When Ciara Foxton took up her role as managing director of Circle K Ireland in early 2024, she set herself the goal of visiting all 170 of the group’s company-owned locations in her first year. “One of my directors said, ‘I love your ambition, but there’s no chance’.”
Her colleague turned out to be right, but it wasn’t for the lack of effort.
“I did well, actually,” she says. “It’s the most important part of my job […] I don’t drive around on my own. I jumped in the car with the area managers, the retail directors. My big thing was I wanted them to get a sense of who I was. I am not this boss person who comes in and never walks around a store.”
On the surface at least, the Armagh native’s efforts appear to have paid off. On a mild winter’s day in Circle K’s Dublin Port forecourt, perhaps the group’s busiest, the staff and managers seem relaxed and greet Foxton cheerfully as she gives a whistle-stop tour of the facility.
They retain their courtesy, even as a quick Irish Times photo shoot threatens to gum up the flow of high-viz vest-wearing customers through the shop.
Including the forecourt, Circle K occupies an eye-popping real estate footprint in the port. It operates four storage yards, where it handles and distributes shipments of petrol, diesel, aviation fuel and, increasingly, hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO).
The nerve centre of the group’s port operation is the terminal where our interview is to take place.
Foxton drives us over to the venue from the forecourt in her Tesla. What prompted her to take the electric vehicle (EV) plunge?
“The biggest thing for me was the customer experience,” she says. “Obviously, I have driven a petrol or a diesel car, and I know what that experience is like. And because I know that it’s probably going to be the biggest thing that’s going to change [about the] Circle K experience in the next few years. I just feel a bit more equipped to talk about it, especially when you’re out on the road as well.”
Circle K, which also has a network of 250 independent retailers operating under the brand, has certainly made a big bet on the transition to EVs. The group has invested more than €15 million in EV charging infrastructure in the past three years.
“The great thing about being part of such a global organisation, and a business that’s doing well, is that we’ve got money to invest,” she says.
Yet, despite its financial firepower, Circle K is running into some familiar blind alleys.
“We want to move faster,” Foxton says, mentioning planning regulations as one barrier to that. However, the big obstacle for Circle K is Ireland’s electricity grid. “It’s the speed to get connected,” she explains. “And then in some areas, the grid isn’t strong enough for us to serve our customers and to be that on-the-go destination for EV.”
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In the Republic, Circle K has about 10 stores where it has invested – at considerable cost, Foxton says – in charging stations that are not yet hooked up to the electricity grid. She won’t be drawn on the financial details, but it seems the group has a hefty sum of money sitting idle on the ground, waiting for juice.
“It does break my heart a little bit,” she says. “If you’re a customer, you don’t know that [the charging station] doesn’t have the grid connection. It looks like it’s in service. Then, you come back, and it’s still out of service. And we do have a thing saying, EV charging coming soon. We try to communicate in that way, but it’s frustrating.”
Having “big hubs”, like the dedicated EV charging facilities Circle K opened in Clonshaugh and Citywest in October, has been “a massive win”. However, Foxton says it’s challenging to plan investments, given the uncertainties and constraints.
“I don’t have a magic number in my head,” she says when asked how much Circle K plans to invest in EV charging over the coming years.
“I just know, if we look at our recent history, we’ve invested a lot in our terminals. We’ve invested a lot in our stores, really trying to enhance customer experience with a whole forecourt rebrand this year. We’ve invested in HVO infrastructure. So EVs are the next big thing in terms of significant capital investment and new stores as well.”
Ciara Foxton, managing director of Circle K Ireland, at the Circle K forecourt at Dublin Port. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
There was a time, not so long ago, when investing in EV stations and expanding the retail side of the business were seen as vital steps to future-proof the forecourt retailer against declining demand for fossil fuels. Broadly, that still rings true. However, adoption of emissions-free cars has not been linear, and after earlier successes, EV sales in the Republic plummeted in recent years before increasing dramatically again in 2025.
Reading the tea leaves, the timeline for global petrol and diesel demand is increasingly strained. Oil majors Shell and BP have backtracked rapidly on their climate goals.
And just this week, the European Commission decided to scrap an effective ban on the combustion engine by 2035. Reports of the imminent death of fossil fuels have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.
Foxton’s perspective on this is somewhat telling. She sees the investment in Circle K’s food and in-store offering, not just as an insurance policy for the future, but as a way of offering customers more choice in the present.
