Murphy USA Brand Guidelines: A 2013 Murphy Oil Spin-Off Grown Beside Walmart Stores

A retail division becomes a company.

Murphy USA is a fuel and convenience retailer headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas. It began inside Murphy Oil, the energy company that English Wikipedia says was founded in 1944 as CH Murphy & Co by Charles H. Murphy Sr. and incorporated in Louisiana in 1950. Murphy Oil ran its American filling-station chain as part of the group until 2013, when it chose to separate the retail business from its oil and gas operations.

On 7 August 2013 Murphy Oil’s board approved the spin-off of its U.S. retail marketing business, Talk Business & Politics reported that day. Shares in the new company, Murphy USA Inc., were to go to Murphy Oil shareholders, one new share for every four held on the record date of 21 August 2013, with the distribution due after the market closed on 30 August. At that point the business had 1,179 retail outlets in 23 states as of 30 June 2013, along with product distribution terminals and pipeline positions, the report said. A follow-up report in September put the new company’s workforce at more than 7,600 employees.

The new company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MUSA on 3 September 2013, Talk Business & Politics reported, keeping its headquarters in Murphy Oil’s corporate complex in El Dorado. Andrew Clyde, who led the business from the spin-off, told the publication that the chain had already worked in many ways as an independent division, and that its story had been “a little lost” inside the larger group.

Kiosks, Murphy Express and QuickChek.

Murphy USA’s format grew up beside one retail partner. In 2013 about 77 percent of its locations were small kiosks of around 208 square feet, many of them on Wal-Mart properties across the South and Midwest, Talk Business & Politics reported; the company was trying out larger 1,200-square-foot stores and had begun a 200-store expansion with Wal-Mart over three years. English Wikipedia says the first stores were all next to Walmart properties, and that in 2016 the relationship changed as Walmart began opening its own fuel stations and convenience stores.

The larger format became Murphy Express. English Wikipedia describes these as independently located stores of roughly 1,200 to more than 3,400 square feet, with a wider range of products and more fuelling lanes than the original kiosks, and counted 240 of them in February 2024. In the fourth quarter of 2021 alone the company opened ten new Murphy Express stores, Talk Business & Politics reported in February 2022, ending that year with 1,679 stores in all.

The second brand came from New Jersey. On 14 December 2020 Murphy USA announced an agreement to buy QuickChek, Talk Business & Politics reported: then a family-owned chain of 157 stores in central and northern New Jersey and the New York metro area, founded in 1967 as an extension of Durling Farms, a doorstep milk and dairy delivery business dating from 1888. By February 2022 the same publication was reporting on the acquisition and integration of QuickChek in Murphy USA’s results. When the deal was announced, Clyde said it would speed up the company’s plans to improve its food and beverage offer at existing and future sites, and QuickChek’s chairman and chief executive said Murphy USA had committed to honour its legacy and preserve the brand. QuickChek keeps its own name and its own headquarters in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey; Murphy USA’s investor website describes it as known for made-to-order subs and fresh coffee.

Canopies, stores and apps.

Fuel retailers rarely present a single face. Many forecourt groups run their stations under oil companies’ brands while building names of their own in the shop and the charging bay. Motor Fuel Group, the British operator, says its stations trade under six fuel brands — BP, Shell, Esso, Texaco, JET and Murco — alongside its own EV Power charging brand. In the United States, the British-founded EG Group renamed itself in 2026 after Cumberland Farms, its largest American store banner, and plans to convert hundreds more stores to that name, C-Store Dive reported.

Inside, the convenience store and the food-to-go counter carry much of the offer. MFG lists Londis, Budgens and Morrisons Daily shops alongside Greggs, Pret, Subway and Burger King, and in May 2026 hosted the first trial of Greggs Express, a compact self-service unit. Cumberland Farms plans to take Krispy Krunchy Chicken to 500 locations by 2030 and is piloting its own Maxi Fresh Bakery in Germany, according to the same publication.

Apps and maps do much of the remaining work. MFG’s Connect app lets drivers start and pay for charging sessions, and the station finder on its website covers both fuel stations and charging hubs. Coen Markets, the Pittsburgh-area chain that Cumberland Farms agreed to buy in March 2026, describes its Club Coen loyalty programme as part of its growth. In Australia, Ampol’s completion of its purchase of EG Australia in July 2026 came with plans for a wider rollout of the Woolworths Everyday Rewards programme across the sites, according to a TipRanks summary of Ampol’s announcement.

Charging is the newest addition. MFG announced plans in March 2021 for ultra-rapid chargers across 500 sites, said in July 2025 that it had passed 1,000 ultra-rapid bays, and since May 2026 has offered Plug & Charge across most of its network through Octopus Electroverse. The guides in this group set out what each company publishes about those formats, and what independent sources record about who owns them.

Small-town roots, three store names.

The chain is now large and still adding sites. Murphy USA’s investor website says it has more than 1,700 stores across 27 states and speaks of “small-town roots” for both Murphy USA and QuickChek. QSR Web reported in August 2026 that the company ran 1,806 convenience stores at the end of the second quarter: 1,659 Murphy USA and Murphy Express locations and 147 QuickChek stores. C-Store Dive reported on 30 October 2026 that 18 new stores had opened so far that year, and that the company still expected to open 45 to 50 new locations in 2026.

Food is the newer part of the offer. In August 2026 Murphy USA said it would pilot automated White Castle kiosks at selected larger-format stores, using a self-contained system from Automated Retail Technologies that takes orders on a touchscreen and serves hot sliders in about two minutes, QSR Web reported. By late October chief executive Mindy West said more than 100 of the machines were in the market and called the early results encouraging, according to C-Store Dive.

West took over from Clyde at the start of 2026. C-Store Dive reported on 30 October 2025 that West, then chief operating officer and with the company since 1996, would succeed him in January, with Clyde staying on as a non-executive adviser into 2027. The board is chaired by Madison Murphy, the same report said.

For a design guide, Murphy USA shows how a fuel brand built in a partner’s car parks can grow into stand-alone formats and take on a regional food brand without renaming it. Compare Casey’s and QuikTrip, two other American fuel and convenience chains. For this guide we use a delta deep blue, a brick red and a prairie sand with a sans, an unofficial interpretation; no product or logo is reproduced.

Keep Murphy USA’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.