Family Express® started on Christmas Day in 1975 when Gus Olympidis opened his first convenience store on the west side of Valparaiso, Indiana. Much has changed since then, but much has remained the same – Gus is still President and CEO, and Family Express® still maintains a total commitment to its customers.
To be the finest small chain of convenience stores and fueling centers in the world.
We provide our customers with total satisfaction by offering competitively priced, high-quality products and services, in a clean, safe, and friendly environment. We serve our community through volunteerism and we are profitable in order to assure the future prosperity of our employees and our company.
Family Express® is recognized in the marketplace for obsessing about customer service. We have developed our reputation around the art of building relationships with our customers by utilizing our Living Brand: our uniquely friendly employees. In addition, our upscale colonial architecture and enhanced landscaping plans warmly welcome visitors from across Northwest Indiana. Family Express® takes pride in using cutting edge technology throughout its operation to ensure an unsurpassed environment for its customers and associates to visit.
We also believe strongly in our responsibility to the environment. All of our underground storage tanks are electronically controlled and monitored in order to assure fuel quality and environmental safety. In 2013, Family Express® began a multimillion-dollar upgrade of every light bulb in every store and office to more energy efficient LED lights.
There are currently 81 stores throughout Northwest and North Central Indiana with a few more in the works. Our unique logistics model consolidates 30 traditional DSD weekly deliveries into daily deliveries throughout the week, thereby achieving transportation efficiencies and unsurpassed freshness for perishables. We are known for high-performance fuels and our proprietary brands, including Java Wave® gourmet bean-to-cup coffees, the JW European Café®, SqueezeFreeze® frozen carbonated drinks, private label natural spring water, milk products, and our unique cubed and crushed ice. The Cravin’s Market brand includes a line of fresh sandwiches, wraps, and salads. Cravin’s Bakery® offers an assortment of delicious treats, like our famous square donuts, that are baked fresh in a state-of-the-art bakery, packaged for freshness and safety, and then delivered daily from our central distribution facility in Valparaiso, Indiana.
In 2017, Family Express® introduced its made to order food program, Cravin’s To Order®, an in-store kitchen where made-to-order pizza, boneless wings, cheese-stuffed pretzels, breakfast favorites, and more only takes minutes to get in a customer's hands.
In 2020, Family Express® tripled the size of its Distribution Center and Bakery, and initiated a completely new packaging system to offer its customers the freshest products, in the safest way possible.
In 2015, the company received the Convenience Store Decisions Chain of the Year award, known as one of the most prestigious convenience retail awards in the United States.
In 2019, Delish named Family Express® the best local convenience store in Indiana.
In 2020, Family Express® received the Business Award for its support of clean, domestic fuels that support the Hoosier economy and national energy security. Family Express® was an early adopter and advocate for higher ethanol blend fuels and invested $1 million in energy efficient lighting at its convenience stores and offices.