“If you look at our business, it’s about 50:50 in terms of profitability across both food and fuel,” she says. “If you look at the stats, diesel is declining, but our market share is growing, so there’s still demand there.
“So, my primary objective for innovation, and particularly around food, is to serve the customers today. I’m not trying to innovate within the store to compensate for something that’s going to happen longer term.”
Foxton says that while EV charging is going to be the biggest shift under the canopy over the next few years, food will be the main area of change within stores. In a nutshell, it means offering more choice, healthier options and better value for customers across the group’s store network.
“Food is where I see the biggest opportunity,” Foxton says. “Even leaning into the EV charging [side of the business], you’re stopping and maybe dwelling a little bit longer. But there’s a bigger drive now for healthier food on the go.”
Gone are the days of the jumbo breakfast roll and jambon being the only things on the menu.
“There’s now an expectation of healthier options,” Foxton believes. “I want those options as a customer. And look, we have a lot of different customers who walk through the door. There’s a need for everything that we sell, but I do think it’s a nice opportunity. The next generation coming through is very health-focused.”
Ciara Foxton, managing director of Circle K Ireland. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
Fast food is still a key component of the Circle K equation, however, and the group partners with the likes of McDonald’s and Subway, but also indigenous brands like Supermac’s, Camile Thai and Offbeat Donuts.
Applegreen generated headlines – and lengthy queues – earlier this year when it launched US fast food giant Taco Bell’s first Irish store at its location in Dunshauglin, Co Meath, one of three planned tie-ups between the pair. Given the publicity its rival received, there must have been some temptation to make a similar splashy announcement.
Not really, in Foxton’s view.
“I think there’s space for everything,” she says. “It’s resonating with customers, but we already have McDonald’s, a big global brand, and we have an Irish brand in Supermac’s […] It’s about championing local, and that’s what we like to do.”
Neither does she criticise Applegreen for shouting about the Taco Bell partnership from the rooftops. “I think if you do something like that, you’re right to talk about it,” she says.
Foxton has been with Circle K since 2018, joining a couple of years after the Canadian forecourt giant entered the Irish market with its acquisition of Topaz. She was hired as group head of financial planning and analysis just before it rebranded as Circle K Ireland, which she describes as an exciting period.
“My particular role would have been the back-end system, side of things,” she says. “It was tricky, but it was very exciting to be part of such a big national launch.”
Early on, Foxton recalls some question marks over Circle K’s staying power in the Irish market. Those questions seem a bit quaint now, given the amount of money – probably around €250 million, Foxton says – the Toronto-listed parent group Couche Tard has pumped into becoming the largest forecourt retailer in the Republic.
“They’re so happy with the performance,” she says. “We got our Guaranteed Irish accreditation. They’re here to stay and invest and be part of the community.”
Expansion is definitely on the agenda for Circle K. Earlier this year, the competition regulator cleared the group’s acquisition of seven Pelco-owned, Texaco-branded service stations in Dublin and Meath.
Into the future, the strategy is going to be about building new stores and shaping them to fit Circle K’s own specifications.
“The big focus now,” says Foxton, “is getting a greenfield site and building big locations where we can accommodate all of our best food offerings, EV charging, car wash, HVO, truck pumps, and all the rest. That one-stop shop where you can bring in busloads of people, they can all get served and get in and out fast.”
Ciara Foxton: “There’s now an expectation of healthier options.” Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
It’s an expensive time to be buying sites in Ireland, let alone funding complex construction projects. “It’s big money,” Foxton admits. “It has to be in an area of need, so off busy motorway locations, or in an area where there isn’t enough for the customers, so you’re bringing something better.”
Certainly, construction costs are high at the moment, she says. “They’re not going to go down. It is a big advantage to be working for a bigger business.”
So, it’s full steam ahead for Foxton and her team as they get to grips with what she calls the “forecourt of the future”.
CV
Name: Ciara Foxton
Job: Managing director of Circle K
Lives: Ranelagh, Dublin
Family: Married to Paul, with two children Sarah and Charlie
Hobbies/Interests: “Entertaining family and friends at home, dining out, and recently I’m enjoying getting back into some strength and conditioning training.”
Something you might expect: “I get my energy from people and love this job as it gives me so many opportunities to meet great people every day.”
Something that might surprise: “As a publican’s daughter and former employee of Diageo, I pull the perfect pint of Guinness.”