Advanced Propane’s new generation charts a path forward at LP Gas Growth Summit

July 30, 2025 By Bob Sandrick

Andy Stewart was still gaining his foothold as COO of Advanced Propane, a Tennessee-based retailer, when he attended his first LP Gas Growth Summit last year in Orlando, Florida.

Just three years earlier, in April 2021, his uncle Danny Stewart died suddenly and unexpectedly. Danny Stewart, a former banker, had led Advanced Propane as COO and vice president since 1996. When he died at 64, he was still mentoring Andy and his brother Luke on how to run a business.

The loss was an emotional blow because the Stewart brothers had interacted with their uncle every day. However, they knew Uncle Danny would have wanted them to keep Advanced in business for the sake of their customers, employees and their employees’ families.

“It was a whirlwind for a solid year,” Andy Stewart, 37, says. “We were trying to make sure we kept the company going in the right direction. We were trying to remember everything our uncle taught us.”

For Andy and Luke Stewart, who became company president, one task was to reestablish and solidify existing relationships with business partners and vendors who had worked with Danny Stewart but weren’t well acquainted with his nephews.

The 2024 LP Gas Growth Summit provided the perfect opportunity for Andy Stewart to introduce himself as a new leader of Advanced Propane. For example, he met with representatives from long-time vendors Quality Steel, a tank manufacturer in Cleveland, Mississippi, and its sister company, LP Cylinder Service, which repairs, refurbishes and recertifies propane tanks in Shohola, Pennsylvania.

Advanced Propane has purchased propane tanks from Quality Steel for several years, but Scott Eggers, southeast region sales manager of Quality Steel, and Jim Alderman, sales manager with LP Cylinder Service, had done business with Danny Stewart and barely knew his nephews.

At the Growth Summit, Alderman and Eggers came to know Stewart better and were impressed with how he and his brother had overcome adversity with the loss of their uncle.

“The relationships, bonds and friendships in this industry are what keeps things going,” Eggers says. “With Andy, the story for me was how proud his uncle would be, with the way he and his family have picked up the mantle and carried it well.”

Stewart also had a chance to express his company’s needs and how Quality Steel/LP Cylinder Service might help him. The Growth Summit allowed time for those private, confidential discussions.

“Andy shared some things face to face that he probably wouldn’t share on the trade show floor,” Alderman says.

Stewart admits he was a little nervous heading to the summit. He wasn’t sure what to expect in his meeting with Eggers and Alderman.

“I didn’t know how hard they were going to push, but it was laid back and an easy conversation,” Stewart says. “We talked about our past relationship and how beneficial it has been. It was enjoyable.”

Another experience Stewart appreciated was staying at the same resort as other marketers who attended.

“I talked to people from Illinois, Houston, people in different markets, and gained different perspectives,” Stewart says. “We bounced ideas off each other and asked questions, and we didn’t have to worry about anyone stealing secrets because we were not direct competitors.”

Stewart is still raving about the Growth Summit to his employees at Advanced Propane. He even urges other propane marketers in Tennessee to attend if they’re invited, regardless of whether they are competitors with his company.

Alderman, who attended his first Growth Summit in 2022, says the event is an opportunity to meet new clients and hear from existing customers about how they can improve their products and services.

“Customers like to be involved in that; they want to be heard,” Alderman says. “We receive great feedback at the summit.”

Eggers loved the high-energy atmosphere, with people who love the propane business, at the summit.

“They are there to learn and grow but more importantly to either rekindle, strengthen or establish new relationships,” Eggers says. “It’s the relationships, friendships and camaraderie that are the backbone of the propane industry.”