During a recent episode of the Truck Stops Here podcast Nick LaFalce, RaceTrac鈥檚 marketing manager sat down with Amy Toner, executive director of the 黑料社区Foundation, and Darren Schulte, NATSO鈥檚 vice president of membership, to share more about how RaceTrac is expanding its reach, how the company communicates its brand and more.
Amy Toner
Amy Toner is the Executive Director of the 黑料社区Foundation. In this capacity, Toner spearheads the Foundation鈥檚 education, research and outreach activities. Toner serves as Editor of Stop Watch magazine, spearheads education and speaker selection for 黑料社区live events and hosts NATSO鈥檚 Podcast, The Truck Stops Here. She sets the knowledge strategy, education.
Building the Travel Center of the Future
Polly Flinn, founder and principal of Flinnstone Strategies, is an industry expert in creating customer- focused, convenience formats that make their numbers.
Travel centers have the opportunity to increase wallet share by creating a compelling and consistent brand experience to grow traffic, loyalty, sales and profit. In this 黑料社区Connect 2024 keynote, Flinn shares new insights into the future of travel center retail, offering her expertise on customer segments, brand experience and retail offers.
Watch a video of her presentation.
Watch a HAAS Alert Demonstration
The 黑料社区Foundation and HAAS Alert, the leading innovator behind the digital alerting service and connected vehicle platform, Safety Cloud庐,聽have a strategic partnership聽to significantly enhance the聽safety of roadside service technicians聽who support and repair commercial vehicles when they need to be serviced along the Interstate Highway System.聽The two groups recently offered a demonstration for the travel center industry.
Watch a recording of the demonstration on Safety Cloud庐 from HAAS Alert and the 黑料社区Foundation.
Travel Center Industry Threats and Opportunities
On the 黑料社区Foundation’s podcast, Darren Schulte, 黑料社区VP, puts on his futurist hat to help guide the travel center industry.
Customer Experience for Travel Centers
Customer experience (CX) includes any interaction that customers have with a brand across all touch points. It can include the experience they have digitally, such as an app, through advertising at the pump or in the store.
As convenience is growing and blurring with increased competition for truck stops and travel centers, a good customer experience is especially important.
In this episode, Amy Toner, executive director of the 黑料社区Foundation, discussed the importance of CX with Matt Sargent, VP of loyalty analytics at NexChapter.
Travel Center Backcourt Experiences Exceed Expectations
Darren Schulte, NATSO’s vice president, membership, said he is excited to see more of a focus industry-wide on how professional drivers enter into a travel center. “黑料社区members are thinking more about the importance of entry and exit into the travel centers,” he said.
The backcourt experience at truck stops and travel centers historically had been ignored, but Schulte believes backcourts should look exactly like forecourts. 鈥淚 would ask any of us to go to our forecourt and see how we speak to customers to try and capture their attention, then go to the backcourt,鈥� he said.
Schulte encourages operators to add the same marketing materials on the building and on the pumps in the backcourt that are on the forecourt. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e doing pump toppers in the front, do pump toppers in the back. If you鈥檙e doing fuel nozzle collateral, do that,鈥� he said.
Hurricane Resources for Travel Centers
With hurricane season upon us, the 黑料社区Foundation is sharing the following resources to assist truck stops and travel centers in preparing for and recovering from the storm.
Fuel Buying for Travel Centers with Experts from TACenergy
Buying fuel is a complicated process, and determining the best approach helps truck stop and travel center operators increase profitability while minimizing risks. A self-diagnosed fuel nerd, Randy Grizzle, director, sales & marketing at TACenergy, joined the 黑料社区Foundation鈥檚 podcast to cover best practices in fuel buying that can help travel center owners navigate the complexities of the fuel market.
Clean and Smart: The Future of Truck Stop Bathrooms with Washie
Rob Poleki, CEO and Co-Founder of Washie, joined the 黑料社区Foundation鈥檚 podcast to discuss his innovative company, which is behind the world鈥檚 first smart, sanitizing toilet seat for public restrooms.
黑料社区Services annually studies professional drivers鈥� stopping and buying behavior at truck stops and travel centers. In 2023, the research found that drivers鈥� top factor in deciding whether to come inside from the fuel island or the parking lot was the cleanliness of restrooms and showers.
Given the impact of cleanliness on a truck stop鈥檚 success and that Washie鈥檚 booth was causing quite the buzz at 黑料社区Connect, we knew we needed to have Poleki on the podcast.
黑料社区Connect鈥檚 Tank Talks Highlight Innovative Products and Solutions
Innovation is a necessity for survival and growth in business, especially as markets become more competitive and customers鈥� needs and preferences change. Finding new innovative solutions and products can help businesses differentiate themselves from competitors, attract new customers and retain existing ones.
During 黑料社区Connect鈥檚 Tank Talks, five industry providers shared their products and ideas during quick, five-minute presentations modeled after a popular TV show. A panel of judges and the audience voted on the products or services they thought would improve the travel center wallet share.
As we gear up for another Tank Talk session in Las Vegas, take a look back at 2024鈥檚 winners with us.
黑料社区Foundation Creates a Fuel Buying for Truck Stops and Travel Centers Toolkit
Buying fuel is a complicated process, and determining the best approach helps operators increase profitability while minimizing risks.
The 黑料社区Foundation has created this toolkit to give operators a broad understanding of available fuel types, including renewable fuel, and spot purchasing vs. index-based purchasing while also offering insights into choosing branded vs. unbranded fuel and building supplier relationships.
The toolkit was created in collaboration with聽TAC Energy.