It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WVZ, Boston's news radio.
Thank you, Dan Watkins. Boy, that temperature is really plummeting. We have lost like eight degrees since the sun went down. Whoa baby? Actually not at ninety two degrees at nineh eight at night. Let me tell you tough, tough, tough. Okay, tell you something else that is tough. There was a contract given out by the Conwealth of Massachusetts, actually by the I guess the Transportation Board. We'll get the specifics.
Joining me is Eric slip Cup. He's the president and CEO of a big important Massachusetts company called Global Partners. It's a fortune five hundred company, might even be a little bit bigger than that. Eric Slifko, Welcome to Nightside. How are you, sir?
Good Dan, how are you well.
I'm probably not as upset as you are, but I'm a little concerned about this, which is why I've asked you to join us tonight. First of all, Global Partners, your Fortune five hundred company, that's a big deal. I mean, I don't how many Fortune five hundred companies we have in Massachusetts, but you're one of the bigger companies here in Massachusetts.
Correct, correct, and we've been here Dan since nineteen thirty, not as a fortune five hundred company, but when my grandfather and grandmother started a storefront for retail home heating oil, and my dad went in the business in the fifties and a little later his brother came in. I came in the business in eighty seven, and my two sons se just joined the business in the last few years. So we're four generations here in Boston. It's where we
have all grown up. It's where all our children are, it's where I went to school and Austin I call our home. Massachusetts is our place and it has always been our place.
Yeah. Right now you're a wealthy and based company. As I understand that you're soon going to move to Newton. How many employees do you have? That's always an.
Important number, you know, about a total about five thousand employees, about seventeen hundred in the state of Massachusetts. We spend over about one hundred and twenty five million in state taxes here and we're rooted here. And a lot of our business over time has grown and has gone into different states and different parts of the country, but we're rooted here.
So when we think of you as a as an energy company. Is that still the backbone of the company, you know, selling energy products?
It is just at the highest level. We have fifty four terminoals from Maine down to Florida and into Texas with about twenty two million barrels of storage capacity. We have seventeen hundred gas stations that we own, lease or supply.
We currently have the Connecticut Turnpike and we operate the gas stations and convenience stores there as well as well as for the sites here in Massachusetts where we have full leases on them and the rest of the mass Turnpike as well, where we operate the gas and operate the sea stores there. And we have for probably about a decade or so. Over the last oh, I don't know, I'd say seven or eight years, we have created something called All Town Fresh and my dad, I'll be a
little personal here, my dad had a heart attack. My grandfather had a heart attack. Food I think is important, and All Town Fresh we have created a very sort of clean food eco system where our guests can come in and enjoy healthier for you options. So if you've got your kids in the car, you can get the bad stuff. If you want it, but you can also get really clean, healthy food if that's your choice. Now
we have go ahead. We have about and we have about three hundred UH SEA stores that we own and operate as well.
What type of stores did you say.
Sea stores and restaurants, convenience stores.
And restore when you so, when you said sea stores, I wasn't. I was thinking, are we talking about the ocean? No? With so convenience stores?
Okay, yeah, convenient Yeah, convenience. But but one of the things that we've started to do is over the last decade is put food into all of those locations and make sure that we're providing sort of the highest and best guest services that we possibly can.
So you do you have UH stores and plazas on the Connecticut Turnpike, and you have four locations in Massachusetts. They're not on the pike, as I understand?
That?
Is that correct?
Are they on that that? That is correct?
So we're talking about twenty four and four five side yep, And then you're you're talking about Barnstable and you're also talking about Beverly as well.
Okay, so no, none, nothing either on the pike or on one twenty.
And on the Pike and on the pike, we actually operate the gas and we and we operate the convenience stores on the Turnpike as well. So currently where we're already there and you know, we're already there operating these sides. So there's it's a total eleven of them that we're we're in there and we're currently operating. Okay, so we have mixed yeah.
Okay, I just I just think that I'm I don't to confuse people. So you have currently a presence on the pike both in terms of selling gas and food. Are you in all of the eleven plausas? I think there's eleven plazas on the pike? Is that correct?
