Florida energy firm partners with credit card processor at LP Gas Growth Summit

August 24, 2025 By Bob Sandrick 0 Comments

Jesse Rack is relatively new to the propane business. He launched Rack Energy – a propane and natural gas delivery service headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida – in 2019. It’s a sister company of Rack Electric, which his father John Rack started years earlier.

From the beginning, Rack possessed all the enthusiasm necessary to succeed in the propane world. He also knew how to stand out from competitors after observing others in the field. He just needed a few of the right connections.

Rack secured at least some of those connections at the 2024 LP Gas Growth Summit in Orlando, Florida. It was there he met Jane Hanlon, who’s in business development at Tiger Payment Solutions, a Kingston, Massachusetts, credit card processing firm with clients nationwide.

By that time, representatives from Rack had already asked Tiger, which specializes in partnering with fuel companies, to handle its credit card processing. The folks at Rack learned that propane businesses are considered utilities that qualify for lower charges on credit card transactions.

However, Rack himself had never met Hanlon or her colleague, Zach Turner, who’s also in business development at Tiger, until the summit.

“It was nice to put faces to the names,” Rack says. “At the summit, we got to know them even better. It helped with the transition.”

Rack had been paying a 3 percent service charge every time one of his customers used a credit card to buy his services. He had no choice but to pass that expense along to his customers.

Hanlon told Rack that Tiger would reduce that service charge to less than 2 percent. The fee is so low that Rack can now eat it without hurting his bottom line.

“Tiger is saving me thousands of dollars in credit card processing, which is just money back into the business, helping us buy new trucks and equipment,” Rack says.

At the Growth Summit, Rack was introduced to two other companies with which he is now doing business. One is Westmor Industries, a Morris, Minnesota, maker of storage, transport and dispensing equipment. Rack purchased two bobtails from Westmor.

“We didn’t even know who Westmor was until we met them at the summit,” Rack says.

Meanwhile, Tiger Payment Solutions benefited from the summit in a way it wasn’t necessarily expecting. Rack was so impressed by Tiger’s offerings – the company also provides bill payment services, loyalty and gift card programs, and fraud protection – that he recommended the firm to two other propane retailers. Both signed with Tiger.

“A referral is a direct reflection of me,” Rack says. “For me to refer Tiger to two other people I know, and for both of those people to sign up with them, it says a lot about the relationship that not only I have with Tiger, but how I feel Tiger treats me as a client.

“I don’t refer people really ever because it could be a nightmare and regrettable,” Rack says. “But I do believe in the services Tiger has, and everything has been great.”

Hanlon says Tiger has attended the summit for at least seven years and has consistently picked up additional clients there.

“Our goal is to educate people and let them know what they’re eligible for,” Hanlon says. “We go to trade shows and customer summits, but the LP Gas Growth Summit is our favorite event of the year.

“It’s not just the one-on-one sessions,” Hanlon says. “There’s also golf and cocktail hours and barbecues. It’s a very relaxed, comfortable event where you really get to know people.”

Rack says the Growth Summit was “awesome,” especially for someone new to the industry. He enjoyed meeting people from small, independent retailers and exchanging ideas with them. There was a naturally occurring camaraderie.