Golden Gate Petroleum convenience store also will serve Krispy Krunchy Chicken

Tim Harty, The Business Times 

The Golden Gate Petroleum convenience-store building and fuel-pump areas are taking shape at its soon-to-be-open Whitewater location at the intersection of U.S. Highway 50 and Willow Bend Road. Construction on what will be Golden Gate’s sixth Colorado location began in the spring. Golden Gate’s regional manager for Colorado and Utah, Adriane Smith-Maloney, said the company’s projected opening is mid to late October. Photo by Tim Harty.

The unincorporated Mesa County community of Whitewater is growing, and U.S. Highway 50 traffic is as busy as ever.

That’s simple math for Golden Gate Petroleum owner Dennis O’Keefe when it comes to opportunities to expand his business. And it added up to the Golden Gate convenience store and gas station that’s being built at the intersection of U.S. 50 and Willow Bend Road, about a mile-and-a-quarter northwest of the Colorado Highway 141 turnoff into Whitewater.

O’Keefe “takes in all information when projecting new locations,” said Adriane Smith-Maloney, Golden Gate Petroleum’s regional manager for Colorado and Utah. “I would say that traffic flow is a good encouragement, but also necessity, so he’s looking at areas that don’t necessarily have easy-access, high-flow pumps or are just kind of short on the market for a good, clean, gas station.

“That’s kind of how the birth of a location is determined.”

She added up-and-coming markets are always ideal and reiterated the point about ease of access, which is why the location at Willow Bend Road makes more sense than putting the store at the Colorado 141 turnoff into Whitewater.

“If you’ve got heavy truck flow in any direction, those drivers really need the ability to get in and get out without having to make sharp U-turns or put their trucks in a bind,” Smith-Maloney said.

Smith-Maloney said the Whitewater Golden Gate Petroleum will have 17 fuel dispensers, and four of them will be high-flow diesel.

Staffing-wise, she said the store will have 13 to 20 employees.

The projected opening of the Whitewater Golden Gate, she said, is mid to late October.

It will be the fourth Golden Gate location in Mesa County – 2385 G Road and 399 29 Road in Grand Junction and 780 37 3/10 Road in Palisade – and sixth in Colorado. The other two are nearby in Montrose and Silt.

Whitewater’s Golden Gate, however, will be a little different. It will be little larger, mostly because it will have a full-service Krispy Krunchy Chicken, which Smith-Maloney deemed “phenomenal chicken.”

The other Grand Valley locations do not have Krispy Krunchy Chicken. The Montrose store has a smaller version of KKC.

She explained how Whitewater differs: “They’re gonna have some seating available inside and a much larger scale of chicken, so that would be the biggest difference between the Grand Junction locations, that nobody in Grand Junction is familiar with Krispy Krunchy yet.”

Smith-Maloney added, “Obviously it’s gonna sound biased, because I work for the company, but I’m gonna tell you, I was raised on KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken), and this blows KFC out of the water. It’s the Cajun seasoning that does it for me. It’s a light Cajun seasoning, so it’s not overbearing, but it makes it divine.”

Of course, the Whitewater Golden Gate will be like all of the others in many ways.

“I’ve been with the company since 2019, and one of the things that I would say sets us apart from other competitors, which will remain nameless, is we value customer service and cleanliness to the highest of standards,” Smith-Maloney said. “Our staff are trained to greet people more effectively. We don’t believe in things like self-checkouts typically. We like that customer experience way more than the quickness or efficiency of automated systems, and almost all of our raving reviews will notate the cleanliness in the bathrooms. That makes the biggest difference, I tell you.”

Given the foothold Golden Gate has gotten in the Grand Junction area, Smith-Maloney didn’t rule out more Golden Gate convenience stores popping up in Western Colorado.

“Dennis (O’Keefe) is always looking for good opportunity,” she said. “He is a growth-minded individual, and I will tell you he has grown during even recession times; 2008 he was building multiple stations. … Colorado has been a booming area or industry for him to engage in, and I would not be surprised to see future locations across Colorado.”

There also could be more coming to Utah in addition to one currently being built not so far from Grand Junction. Grand Valley residents who take I-70 and U.S. Route 191 to Moab will notice a Golden Gate convenience store being built at the intersection of those highways near Crescent Junction.

Golden Gate Petroleum has convenience stores in four states: California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. The majority of its 37 stores are in Nevada, where it is headquartered.