shahin family owned and operated four drive-thru standalone convenience stores and thirteen fuel service stations in the Adelaide metropolitan area.[7] The family operated the service stations under the BP brand across South Australia.[8] In 1999, the family began using the On The Run brand, abbreviated as OTR, becoming the registered proprietor of the business name On The Run Convenience Store in South Australia on 1 March 1999 and On The Run in New South Wales on 15 March 1999.[7]

In 2009, Peregrine acquired 29 Mobil stations in South Australia from 7-Eleven which had just bought over Mobil's retail business nationwide.[9] [10] [11] Peregrine initially operated these sites as On the Run sites selling Mobil fuel, until they eventually switched to BP fuel as well.

In 2014, OTR acquired 25 BP-owned service stations. The store branding in those stations were later also changed to OTR, but continued to sell BP fuel.[12] In 2015, On the Run began rebranding with a new logo using the shorter OTR brand.[13]

Until 2019, most stores are located in South Australia, with one store in Irymple, Victoria, which opened in 2015.[14] In 2019, OTR began planning expansion into other parts of Victoria and also New South Wales.[15] Expansion into New South Wales did not eventuate until June 2023. Expansion into Victoria eventuated in March and April 2020, with two OTR-branded service stations opening in Horsham in western Victoria.[16] Within metropolitan Melbourne, two OTR stores also opened at service stations in St Kilda and Alphington in 2022, with the Alphington service station solely branded OTR with 2 more stores located in Frankston and Moonee Ponds in 2024.[17] [18] Also in 2022, OTR opened its first Western Australia store in Roleystone, Perth, which was co-branded with Caltex rather than BP.[19] [20] In April 2024, there are 4 Western Australia sites in Roleystone, Como, Perth (Pier Street) and only very recently Yangebup. Their other company Store 24 has operations in Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory & New South Wales as of May 2024.

In early 2023, OTR acquired 17 Puma Energy service stations in the Northern Territory and Western Australia from Chevron Corporation, which also owns the Caltex fuel brand;[21] [22] Caltex fuel would be supplied to these stations. In June, the first New South Wales OTR opened at a Shell-branded station in Lane Cove.

Sale to Viva Energy

In April 2023, in addition to announcing it had reached a deal to acquire OTR from Peregrine Corporation for billion, Viva Energy said it was planning to transition Coles Express convenience stores to the OTR brand.[23] [24]

The transaction was subject to Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) clearance.[25] The acquisition would also include Peregrine's businesses of Smokemart and Giftbox (SMGB) and Mogas. The Shahin family would also be a shareholder of Viva Energy.[26]

The ACCC cleared the transaction in December 2023, conditional upon Viva Energy disposing of 25 sites in South Australia to Chevron. In exchange, Viva Energy would receive 13 Chevron sites (Caltex) located in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia.[27], the acquisition would still need to be approved by the FIRB to finalise the acquisition.[28] Those Chevron stores have been rebranded as Store 24 as of May 2024.

The Coles Express stores are being rebranded as Reddy Express, and will continue to sell Shell fuels.[29] In March 2024, it was announced that the company had completed the purchase of OTR. In May 2024, it’s other company Store24, renovated Caltex sites in Queensland, New South Wales & Western Australia.

Trade mark legal action against ExxonMobil

In June 1999, in the same year the Shahin family began using the On the Run brand, Mobil (later ExxonMobil) applied to register the trade marks for the words Mobil on the Run (number 797720) and On the Run (number 797721) which it used internationally with its On the Run brand. The trade mark applications were for various classes of good and services including fuel and drinks.[7] [30] [31] The Shahin family had been opposed to the application and the subsequent June 2001 registration of trade mark 797721, arguing that it had already intended to use the On the Run brand before Mobil's application in June 1999, with evidence of its development of Shahin's On the Run brand and the registration of the business name in the few months prior. Initially opposing via the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the Australian Trade Marks Office, the legal action ended up as an appeal to the Federal Court of Australia.