Correct? Correct?
And those are the ones on the pike?
Okay, great, okay, so you're you're in effect the incumbent on the pike.
Well, there there is a master lease. McDonald's has a master release. So McDonald's has a master release and they and they chose us actually part way through because they had somebody there that left and they needed and they needed our assistance, and so we decided to operate the same thing happened those Barnstable, Beverly and the Bridgewater sites the same thing happened. There was an incumbent there, the
incumbent left. It was if I if I can remember correctly, I think it was a Burger King franchisee who had won it, and they ended up giving up and we came in to bail out those locations for the state, and we've been running them for about seven years.
Okay, so you've been a good citizen, You've been a great employer, a great Massachusetts company. I got to take a break. There has been now an opportunity for, as I understand it, a thirty five year lease for all the locations on the Turnpike. And just to set the stage, you appears to me, as I read the materials that you've sent, you had the most competitive bid, meaning the most competitive bid which would return the most benefit to
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And yet you have lost out on the selection process to a company not from New England, not from the United States, but from across the pond in Ireland. Which is why I'm having you on tonight because you have sent a very direct I might add, in a very well written letter to the Governor of Massachusetts, and we're going to talk about what your complaint is you feel at this point that this that this process
has been unfair. Uh, and you're going to talk about it, and we're going to invite people to join the conversation as for the for the balance of this hour, I hope everybody will be willing to join in and chime in because this is one that I think the governor has to pay attention to. She's the only person who can turn this situation around. And this is a situation which is going to cost potentially cost Massachusetts revenue over
the next thirty five years. You're actually ponying up or committing more funds than the company from Ireland, and yet they have been designated as the winner. Six one, seven, two, five, four ten, six seven. We're going to shine a spotlight here and you make the decisions. We're coming back with my guest, Eric Sliffler. He's the president sliff Cup, President and CEO of Global Partners, a big Massachusetts company that
at this point has been pushed to the side. Back on Nightside right after these messages.
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news Radio.
Eric, you sent this letter to the governor earlier? Was it earlier this week or last week. It was last Thursday, Okay, So so you know she's had hopefully a chance to see it. Whenever we talk about numbers on radio, it's very difficult. So why don't you explain to my to me and threw me to my audience, why your offer
is my best offer for the state of Massachusetts. This is a thirty five year state contract that, as you're right, has been awarded to a foreign owned, private equity backed company, while a fourth generation Massachusetts based employer who are for the state, nearly nine hundred million more in guaranteed rent is passed over. Break it down first, Eric, This to me is astonishing.
Yeah, we think it's astonishing too. You know, honestly, I do not understand how the Mascot commissioners could land where they did. Now they have an RFP criteria.
That RFP is a request for proposal, it's the invitation. Just so that again, I want my audience to follow this. So I don't mean to interrupt you, but I just want to make sure that you and I might understand that. But I want everyone in my audience to know that the state is obligated to send out a request for proposal. Anyone can apply. How many companies applied.
I'm gonna guess for four, okay, fair.
Enough, Okay. So it's not the type of project that every Tom, Dick and Harry who has a pickup truck can apply for. You've got to be a pretty substantial company to apply, and you got obviously qualify. Go ahead.
Yeah, And this is you know, don't get me wrong, this is a big deal. You know. One of the things too, that's a little bit more unique is we also have the terminals that supply these facilities as well, and we're also supplying those terminals cargoes and barges, and then we send it out by trucks to supply to apply each location. And I don't believe any of the other bidders actually own those assets in the markets to supply these assets.
So essentially, I don't mean to interrupt here, but I just want to put it into language that everybody understood. You do this thing, as we would say, from soup to nuts, your whole shooting match.
Go ahead, yep.
