Dare to Be Different: Victron Energy Stands Out with Customized Locations
Article created for the digital issue of the 黑料社区Foundation鈥檚 magazine
Differentiation can be the key to gaining a competitive advantage, and Victron Energy has gone all in on standing out.
鈥淢y dad liked to call Victron Energy the custom home builders of convenience stores,” said . “We want to build and make our customers, locals and travelers going through feel like each location is completely customized to the city or town it is located in.鈥�
, Sharaf discussed the evolution of his family鈥檚 business, from the first store his father, Ali Sharaf, owned in 1988 to the first store Ali built in 1996 and then the first truck stop he built in 2000 in Italy, Texas.
鈥淚n 2007, he created Texas Best Smokehouse across the street from the first location he built,鈥� Sharaf said. 鈥淚 think, like many folks here, my dad felt like the service offering we had was not enough, and we wanted to create our first in-house brand to build loyalty and attract drivers to our stores.鈥�
Today, every store is custom-made and based on the community. 鈥淲e hope one of the benefits is increased customer loyalty or increased sales,鈥� Sharaf said.
The Denison location, which sits in front of the local high school, features a 40-foot wide, 12-foot tall mural of the city created by a local artist. “The football team comes and takes pictures with it,鈥� Sharaf said.
The 15,500-square-foot location offers several food concepts, including Einstein鈥檚 Bagels, Fuzzy鈥檚 Tacos and its homemade barbeque. Most customers are locals, but the company initially had to overcome concerns about building a location near a school. “When we showed them that we were going to do something unique to the city, they were great.”
With every store, Victron Energy creates universalized renderings to help get approval. 鈥淢unicipalities get excited that you鈥檙e not just going to build another travel center in town,鈥� Sharaf said.
Getting Noticed
Ali Sharaf was a strong proponent in-house control of as many products as possible to help locations grab customers鈥� attention. 鈥淲e are proud of our BBQ and our jerky,鈥� Sharaf said. 鈥淲e have the largest jerky production facility in Texas.鈥�
The company鈥檚 locations sell a wide variety of jerky, including beef, bison, elk, alligator and kangaroo, and it is testing crawfish jerky.
鈥淲e want to get people talking,鈥� Sharaf said. 鈥淲e want people to come into our stores, see the Texas pride we have and post on social media, 鈥業 tried kangaroo jerky today, and you can only get it at Texas Best Smokehouse.鈥欌��
Sharaf said the company has also upped its game with quick-service brands, and options are getting better and better all the time. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e come around that travel centers can be good for our growth,” he said, adding that they spent years working to add a Starbucks, which has helped attract customers. “About 70 to 80% of customers coming into the Starbucks are locals, and people are driving 10 miles to come in.鈥�
To help attract QSR partners, Sharaf said the company works closely with them on design. 鈥淲e often tell our QSR partners, 鈥�I will build my travel center around you. If there is any design specification or operational requirement your brand would prefer in any way, I鈥檓 going to design and execute on it,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淢ake sure from a design perspective, it in every way looks like the brand you鈥檙e putting in there.鈥�
Sharaf added that he never offers express menus. 鈥淎 lot of brands will say, 鈥楾his is our full menu, but we have an easy express.鈥� For us, that has never worked,鈥� he said.
The company has also focused on co-tenants and has one of the only truck stops where drivers can fuel their trucks and walk into a Chick-fil-A.
“We partnered with Chick-fil-A and had them co-located next to the store,” Sharaf said. It earned us goodwill from the city.鈥�
Truck stop and travel center operators often underestimate their ability to buy land, Sharaf said. 鈥淚n Terrell, Texas, Buc-cee鈥檚 fought every parcel of land around their store. They made more money selling that real estate than in the operations of their store,鈥� he explained. 鈥淭he users and tenants you鈥檙e able to bring reinforce your store and make your store stronger. That generates more tenant interest and create a stronger intersection.鈥�
Focusing on food and innovative ways to attract customers is becoming increasingly important as trucking companies and shippers become more efficient and move products closer to consumers. “In my opinion, the day of being able to profitably build a large-format travel center and do enough volume to make it really profitable with today’s construction and interest rates is few and far between,鈥� Sharaf said.
// This article was created for , the magazine of the 黑料社区Foundation. The is the research, education and public outreach subsidiary of NATSO, Inc. The 黑料社区Foundation provides programs and products to strengthen travel plazas鈥� ability to meet the traveling public’s needs through improved operational performance and business planning. Visit for more information. ()
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