Adrian Portelli has signalled Tarneit as the next location for his LMCT+ Petrol cut-price fuel model, with southeast Melbourne flagged to follow. The expansion comes after his Preston site drew sustained queues earlier this year by selling fuel as low as 49.99c a litre, generating police attention and questions in state parliament.
The Tarneit site appears to be the existing Shell station at 380 Sayers Rd, next to Wyndham Village Shopping Centre. LMCT+ has not confirmed the specific site or an opening date. Followers have requested expansions to the Gold Coast and Sydney.
For independent operators watching the pattern, the more useful question is not whether LMCT+ comes to a particular catchment. It is what the Preston queues actually revealed about customer behaviour, and what that means for everyone else running a fuel and convenience site.
What the queues showed
Three things stood out from the Preston phenomenon.
Price sensitivity has not gone away. Despite three years of supply pressure, public discussion of fuel security, and elevated retail prices, the willingness of motorists to queue for an hour to save 30 to 40 dollars on a tank suggests price remains the decisive factor for a significant customer segment. That segment exists in every catchment.
Social media changes the catchment. Preston drew customers from well beyond its normal trade area because the price was newsworthy and the visuals were shareable. Sites that previously thought of catchment in five to ten kilometre terms need to consider how digital amplification can reshape demand patterns on short notice.
The membership is the actual product. LMCT+ runs a $99 annual membership, which is being renamed Everyday Saver to cover the planned supermarket rollout. Portelli has acknowledged shop sales are offsetting fuel losses. His signature drink Flipside has hit 22 per cent of its sales across the 7-Eleven network from one Preston site after one month. The fuel discount is the customer acquisition mechanism. The recurring revenue comes from memberships and shop sales.
What it means
The LMCT+ model is unusual and difficult to replicate. It depends on a strong personal brand driving membership sign-ups, and on supplementary product lines (drinks, memberships, eventually groceries) carrying the margin that fuel doesn’t. For most operators, that combination doesn’t exist.
But the underlying customer behaviour does. Independents in catchments where LMCT+ or any cut-price operator arrives can expect a visible volume impact on price-sensitive customers, particularly in the first few weeks while the novelty drives extended-catchment travel.
The protective position is the same as for any major discount competitor. Know which of your customers are at price risk and which are coming for location, basket, or relationship. The customers worth defending are the ones who buy more than fuel. The customers worth understanding are the ones who would queue for a 30-dollar savings.