Okay. So this is the eye popping number, Dan. We have a guaranteed rent number guaranteed can't be can't be any less of one point five billion dollars over the thirty five years. It's a lot of money our competitor, depending on how they count, because their bit is not firm, it's not guaranteed risk rent and it has risk associated with It could be six hundred and twenty three million on the low end and it could be nine hundred and ninety four million on the high end, but that's
no guarantee. It's just in the range. So there's nothing firm on that. So what I would say to all the listeners, and this is the most important thing. You know, the state could be leaving one hundred million dollars on the table at a beer minimum, they're leaving five or six hundred million on the table. And given where we are today as a state and all of the priorities that we have, and look we're local, we do spend a lot of money on charity. We invest in the community.
You know, our people here go to work every day to help others and not just spend money, but spend time in the field, building houses, doing all sorts of things. So we know that it's important for the state to have as much money as it possibly can. Well, here it is they've walked away for between five hundred and a billion dollars five hundred million and a billion dollars that could be used to do good in the state. Never mind, it could be used for transportation too. Right.
This decision was made by what is called the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Board. Okay, So who appoints who? I don't need the names, but are these full time state employees? A are they, you know, political appointees who get designated to be on this board.
They are appointed by the governor, and there is eleven board members, and they come from various places throughout the state.
Okay, And you want to assume that they're legitimate and they're honest people, and I'm willing to make that assumption. But somehow, some way they did not get a clear I can't imagine if they had this clear view. Now you mentioned in the letter to the governor, I'm going to put it on you. You say this gap that you're just talking about, these numbers aren't close. This gap is astounding. Despite this, Mascot's chief developpment officer misled the
mas DOT board by stated were very close. Now very close, of course, is a subjective judgment. It's like me saying the rid Sox are very close to winning the World Series. We will know whether they win the World Series or not sometime by the end of October. But I can say that's very close. I don't see how when there's a difference of a potentially nine hundred million dollars that
that's very close. How could this chief Development officer come to that conclusion because I'm assuming, as the title would reflect, a chief Development officer understands financial development. That's what a chief development officer does.
Yes, you would assume that that's what the development officer does. We had a meeting with the Development officer where he confused gallons and revenue and he had difficulty describing what they both meant to the state. And so he certainly is the one who led the meeting. We had a public meeting where we had three hundred people showed up on our behalf to support us and to get the message, yep, And to get the message and to get the message out.
And even after we spoke for you know, people spoke for ninety minutes, many of them spoke in favor, and you know, the boards would have just went on It's merry way. I would you know what I would what I would hope for is I would strongly urge the mas DOT commissioners to look at this and to do what's right for the state, for the people of the commonwealth. You know, almost a billion dollars in thirty five years. What do we know is going to happen, that there's going to be an increase?
Uh?
And tophies right by example? Okay, well, here is almost a billion dollars that could have went to the roadways to keep those rates lower that are now going to have to Yeah, that are now going to have to be increased because of it. And so you know, I don't I don't think that they've done their job. I
don't think they've represented the people of the commonwealth. I think they never provided us with a side by side comparison of our offer and apple Green's offer, and and and frankly, you know, to the board they didn't do that either, right, So I think that's uh. I think that's an egregious error. And and they only in the public meeting they only gave apple Green's numbers, right, they didn't say that.
I see something in your letter which would which bothers me even more. You said that you wrote quote to make matters worse. When question by a board member about the reliability of your competitors' numbers Apple Green, this development officer opened his response stating he wanted to focus on the recommendation and not talk bad about the other bidders, and then he stated that he found the the numbers
from Applegreen more reliable. How can he make such a decision that a set proposal is more reliable that theirs was more reliable than yours. You're the only company that operated convenience stores and fueling stations. You have all of this experience. This is you wrote a really good letter. So far, no response from the governor, I assume correct.
I mean, look, we're operating locations today. Yeah, we're operating
him in another state in Connecticut as well. This is our business, right, and we have lots of stations in Connecticut, and we have lots of stations in Massachusetts, you know, and so, but more importantly than that, the thing that hurts the most is we are local, and you know, and you know we chose and have partnered with Commonwealth Kitchen, Okay, Jen Fagel, and you know she supports these local entrepreneurs who I've been really fortunate enough to meet over time
who want to do food and she helps to get them organized and support them on the way out the door. They have sixty five million dollars a year revenue there. I mean, this is a real business she's created. And because we're local Jen, who is by the way, an amazing person, we partnered with her because we knew this was best for the States. So, you know, there's a whole bunch of things here that don't feel right.
