Nine C-store Chains Crack America's Largest Private Cos. List

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Who are the largest private companies in America? Look no further than convenience store chains.

Nine c-store chains were named to the America's Largest Private Companies list, published by Forbes. Two of those chains, Pilot Flying J and Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores, cracked the top 10.

Forbes ranks the top private companies based upon revenues. Knoxville, Tenn.-based Pilot Flying J -- with an estimated $29.23 billion in revenues -- ascended to No. 6 in the 2012 list, five slots ahead of where it placed in 2011.

Oklahoma City, Okla.-based Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores rang up $22.04 billion in revenues, good enough to place No. 9 on the list. Love's was No. 7 on last year's list.

Also placing on the magazine's list of the 220 largest U.S. private companies were QuikTrip (No. 26) with $10.77 billion in revenues; Cumberland Farms (No. 30) with 9.80 billion in revenues; RaceTrac Petroleum (No. 36) with $9.06 billion in revenues; Wawa (No. 40) with $8.46 billion in revenues; Sheetz (No. 61) with $5.75 billion in revenues; Holiday Cos. (No. 101) with $3.9 billion in revenues; and Kum & Go (No. 173) with $2.61 billion in revenues.

QuikTrip, Cumberland Farms, RaceTrac, and Wawa all placed higher than their 2011 finish, according to the financial magazine's data. Sheetz slipped slightly from No. 58 to No. 61.

Both Holiday Cos. and Kum & Go did not place on last year's Forbes list.

Food, drink and tobacco company Cargill topped the magazine's list of private companies with $133.9 billion in revenues.