"Whatley Oil was founded and started in January of 1955 by Bruce and Sara Whatley. They were commission agents of Standard Oil Company of Kentucky. In 1980 Bruce Whatley became a jobber for Chevron Oil Company. Steve Whatley joined the business in March of 1976 after graduating from the University of Georgia. Whatley Oil bought out a Union 76 jobber in 1990 and expanded into Terrell, Lee, Webster, Clay and several counties in Alabama during the early 90's. Greg Whatley joined the business in 1993 after serving 20 years as a pilot in the U.S. army. Whatley Oil expanded into Columbus, Georgia in 1994 and acquired 3 jobberships in Muscogee county and 1 in Clay county from 1997 to 2001. Today Whatley Oil operates in 17 counties in Georgia and Alabama representing several brands and is a full service jobber. Whatley Convenience Stores was started in May of 1999. It operates 6 convenience stores in Georgia and 2 in Alabama. The stores do business as Zelmo's Zip In, which is a nickname of one of its owners. The stores which are all branded include the Chevron, Texaco and CITGO brands."