Let me from Eric, let me do this because I'm into my newscast here, So let me let me give you a chance to breathe for a second. You've answered all my questions. I think that I think there. You know, there's a prime e facia case here, uh to to take another look and make sure make sure that everything adds up and then at a minimum, at a minimum, have the governor involved in this, and then have the
board take a fresh look. Again. This is not like we're taking we're picking a company from New Hampshire, Connecticut. We're picking a company from another country, uh and another another continent. Actually, And I'm not here to hurt Applegreen. I'm here, Uh. I know nothing about their company. Uh, but but it seems to me that that on the surface, your numbers, and I've looked at the numbers that you've provided in this letter to the governor. She has to
pay attention to the numbers. I can I can read numbers, and I can read letters, and I can read URRFPS. So let's let's open up phone lines. We'll go to phone lines, see what what the people in Massachusetts think. Six one, seven, two, five four thirty six one seven, nine three one thirty. My guest is the president and CEO of Global Partners, e Waltham based Massachusetts company, hundreds of employees here in Massachusetts, thousands of employees around the country.
Eric Sliffcomb, the president and CEO, is my guest. You can ask him any question you want. Will be back on night Side right after this.
Night Side with Dan Ray. I'MBZ Boston's News Radio.
My guest is Eric Slipcup, He's the president and CEO of Global Partners.
Uh.
We're going to go to phone calls and see what people have to say about this. I mean, you may look this as another deal, another Massachusetts deal, But I'm tired of this stuff and I want openness and I would like to see. Has the ever been an explanation given to you in writing that says, gee, thank you for your application, but we've decided to go in a different direction. We found that, uh, you know, your RFP
was was lacking in this area. I mean, if if you applied to go to a college, or someone applies to go to goes to a college, they have a sense of what their their board scores are. If you if you're applying for a job, you have a sense of how qualified you are. You're extraordinarily qualifying, and your numbers I think pretty clearly more advantageous to come Wealth of Massachusetts. No one ever came to and said, you know, we've got a problem with with how you've handled things
in the past. There's no explanation here. It's just they win, you lose.
That's you know that, said Dan. I mean at the public meeting, we stated our case given the information that they had had let out, but shorder of that, they simply took a vote. It almost didn't matter that the numbers were a billion dollars and they sat up there, took a vote, all gave a vote and went with apple Green.
Okay, yeah, go ahead.
Plain and simple. That's all. Nothing else, right, they'll.
Go they've gone that way. Let's see what Let's see what the the listeners think here. They're they're the most important constituency that I have. Let's go. First off, Uh going to go to Peabody and we're going to talk with Sal in pvty. Sal you were first up this hour with Eric Slifka, President and CEO of Global Partners.
Go ahead, Sal, Hey, Dan, how you doing? I'm doing this is yeah, a long time listener, Thank you very much. You know what what is really happening here? It makes no sense at all. So I'm listening to this guy, Mike Irvin. He's excellent, by the way, on critical issues. And he said the guy running the meeting didn't even know the difference between gallons and dollars.
Yeah, well, I'm not sure. I'm not sure who Mike urban is. First of all, the person who's my guest is Eric Slifka, President and CEO of Global.
This guy, Mike, does you know he talks about critical issues impacting us as?
Uh? Who is he? I have no idea If you want to tell.
Me anyway, I don't. He's got like a YouTube channel.
Oh well, if he's got a YouTube channel, Look, do me a favorite. And I'm being on a cell. I have no idea who he is. If you said to me Roger Clements said this, I at least would know who Roger Clemens would be, probably if Roger's talking about baseball. But I don't know who this fellow is. So let's just let's get the response to your comment from the fellow who's in the midst of this and I think knows a lot about it, Eric slifk, Eric, go right ahead.