Section 17 of the Trade Marks Act 1995 defines trade mark as "a sign used, or intended to be used, to distinguish goods or services dealt with or provided in the course of trade by a person from goods or services so dealt with or provided by any other person". In September 2005, the Federal Court of Australia could not find evidence that Shahin family's use and advertisement of its On the Run brand was "to distinguish one trader's goods from another", but instead was just an intention "to conduct a business under the name of 'On the Run' in the future". The use of the brand was also not a use of a trade mark under section 7 the Trade Marks Act 1995 as the use was not "physical in relation to goods or services". The court stated that the Shahin family never had any intention "to brand any goods with the mark". Therefore, the court ruled that the Shahin family "failed to show" that it has used On the Run as a mark", and hence could not prove itself to own the trade mark under common law. Shahin family's appeal was dismissed, clearing the way for ExxonMobil's registration of trade mark 797721 to be finalised.[7] [32]

While opposing ExxonMobil's trade mark registration, in the meanwhile, the family also applied to register the trade mark for its On the Run logo (number 865053) in 2001, which was accepted in 2008.[33]

By 2011, the Shahin family had gained ownership of the trade mark of the words On the Run.[31]

Community

OTR has also established an innovative charitable program called OTRGive in June 2018. Charities who've benefitted from OTR Give include Foodbank, Guide Dogs SA/NT, CFS Foundation, Variety, Canteen, Royal Flying Doctor Service and RSPCA.

In 2018, On The Run became the inaugural title sponsor of the Supercars Championship event The Bend SuperSprint at the Peregrine-owned The Bend Motorsport Park.

Controversies

Nasmin Pty Ltd, owned by the Shahin family, was fined $28,000 in April 2016 for the dumping of 2,000 tonnes of soil (some of it slightly contaminated) on its farm taken from the redevelopment of an On The Run store in Plympton.[34]

In 2018, the chain received criticism from consumers and environmental groups for a decision to ban reusable coffee cups due to a contamination incident at one of their stores. However, new food safety procedures were introduced and OTR reinstated their policy to accept reusable cups in September 2018.[35]

A class action on behalf of 1,050 On The Run workers was lodged with the Federal Court of Australia on 13 May 2020. The company was accused of failing to pay overtime, underpaying staff and misusing its traineeship program as a method to reduce workers' pay, dating back to 2014 and involving all stores in South Australia. OTR allegedly used eight different wage minimisation tactics that enabled gross underpayment of its staff. In March 2020, the Federal Court had upheld a separate decision by South Australia's Employment Tribunal to award to an OTR employee who had been underpaid.[36]

In 2020 there was opposition by local residents to a planned OTR outlet on Kensington Road in Kensington Park,[37] and to the expansion of the Peregrine headquarters building in Kensington to a height of seven storeys with a helipad on top of the building.[38] [39]

In August 2020 Peregrine was ordered by the South Australian Employment Tribunal to pay to an employee after being found to have deliberately underpaid him over the period of about a year in 2016, at an OTR at Fulham.[40]

Awards

In 2018, Peregrine Corporation won the Australian Retail Awards '2018 Large Retailer of the Year' award which recognises the outstanding business outcomes of Australian retailers who continue to adapt, improve and innovate in their field.[41]

