Peregrine Corporation

The Peregrine Corporation is a South Australian family-owned company which operates the On The Run brand of service stations and convenience stores in South Australia, as well as Smokemart & GiftBox stores nationwide. It was founded in 1984 with the purchase of a BP service station in Woodville by Fred Shahin; by 2016 it was listed at number 14 in The Australian Financial Review's "Top 500 Private Companies", with an estimated annual revenue of A$1.9 billion.

Peregrine Corporation
Private
Industry
  • Petrol stations
  • Convenience stores
FounderFred Shahin
Headquarters
Adelaide, South Australia
,
Australia
RevenueA$2 billion (2020)
Number of employees
>3500[1] (2020)
Websitewww.peregrine.com.au

Peregrine bought the Mobil fuel outlets in South Australia in 2010 and 25 company-owned BP outlets in 2014. The acquired sites were rebranded and upgraded to 24-hour On the Run (OTR) convenience stores along with the service stations.

As of 2020, Peregrine is one of the top 15 private companies in Australia, and the largest in SA, with an annual revenue of over A$2 billion. It also owns The Bend Motorsport Park at Tailem Bend and the Mallala Motor Sport Park.

History

Fathi (Fred) Shahin and the rest of his Palestinian family[2] moved to Lebanon during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, when he was ten years old. Shahin went to night school to qualify as an accountant. After working for the United Nations for 27 years, he and his family migrated to Australia. When he could not find work, he bought a BP service station in Woodville, a suburb of Adelaide, and the family lived on site.[3] Peregrine was founded in 1984 with the purchase of the service station, soon followed by a chain of Smokemart (tobacco retailer) stores across Adelaide.[4] After Fred's death, three of his sons, Yasser, Khalil (Charlie) and Samer (Sam) took over the business.[3]

Peregrine bought the Mobil fuel outlets in South Australia in 2010 and 25 company-owned BP outlets in 2014.[5] The acquired sites were rebranded and upgraded to 24-hour On The Run sites. By June 2014, Peregrine owned a chain of 24-hour convenience stores and service stations operating under the On The Run brand.[1] Yasser Shahin and family were included on the BRW Rich 200 list in 2014.[3]

In 2015 Peregrine announced plans to redevelop the former Mitsubishi Motors Australia test site outside Tailem Bend, South Australia as The Bend Motorsport Park, to be opened in 2017, and in May 2017, announced the purchase of the Mallala Motor Sport Park.[6]

In 2016 Peregrine Corporation was listed at number 14 in The Australian Financial Review's "Top 500 Private Companies", with an estimated annual revenue of A$1.90b.[7]

Company description

Many of the On the Run sites operate alongside other brands such as Subway, Brumby's Bakeries, Oporto, and Wendy's.[4][3]

Peregrine brought the Krispy Kreme doughnut franchise to South Australia and also runs the Mexican food franchise Guzman Y Gomez. As of 2019, OTR had 145 outlets in SA, and one in Victoria, and is the state’s biggest seller of barista-made espresso coffee.[2]

As of 2020, Peregrine is one of the top 15 private companies in Australia, and the largest in SA. Its annual revenue is over A$2 billion, and it employs more than 3,500 people.[1]

Controversies

Redevelopment of an On The Run Store dumped 2000 tonnes of contaminated carcinogenic[8] soil in the Adelaide Hills. For this sustained breach of law, fines of $28000 were levied against the operators of Peregrine Corporation and associated business Nasmin Pty Ltd.[9]

In 2018 the OTR brand of the company received significant criticism from consumers and environmental groups[10][11] for a decision to ban reusable coffee cups, amongst growing concerns of the negative effect of the 1.2 billion disposable cups that end-up in landfill in Australia each year.[12]

A class action on behalf of 1,050 On The Run workers was lodged with the Australian Federal Court 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 A$2,342 to an OTR employee who had been underpaid.[13]

There has been opposition by local residents to a planned OTR outlet on Kensington Road in Kensington Park,[14] 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.[15][16]

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References
  1. "About Us". Peregrine Corporation. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  2. Washington, David (22 May 2019). "Branding the OTR empire: the inside story". InDaily. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  3. "BRW Rich 200 list 2014: 102. Yasser Shahin & family". AFR Weekend]. Fairfax Media. 27 June 2014. Archived from the original on 13 May 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  4. Miles Kemp and Julian Swallow (19 May 2013). "Fortunes of families Trim and Shahin change dramatically". Sunday Mail. Retrieved 24 July 2014.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  5. "ACCC will not oppose Peregrine's proposed acquisition of BP petrol station sites in SA". Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  6. Kemp, Miles (11 May 2017). "SA's No. 1 motorsport fan Sam Shahin plans to improve Mallala Motor Sport Park after buying it". The Advertiser. News Corp. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  7. "AFR Top 500 Private Companies". The Australian Financial Review. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  8. "Carcinogenic Hydrocarbons and Human Cells in Culture". www.nature.com. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  9. "Judge rules on OTR illegal dumping". www.adelaidenow.com.au. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  10. "On the Run service station bans reusable coffee cups". www.9news.com.au. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  11. "Major SA coffee seller bans reusable cups — including its own". ABC News. 5 June 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  12. "7-Eleven installs recycling bins for takeaway coffee cups". www.9news.com.au. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  13. "OTR workers bring Federal Class Action Suit". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  14. "Peregrine Mixed Use Major Development – Submissions have now closed". SA Planning Portal. 16 April 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  15. Cameron, Ben (18 July 2019). "Council could seek to ban Peregrine chopper landings". Latest Adelaide and South Australia News. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  16. Sutton, Malcolm (12 March 2020). "Helipad proposal near suburban Norwood is 'development by stealth', residents say". ABC News (ABC Radio Adelaide). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
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