So so Sal, good to meet you, Thanks for calling in. Look, it's it's a billion dollars, uh more than what their alternative that they chose is. And that's the problem, right, And and they've I think they've completely shirked their responsibilities and they did not go with the company that throughout that request for proposal the five areas. You know, we
we shined in every one of those areas. We we scored great and but they haven't told us, and they haven't told us why, and so we don't know other than the dollars or a billion dollars off that's huge money, huge, absolutely.
Well, Sal, I appreciate you, cal If you talked to Mike the fellow you mentioned, tell that. Dan Ray says, along, Okay, I.
Will I will do that. No, thanks you very much, thanks for having me. I appreciate it, and you know, I really it really would be nice for the state to come clean on this, and uh again, be nice for that.
It would be nice for the state to come clean on this and come clean on everything. We need more transparency. This is what ton Ton the government has always talked about transparency, explained to us.
If there's a reason she had Dan no real quick. Didn't she run on transparency.
Amongst other things? Yeah? Absolutely. Everybody says I'll be the most transparent whatever, and then when they get in into office, it's tough to find them. You ever buyd fight.
Its driving me crazy. But anyway, look, I'll let you guys go. Let's see what you called. I appreciate it. Thanks you, great night, Thanks sir.
All right, six ten thirty. I got a couple of lines at six one, seven, nine thirty if you want to get in. We got to take a quick break here, coming right back on night Side.
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
All right back to the phones, were go going to talk with law and in Atedinburgh. Lauren, you're next on Nightside with Eric Slifka, the president and CEO of Global Partners.
Go ahead, Lauren, Hi, thanks for taking my call.
Yeah.
Well, I don't know where Lauren went here, Rob, She must have probably pushed the button wrong. So we'll come back to Lauren in a moment, and let's go to Phil in Boston. Phil, you're next on Nightside. Phil. Right ahead, How you.
Doing the holdings above my pay grade? The bottom line is this wasn't a mass pike supposed to be free. After all the bills are played off.
That's that's a pride that goes back to the nineteen nineties. I think so and bill Well. Bill Well did a lot of that. He took down tolls for you.
Yeah, he tried, Yeah, yeah, Dann this I got there. I'm like this, this fella, I don't know the guy. He's the guy. I apparently he's educated, he's lived here, whose whole life. He can probably just spart a cloudlessky and no one is gonna snow out and he'll be he'll be order an extra rock iceerers for the guys that come in there, I mean, and they gut why why don't these people get together, okay, and transparency, transparency and send them to island for a few days, over
the country years and see what they do. How do they operate? Are they good? Are they good? If this guy's going go to what and it's going on one of his facilities that are operating somewhere while we go over there. And then you mentioned the graand versus the pound or the mead, they're gonna be a different systems. They're gonna be a needed and a European dollar, English dollar versus.
Do Sorry, well, Phil, I think you raised points. And again sometimes I think if it's a close call, the home team should have the advantage, of course, okay, And this to me isn't a close call, and the home steam is still getting the short end of the stick apparently, so you know. And by the way, if someone from Apple Green wants to come on and discuss it with me tomorrow, they're more than welcome. I just hope the
governor takes a good, hard, honest look at this. And I don't think that's too much to ask just.
To make a shop if I leave, if it's almost like going to a pizza shop and they say well, do you want to cook pizza or do you want the cold pizza? If you got to ring on a freeze, well let me you can take the frozen pizza. That'll be good for me. Had more money, get the cook piza. I mean, come on, all right, I'm sorry.
All right, all right, I'll let you right, okay, Well.
Thank you, thank Hey, Hey Dan, Yes, right ahead, Hey Dan, I just want to point one thing out. You know, following on Apple Green's history. You know, Apple Green had won the State of New York's Turnpike bed. Okay, they had a two hundred and sixty million dollars over on fifty eight percent of the total project cost, and they acts the task payers to bail them out in New York. So that's that's their history of the most recent deal that they've done.
Okay, yeah, and look, and you can.
