About Us: Rotten Robbie in a Nutshell
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Rotten Robbie is an independent, private brand marketer of fueling stations and convenience stores.  We have 34 stores throughout Northern California, primarily in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.  Rotten Robbie is owned and operated by Robinson Oil Corporation, a fourth generation family business headquartered in Santa Clara.rotten_robbins_office

Although Rotten Robbie would like to own oil wells and refineries, we unfortunately must survive solely on our ability to operate stations and convenience stores profitably.  Rotten Robbie’s success over the years stems from our ability to sell high volumes of fuel at competitive prices.  We work hard to run an efficient operation while emphasizing clean stores and friendly service.  Employees are always the key to success and that definitely is the case at Rotten Robbie.  We pride ourselves on the long tenure of many of our employees.

Our convenience stores vary in size from very small (kiosks) to large with a full selection of store products.  We sell Unleaded Gasoline and Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel at all of our locations.  Some locations sell K-2 Kerosene and Propane in bulk.  Four locations have Touch Free Car Washes.  We sell the same quality products as the big guys, without charging the “big guy” prices.  We do this by shopping around to get the best deals from all of the suppliers, just like our customers do!

We not only serve retail customers, but we also serve commercial customers through our affiliation with the Pacific Pride and CFN Fleet Fueling Networks.  Pacific Pride and CFN cards are accepted at most Rotten Robbie locations.  Please go to our Commercial Fueling page for more information.

Rotten Robbie – The Early Days

Robinson Oil Corporation began as Mathson Petroleum Company circa 1938 in Watsonville, California.  We say circa because we are not positive about the date.  I guess if we thought we were going to last this long, we would have paid more attention.  William L. Mathson, Sr. started the company, and sold it to his son-in-law, Don Robinson in the early 1950’s (again, we are not sure about the date).  Don Robinson moved the company to San Jose in 1964 and the named changed to Robinson Oil.  A partnership was formed in 1971 with another long time San Jose company, Coast Oil Company.  Coast Oil was founded by Herb Richards.  One of Herb’s many claims to fame was having the first self-service gasoline station in Northern California in 1948.  The station was located in San Jose.

In 1973, the company began selling gasoline under the Rotten Robbie name.  As a small, local marketer of gasoline and diesel fuel, we did not have the large budget available to big oil companies to create a recognizable brand.  The “Rotten Robbie” moniker was a fun (and inexpensive) way to have a name customers would remember and associate with the company’s competitive fuel prices and well run stores.  Rotten Robbie seemed to work, so we continue to be Rotten Robbie today, and hopefully well into tomorrow.

Rotten Robbie Vision

The Rotten Robbie vision is to be known as a Good company as measured by our employees, customers, community, neighbors, vendors and owners.  We understand that we cannot just say we are a good company, others have to say it about us.  The mission for our employees and owners is to meet the expectations of all of the groups listed above. Some days, quite frankly, we do a better job than others.  Generally we take constructive comments well, so please let us know if we have been (or have not been) a good company in your eyes.

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