By Chrissy Blasinsky
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Tiger Fuel Company, based in Charlottesville, Virginia, sees a bright future with solar—so much so that the convenience retailer purchased a solar company.
Tiger Fuel acquired Altenergy in 2021, an acquisition that followed an ongoing collaboration between the two companies that began in 2018, when Tiger Fuel partnered with Altenergy on two of its gourmet-to-go convenience stores, The Market.
“We founded Tiger on the principle that we would be malleable, welcome change and improve the communities that we serve,” said Gordon Sutton, president of Tiger Fuel, in the NACS Ideas 2 Go video, “Tiger Fuel’s Solar Future.”
“Our fuel business isn’t going away any time soon, but there is no doubt that the energy landscape is changing,” Sutton said.
Prior to the acquisition, Tiger Solar and Tiger partnered on solar installations at two The Market convenience stores featured in the Ideas 2 Go video as well as a public EV charging station. Another 500kW of solar power is scheduled to cover Tiger’s bulk plants, with a shared commitment to reduce their carbon footprint by 45% in 2025, according to a news release.
Not only is Tiger Fuel staying ahead of the curve with the evolving energy landscape, it is also committed to supporting and serving its community. In the Ideas 2 Go video Sutton shares that giving back is “probably my favorite part about my job.”
“People see how engaged we are with the community. People see us putting the solar panels on the roof, they see us doing those things and it makes them feel good about shopping with us because they know when they shop here, that money is going to come back around and only make this community a better place to live,” he said.
Sutton said that customers have shared with him that they shop at Tiger Markets because of the positive impact the company is having with its community initiatives, like Round Up campaign that benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Blue Ridge “I’m really proud of what we do,” he said.
Watch more of Tiger Fuel and Tiger Solar in action in Ideas 2 Go.
Chrissy Blasinsky is the NACS content communications strategist. She can be reached at cblasinsky@convenience.org.