Have problems, but fifty eight percent, yeah, overrun, that's like unbelievable.
Let me keep rolling here, Okay, let me go to Ruby in Foxborough. Ruby, you are next on Nightside with my guest Eric.
Thank you for taking my Callome. I want to thank you, Dan. I want to sut what this is slipped I said earlier It's like, this is a company that's been around for four generations, nearly one hundred years. They're very local. I frequent the All Town Fresh in Easton, and not only for the great food, fresh food, but they also it's a wonderful place to be and they're also extremely charitable.
This family and this company has done so much. And you know that because when you're in the store, they're donating food to the food pantry, they're having coffee with cops. They host the community, you can get gift cards for your kids hockey games. The thing is, the sense that I get is that they meet the people where they're at. So they're generous on the big scale, which we know and because they're one of the most generous companies in the state, but they're also generous at the local level.
They meet the people where they're at. They take care of everybody in the community, and that's what brings people together. And I think that's important, this kindness, this especially now more than ever, I think this matters. And I don't know if you could put, you know, quantify that in this process, but I think it's worth noting and it's a huge factor.
And and again, their bid according to the numbers that I've looked at. Uh. Not only is the competitive bid, is the best bid in terms of Massachusetts and they have experienced So Ruby is a tough one. This is a tough one to understand.
And they and I know people who have received free home heating oil. So they take what they have and then they give it away and they donate it and they take care of their communities. And I really think the governor is making a giant mistake because here's a local company that's taking care of its neighbors. You have somebody coming in who wins a bid from a foreign country. They don't know the people, and this company knows the community, it knows everybody.
Ruby made You made the points, you made them well. But I got to grab one of the call here before before the hour is over.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you, good night. Let me go to Ruth. Ruth, go right ahead.
Hi, Eric, my name is Ruth, and first I want to express my condolences on the loss of your uncle. And really my call is to echo what Ruby said. This is one of the most philanthropic families in the state, and they do good and they never say no, and and it's also a fourth generation company, so they know what they're doing. So I just like my purpose of calling was to say what Ruby said, but I'm just echoing it.
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that. I appreciate that, Ruth, Thank you very much. Let me get one, Thank you, Ruth. One more call in here if I can. John and Marshfield, you're under the wire. I give you about twenty seconds.
Go ahead, John, Okay, Dan, how you doing it? Listen? Eric, I feel your pain because I am a taxpayer in Massachusetts and my thought on this would be this is kind of what you get when you have a one party system in our states. So I hope the governor's paying attention. But she wasn't paying attention with our electric rates?
Was she?
Did?
I think you had a show on that.
Oh yeah, well there's again there's all sorts of questions here, and let's try to get some answers. And again I offer if Apple Green wants to come on to tomorrow night and discuss the comparative bids or at any point, they will be more than welcome. John. I appreciate you call, and I agree with you. One party, stay with Hill.
Luck Eric, good luck. All right, thank you, Eric.
Is there any way that my audience, and I only have a few seconds left, can help you out?
Here?
Can? What would you suggest? Contact the Governor's office.
Contact the Governor's office, go to www dot globalppasn'peter dot com. So www dot globalp dot com. There'll be a red banner. Click on the banner and you can write the letter to whoever you choose there. But more importantly than that, I want to call out the board of mass dot and I want them to release the bidst right they if they're so certain about their choice, they need to release the details of the bids and get this over with and show us that we're right or we're wrong.
I'm ready to step up and do what it takes. They ought a too, don't hide, be straight and stand up and.
Let's let's have some transparency. Eric, I appreciate the call. I appreciate your time tonight. And again, I'm honest. If Applegreen wants an equivalent hour any night this week or whenever, we'll do it. We'll do it. And but I suspect they won't call. We'll see what happens if Eric, keep us in touch on this and let us know how it works out. Thank you so.
Much, you gotta Dan, Thank you.
Good night. When we get back, we're going to talk about the Middle East cease fire, no cease fire now a ceasefire one of the results. We got lots of questions. Hopefully you've got comments coming back on Nightside