In 2019, OTR won ‘Large Employer of the Year’ in South Australian Training Awards.[42]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Viva Energy completes $1.2 billion acquisition of OTR. Convenience & Impulse Retailing. 28 March 2024 . 2024-04-02. en.
  2. Web site: Viva Energy launches Reddy Express - Viva Energy Australia . 2024-03-20 . www.vivaenergy.com.au.
  3. Web site: About Us. OTR. 16 April 2023.
  4. Web site: Shahin Enterprises Pty Ltd v BP Australia Pty Ltd [2019] SASC 12 (8 February 2019)]. Australasian Legal Information Institute. 21 April 2023.
  5. Web site: From Palestine to paydirt: The Shahin's OTR journey. David . Simmons . . 27 May 2024 . 8 June 2024.
  6. Web site: 27 June 2014. BRW Rich 200 list 2014: 102. Yasser Shahin & family. https://web.archive.org/web/20170513181355/http://www.afr.com/leadership/brw-rich-200-list-2014-102-yasser-shahin--family-20140626-jy4lc. 13 May 2017. BRW. Fairfax Media. 24 July 2014.
  7. Web site: Shahin Enterprises Pty Ltd v Exxonmobil Oil Corporation [2005] FCA 1278 (13 September 2005)]. Australasian Legal Information Institute. 17 April 2023.
  8. Web site: On the Run. On the Run. https://web.archive.org/web/20090926215852/http://ontherun.com.au/. 26 September 2009. dead.
  9. Web site: 7-Eleven buys Mobil sites. Australian Financial Review. 28 May 2010. 16 April 2022.
  10. Web site: Undertaking to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission - Given under section 87B of the Trade Practices Act by Peregrine Corporation Pty Ltd. Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. Peregrine Corporation Pty Ltd. 1 October 2010. 16 April 2023.
  11. Web site: Business Acquisition of SA Mobil Sites by On The Run. Glam Adelaide. 27 May 2010.
  12. Web site: ACCC will not oppose Peregrine's proposed acquisition of BP petrol station sites in SA . 8 May 2014 . . 24 July 2014.
  13. Web site: OTR brand campaign up and running. OTR. 1 July 2015. 16 April 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20200815044644/https://www.otr.com.au/about-us/otr-newsroom/otr-brand-campaign-running-2/. 15 August 2020. live.
  14. Web site: OTR opens 24/7 one stop shop in Irymple. 27 November 2015. 16 April 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20200812213020/https://www.otr.com.au/about-us/otr-newsroom/otr-opens-247-one-stop-shop-irymple/. 12 August 2020. live.
  15. Web site: On The Run expanding in VIC and into NSW. Convenience and Impulse Retailing. 29 October 2019. 16 April 2023.
  16. Web site: OTR to Open Two New Stores in Horsham, Victoria. OTR. 2020. 16 April 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20200806101903/https://www.otr.com.au/about-us/otr-newsroom/otr-to-open-two-new-stores-in-horsham-victoria/. 6 August 2020. live.
  17. Web site: OTR St Kilda Marina now open. OTR. 2022. 16 April 2023.
  18. Web site: Leading Australian retailer OTR opens its first Melbourne store in Alphington. OTR. 2022. 16 April 2023.
  19. Web site: New OTR Roleystone brings 24/7 convenience to the area. OTR. 16 April 2023.
  20. Web site: OTR continues national expansion with first store opening in WA. Convenience and Impulse Retailing. 26 April 2022. 16 April 2023.
  21. Web site: OTR enters agreement to acquire Puma service stations in the Northern Territory. OTR. 2022. 16 April 2023.
  22. Web site: Strategic acquisition will see OTR enter the Northern Territory. Convenience and Impulse Retailing. 10 January 2023. 16 April 2023.
  23. Web site: Toscano . Nick . 2023-04-05 . Fuel giant's $1.15b deal revamps retail to attract EV drivers . 2023-04-15 . . en.
  24. Web site: Service station chain OTR to be sold for $1.15 billion to Viva Energy to 'replace' Coles Express across 700 sites. ABC News. 5 April 2023.
  25. Web site: Viva Energy to acquire OTR Group, transforming its Convenience and Mobility retail business. Australian Securities Exchange. Viva Energy. 5 April 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230405035929/https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20230405/pdf/45nd0r2wtdt6dc.pdf. 5 April 2023. live.
  26. Web site: OTR goes national in deal with Viva Energy. OTR. 5 April 2023.
  27. Web site: Viva Energy's proposed acquisition of OTR Group not opposed. Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. 14 December 2023.
  28. Web site: OTR Group Acquisition Update. Australian Securities Exchange. Viva Energy. 14 December 2023. 16 January 2024.
  29. Web site: Brook . Benedict . Coles Express service stations to be rebranded after Viva Energy takeover . news . 27 September 2023 . 8 June 2024.
  30. Web site: Trade mark 797720. IP Australia - Australian Trade Mark Search. 17 April 2023.
  31. Web site: Trade mark 797721. IP Australia - Australian Trade Mark Search. 17 April 2023.
  32. Web site: Trade marks on the run. Mondaq. Freehills. 24 November 2005. 17 April 2023.
  33. Web site: Trade mark 865053. IP Australia - Australian Trade Mark Search. 17 April 2023.
  34. News: Fewster . Sean . 26 April 2016 . Company owned by SA's Shahin family fined $28,000 for dumping petrol station soil in Adelaide Hills . The Advertiser . 17 April 2023.
  35. News: Kemp . Miles . 23 September 2018 . On The Run reverses ban on reusable coffee cups at its servos . The Advertiser . September 23, 2018.
  36. News: 13 May 2020 . OTR workers bring Federal Class Action Suit . . Australia . 2020-05-13.
  37. Web site: 16 April 2020 . Peregrine Mixed Use Major Development – Submissions have now closed . 5 July 2020 . SA Planning Portal.
  38. Web site: Cameron . Ben . 18 July 2019 . Council could seek to ban Peregrine chopper landings . 5 July 2020 . Adelaide Now.
  39. Web site: Sutton . Malcolm . 12 March 2020 . Helipad proposal near suburban Norwood is 'development by stealth', residents say . 5 July 2020 . . Australia.
  40. Web site: Nielsen . Ben . 18 August 2020 . Convenience store chain OTR to pay $65,000 over 'deliberate exploitation' of worker . 2020-08-18 . . Australia.
  41. Web site: 2018-08-27 . National Retail Awards honour legends and rising stars . 2021-05-25 . Retail World Magazine . en-AU.
  42. Web site: 2019 South Australian Training Awards winners . 2021-05-25 . www.tasc.sa.gov.au.