Kayo is OK!
By Wayne Henderson

I remember first hearing it on the radio. The local country station was advertising that on Saturday they would have their mobile broadcast unit set up at the grand opening of a new service station in the Denbigh area of Newport News, Virginia. The year was 1968, and I was six years old. I managed to talk my parents into visiting the grand opening of this unusual new station. Three pump islands positioned end to end, topped with a canopy edged in red and white diamond shaped lights. At the north end of the lot an electrified figural sign depicting a boy pointing at a price sign ...Speedy Kayo. This was not the first time I had attended the grand opening of a gasoline station. Several years earlier a Crown "Peoples" station had opened near my home and we had gone by there, as we had when a Hudson station opened in Norfolk. Even at that age, I knew that a gas station grand opening was a great place for goodies, along with the usual oil cans and road maps. As best as I remember, a number of the Kayo quart cans that I have today came from that Saturday visit many years ago.

This was not the first Kayo station I had encountered. There were older units in Hampton and Newport News, as well as several in Norfolk, one of which was in a converted two-bay service station. Although considered anything except aesthetically pleasing by today's standards, I always liked the Kayo image. Older units consisted of white station buildings with numerous signs along either side. A large Kayo logo mounted on top of the station. Multiple pump islands with pumps painted red and white with black detailing. Signage included their childlike mascot "Speedy". Light poles were painted in red and white stripe patterns, as were any above ground storage tanks. At some stations it seemed those red and white stripes were everywhere! Eventually the goodies I collected at that Kayo station in Denbigh became part of a collection of items that I have assembled from Southern and Midwestern independent companies, trackside stations sometimes referred to as discounters. Along with the collectibles, I have amassed a huge amount of information about these companies. One by one, the mysteries of these companies have come into focus. One of the companies that has proved most elusive, however, is Kayo. From company literature we knew that the company was founded in 1940 in Chattanooga by Francis Paul Kendall, Sr. The Kendall family built the chain to 171 stations before selling out to Conoco in 1959. In the Conoco era, the station count increased to nearly 1000, with representation in most states east of the Mississippi River. It was not the most "hidden" of the captive independent brands (gasoline brands operated by major oil companies under regional independent names that masked the fact that they were part of a huge corporation), but there was little around a Kayo station that pointed to ownership by Conoco. Only the fact that Kayo stations sold Conoco motor oils was a clue, and even that was inconclusive as Conoco oils were sold by independent marketers in many areas. In short, relative to many companies, we knew almost nothing about Kayo. A one-piece globe displaying the Kayo brand was traced to a mid-1920s company based in St. Louis, Missouri, Torch Oil Company. Similarity of the name, even the logotype that appears on the globe, has been attributed to coincidence ...perhaps Mr. Kendall had been familiar with the company and had in later years adopted the name using a similar logotype. Existence of a Kayo globe from the Chattanooga based operation has been speculated, rumored for years. Old photos of many Kayo stations are known, though none show the use of globes. No F. P. Kendall "Kayo" globe could be confirmed ...until this past week.

Pure chance put me in a used book store in Knoxville this week where I picked up a copy of a book about Chattanooga history. You've probably seen this type of book, where numerous companies based in a particular city sponsor a history of their hometown. In the back there are often stories about the sponsor companies themselves, advertising in return for patronage. I flipped through the Chattanooga history, reading about Red Food stores, Krystal hamburgers, Little Debbie cookies, all proud Chattanooga companies. I put the book down, then as an afterthought, I checked the index for a mention of Kayo. What I found astounded me, particularly in light of the fact that I'd already flipped through the book. Inside I had missed the most complete history of Kayo that we've seen thus far, along with a picture of a Kayo station from the 1950s that shows pumps topped with globes clearly branded Kayo. The elusive Kayo globe had finally been confirmed.

