In this episode of As the Clown Turns, Mike Wagstaff sits down with Amber Ferry, managing director of the Wagstaff Legacy Foundation, and Rob Adams, founder of Thanksgiving Heroes, to explore Holiday Oil’s longstanding commitment to community service. Rob shares the powerful story behind the organization he built after a childhood of hardship and a promise to his mother, along with the practical logistics of feeding thousands of families each year through volunteers, partners like Associated Foods, and a growing national network. The conversation highlights themes of integrity, paying it forward, leadership through service, and how small acts of generosity can create lasting ripples of hope and connection.

Holiday Oil is leaning into food, and this episode introduces Chef Brad Bosley, the company’s first director of food, alongside president James Peterson. Brad traces the path from a Northern Michigan farm kitchen to Johnson & Wales, product development, and convenience, then lays out how Holiday can leave stereotypical gas-station food behind with fresher, assembled-on-site breakfast and a drive-thru that can compete with quick-serve restaurants. James and Mike talk through Cottonwood distribution, store-level training, and a longer bet on owning more of what they sell so the brand is less dependent on fuel.

Mike Wagstaff sits down with his Uncle Steve—Jerry’s little brother by twelve years—for a family-eye view of how the Wagstaffs got into gasoline and how Holiday Oil actually started. Steve walks the map from King Street and educated nightcrawlers at a three-pump Frontier station to Magna, Beeline and Husky leases, a bobtail truck stuck on the railroad tracks, and the day a nineteen-year-old bought his first stop on a handshake and a ten-thousand-dollar down payment. The result is equal parts origin story and cautionary tale: the clown on the sign has deep roots, family and fuel make a high-octane mix, and the little brother who lived it still tells it better than anyone.

With one of the most iconic and memorable logos in Utah and

across the Wasatch Front, Holiday Oil continues to look back on it's amazing

history with an integral piece of that history: Ned Perry. Ned was the original

graphic artist who conceptualized the smiling clown logo over 50 years ago.

They just don't make them like they used to.

Chuck Coonradt, the mind behind The Game of Work, sits down with Holiday Oil to unpack how a few simple scorecards turned “Fill to Play” into the company’s commission backbone and still shape the way stores keep score today. He traces an unglamorous path from bagging potatoes for a bicycle in Albert Lea to measuring labor in West Coast groceries, then explains the lunch-bell epiphany that still stings: people will sweat harder for a pickup game than they will for a paycheck unless you give them feedback, goals, and a field of play. Darwin and Mike help him land the punch line that rear-view-mirror accounting never won a championship, and Chuck leaves the room with the Platinum Pledge: coach better than you are being coached.

Listen in to the great conclusion to the episode with Randy

Needs, amazing executive from Holiday Oil.

Holiday Oil has such a legacy of innovation, hard work and customer service over the years. Today, Mike sits down with one of the people who set the tone for the entire company, Randy Needs. Randy brings old school customer service and has help usher Holiday into the future by always emphasizing customer relationships and service that doesn't stop.

In this episode, Scott shares his lifelong journey in the oil and convenience store industry, highlighting lessons learned from real estate, store management, and strategic site selection. Including everything from sweeping the floors of the early stores to delivering cases of oil around, Scott literally has Holiday Oil in his blood and that connection shines through. His insights reveal the importance of patience, methodical planning, and teamwork in building a successful business.