When clients call Heritage Petroleum LLC for assistance, the company makes sure they are put in touch with an actual person and not a recording. That personal touch is what has helped set the company apart, President and CEO Tom Gabe says.

“Not only do we pride ourselves on being fuel managers, we pride ourselves on being the best customer service marketers out there,” he declares, noting that the firm has nurtured a base of loyal clients. “This is still a business about relationships.”

Based in Evansville, Ind., Heritage Petroleum is the largest independent petroleum distributor in Southern Indiana. Gabe explains that the company’s history goes back to 1947 when his father, Keith Gabe, ran his own oil distributorship, Gabe’s Oil. “At that point, there were probably 25 small companies like him in Evansville,” the younger Gabe says.

With a single 1,500-gallon truck, Keith Gabe served industrial and farm accounts for his entire career. But Tom Gabe initially had a different career path in mind. Originally, he explains, he graduated from Indiana University with a business degree, but had planned on being a football coach.

That changed one day when his father informed him that two other owners were interested in selling their petroleum businesses. Deciding that acquiring their business was a safer bet, Gabe purchased it and merged it with his father’s company.

Today, Heritage Petroleum employs a staff of 70; the company sells products and manages fuel accounts in 14 states, Gabe says.

“We’re an ExxonMobil and Conoco lubricants distributor,” he says, noting that it is also a shipper of products on the Enterprise pipeline.

While some petroleum marketers serve the retail side, “I’m a bulk distributor,” Gabe says, noting that his firm serves coalmines, quarries, tug boats and utility companies. “Today, we’re pushing 80 million gallons.”

Key Ingredients

To run a business like Heritage Petroleum successfully, an owner needs three things, Gabe explains. “You need a good balance sheet, because it’s so capital intensive to run this type of business.”

Additionally, Heritage Petroleum offers risk management. “You’re actually selling fuel contracts to the big-end user,” Gabe says, noting that the third important thing is state-of-the-art technology.

These include scanners so the drivers can send important documents to the home office, as well as GPS trackers that allow the company to determine where the vehicles are. Another important tool for the firm are tank monitors, which allows Heritage Petroleum to determine when its customers are running low on fuel.

However, with these monitors, the firm can save its clients money. For instance, Gabe explains, if Heritage Petroleum monitors the price of fuel and sees that it will go up tomorrow, it immediately provides clients with refills before the increase.

“Half the time it’s going up, and the other half it’s moving down,” Gabe says. “Any political, economic or weather-related issue that comes out today, like Hurricane Sandy, can cause the markets to move erratically.”

By monitoring the market and fuel tank levels, Heritage Petroleum manages to save its clients a considerable amount of money. “We’re really paying attention [for the customer],” he says. Over a year’s time, thousands of dollars can be saved.

Ready to Grow

Despite the industry consolidation, Heritage Petroleum continues to increase its share of the market, Gabe says. “There are not a lot of new businesses out there, so [other firms are] basically taking the customer away from somebody that has those delivery services,” Gabe explains.

However, Heritage Petroleum has not used any underhanded methods to gain customers, Gabe asserts. “[But] if we feel like we can service a customer better than our competitor, we [will approach] that customer,” he says.

He adds that Heritage Petroleum plans for more growth. The company is experiencing rapid organic growth, and, “We’re in a heavy acquisition mode,” Gabe says, noting that the company is looking at least 100 other petroleum marketers that it could potentially acquire.

Additionally, “There are probably people looking at us,” he says. “I’ll probably get a call once a week about selling our business.”

But he asserts that Heritage Petroleum is strictly interested in growing itself while still remaining customer focused. “The advantage that we have is our dedication to fuel management and helping our customer to make wise decisions about their fuel purchases,” he asserts. m