Frank Paul Kendall, Sr. was born in Eau Claire, WI. In his early years he is known to have been a jobber for Marland Oil Company products. The scant biographical information in the article indicated that he was involved in the oil business in Minnesota, Memphis, Upper East Tennessee and other locations in the Midwest. Torch Oil Company and St. Louis were not specifically mentioned, although that connection now certainly seems plausible. In 1940 he began F. P. Kendall Oil Company in Chattanooga, TN, with seven stations branded "Kayo" in the metropolitan area. Growth was restricted by World War 2, but following the war his son, F. Paul Kendall, Jr. joined the company and began expanding the operation. By 1952 there were some 40 stations in several Southeastern states. Unlike traditional "trackside" discounters, which operated inner-city sites near industrial facilities, Kayo chose to locate stations on highways leading into towns and cities. Seen in old photos and based on my own memory, these early stations were primitive, with small buildings serving only as shelter, flanked by numerous product displays and signs. The candy-stripe design was adopted early on, and the red and white stripes served to identify Kayo for nearly 40 years.

In 1959 there were 171 Kayo stations operating in 11 states. The Kendall family had built a very successful operation, but it had expanded about as far as a privately owned operation could, successfully. Additional financing would be needed for the company to grow, and many independents were being gobbled up by major oil companies. Kendall turned to Continental Oil, successors to his old supplier, Marland. Continental was in the process of entering the "independent" business, having purchased California's Douglas Oil Company and Minneapolis based Western Oil and Fuel. Douglas and the Western brands, Western, Mileage, and Direct Service (DS) were to continue, basically the operations would remain intact. Continental was offering the same deal to Kayo. The deal was made, and Paul Kendall would remain in the Kayo operation. Continental (Conoco) offered another unusual asset to the operation ...existing stations. Conoco had long been a marketer in part of the Kayo marketing area, specifically Virginia, and had, prior to 1950, operated numerous stations on a company-supplied basis. When Conoco had ceased marketing in the mid-Atlantic states in 1950-51, they had leased their company owned assets to Cities Service. On many of the sites the lease arrangement was soon to be up for negotiation. Conoco opted to turn these stations over to their new subsidiary, Kayo Oil Company, and Kayo signs went up on a network of 1920s and 30s vintage Conoco stations. Overnight the number of Kayo stations greatly increased, both from the former Conoco sites and from the influx of cash that the acquisition had provided. By 1970 over 900 stations in 22 states displayed the Kayo brand, including the station whose grand opening I attended as a child.

During the 1970s Kayo, as a "captive independent" fared better than many other brands, having the assured supply of Conoco products and cash backing to get the company through the chaotic days of the gas shortages. Growth essentially ceased, however, until 1977 when Kayo, along with other Conoco entities were consolidated, notably Western stations, pioneer convenience store operator; and Fasgas, another discount chain. Stations were remodeled, with yellow, blue, black and white replacing the traditional candy-striped red and white colors. The brandname Jet, adopted from a European Conoco operation, was applied to larger sites, usually incorporating a convenience store, while the Kayo name continued on smaller locations and "gas only" sites. By 1980, all remnants of the former attractive Kayo image were gone, with only the name left to tie the operation to its origins. In the early 1990s it was decided to phase out the Kayo and Fasgas brands, replacing them with "Jet" at all locations. Then, in 1991, the Jet signs began coming down, with Conoco signs going up, with all marketing to be consolidated under the company's primary brand. Jet stations in Virginia were sold to Crown; in West Virginia to Go Mart. In Florida the chain was broken into several components. At these locations the Jet brand remained until the purchases could be completed. Within a year or two, all evidence of Kayo was gone.

The Kayo operation gave Conoco a strong entry into the Southeast, and today Conoco jobbers are found in most Southeastern states as a direct result of initial direct marketing efforts made from the remnants of Kayo. As for collectibles, Kayo items are extremely rare. Only a few quart cans are known to exist, with two gallon bulk cans being probably the most common Kayo items. Most of the cans shown with this article were part of the items I gathered at that station opening so many years ago. Signage went from local made painted signs to plastic, so there is virtually no Kayo signage that would be considered collectible. Pumps were identified with decals, although dial-face decals die-cut depicting the Speedy Kayo figure are popular among collectors in the south. With the confirmation that a globe does exist, it can only be a matter of time until one surfaces. It is definitely on my want list. In the meantime, I will continue to research the tie between Torch Oil Company and their Kayo brand, and the better known F. P Kendall Kayo brand.

Article and image courtesy of ‘Petroleum Collectibles Monthly’