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The Changing Face of Competition
For nearly a decade, Schulte has been advising operators to keep an eye on the competition and how industry players are changing, and he expects to see more new entrants and regional players joining the industry. 鈥淚 wouldn’t be surprised if some of those regional players don’t become national players in the very short near term,鈥� he said.

Competition from other types of retailers is also increasing. “We have a tendency to look at a competition as someone who has to have fuel. I’ve pointed out before that it’s a huge mistake,” Schulte said. “If you go and talk to drivers yourself, you’re going to find a portion of them, whatever that number is, leave your property every night to get food somewhere else.”

The number of dollar stores in areas where truck stops and travel centers operate is increasing. “If your travel center happens to be adjacent to a Dollar General or any kind of dollar store, you’re fooling yourselves if you don’t think that professional drivers and maybe even car customers are walking across the street to see what’s available to them,” Schulte said.

Even locations that don鈥檛 accept 18-wheelers on property are competition. Buc-ee鈥檚, for example, has signs deterring Class 8 vehicles. 鈥淗owever, the professional drivers have pulled over their truck and they’re walking into the Buc-ee’s to get stuff,鈥� Schulte said.

Plus, quick-service restaurants are expanding their offerings, which may lure drivers away from travel centers.

That might not sound like a lot, but if 1,000 trucks are parked at a location, that means 130 are having food delivered rather than going into the truck stop to buy something.

All of this could be dangerous for existing operators who have gotten complacent. “For a long time, we’ve had great fuel margins. I think we’ve lost sight of the days when we really had to focus on net operating costs,” Schulte said. “Those operators, big or small, that have lost sight of how to make money without fuel will be under duress.”

Operators that are focusing on operating costs, driving volume into stores, and growing food and other key categories will do well.

Focusing on Food
Food is a huge part of truck stop and travel center’s offerings, and it continually helps locations stand out from the competition. So, what’s selling? Classic fried chicken remains hot, and other chicken creations are also gaining in popularity.

New entrants to the truck stop and travel center space are changing the industry’s food offerings landscape. Sushi isn’t the first food one thinks of picking up while on the road, but it is becoming a real power player. “If you don’t have sushi in your walk around floor merchandiser, you’re missing the opportunity,鈥� Schulte said.

For years, Schulte has touted the sales potential for Indian food, which is incredibly popular and doing well.

He recommends operators look at drivers coming in and offer food that interests them. 鈥淵ou may see a lot more different types of customers rather than a regular, traditional, professional driver who used to go across the United States. I think those that focus on that understanding are going to do better in food,鈥� Schulte said.

In Chicago, for example, Eastern European cuisine is popular. 鈥淚f you’re on the coast and you happen to have a lot of Mexican drivers, not just Hispanic, but Mexican drivers, not having that type of Mexican fare, you’re missing the boat,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the same thing if you have East Asian drivers.鈥�

Tracking Trucking and Miles per Gallon
Vehicles, the trucking industry and even customer behaviors are changing, which is something operators should watch.

During COVID, trucking capacity was in demand, and a lot of owner-operators and small trucking companies joined the industry. “Any truck that could get on the road and any person that could get a CDL had an opportunity,鈥� Schulte said, adding that the influx boosted sales. 鈥淎ll of us were selling more CBs and more traditional truck stop products than we had been in years because of the sheer number of owner-operators and small onesies or twosies that were now making good money.鈥�

Now, the market is resetting, and some of the smaller players are leaving, which might create a challenge for truck stop operators. “Most of the members, maybe with the exception of the chains who are getting a lot of the fleet business, are fighting for those same fuel gallons.”

At the same time, the number of electric vehicles on the road is increasing, and fuel mileage for traditional vehicles keeps improving, which means drivers aren’t stopping to fuel as often as they have in the past. Plus, more and more trucking companies are utilizing trailer drops to get drivers home more often.

Operators need to be able to communicate with prospective customers to help lure them inside once they’ve hit the property, and there is a wide range of solutions to do so. Some are more sophisticated than others, but even simple solutions can be effective. Download Opportunities Abound at Travel Centers to Serve Professional Drivers and Grow Wallet Share Toolkit for more ideas on this.

鈥淚f you don’t have QR codes on your truck fueling islands that allow the driver to order something while fueling, you’re already behind the eight ball,鈥� Schulte said, adding that ideally, operators can use technology to help save drivers鈥� time.

Tapping into Technology
Technology can also help operators in other areas, including optimizing sales prices. 鈥淐NN just did an article about how grocery and retail is going to change with digital shelf tags,鈥� Schulte said, adding that he has been touting shelf labels for nearly a decade.

Technology might require a significant upfront investment, but the labor savings could help with the return on investment, especially as labor gets harder and harder to find. Schulte explained that shelf labels and digital menus can reduce the staff time required to make changes. “Why not write down the pros and cons, the costs and do an analysis? In many of these cases, you’ll see that it’ll far out-pay for itself.鈥�

As customer counts during nighttime hours decrease, vending may provide an option to still meet customers’ needs without having a location fully staffed.

Deploying new technology also takes a lot of up-front work, but eventually can run itself. 鈥淚 think we’ve kind of lost sight of what’s the four-, five- or six-year return on investment in some of these cases,鈥� Schulte said. 鈥淎nd we know labor is only going to get more challenging.”

Technology can also help reduce the risk of theft by allowing locations to re-deploy labor. While a self-checkout might seem like it makes it easier for someone to walk out without paying, but it really is an opportunity for staff to interact with customers. “That person’s in the front helping, guiding, watching, talking and greeting,” Schulte said. “Those that do that well say they’re not having problems.”

One of the areas Schulte has often advised operators to manage closely to minimize theft is the vendor check-in process. Technology can help, but Schulte said to remember the basics of keeping safes and office doors locked. However, he doesn’t recommend locking up everything, especially when it comes to merchandise. Locking up products creates friction for customers and can hurt the customer service experience, especially for professional drivers who are pressed for time.

Overtime regulations are changing, which will continue to put pressure on businesses, and operators will need to look at ways to re-deploy labor and utilize automation. 鈥淚 believe that with all of the regulations, these and others that are coming down the pike, if we are not properly preparing for the future related to the changes in labor and how we can use technology, I think we’re going to have more and more problems,鈥� Schulte said.

Running with Remodels
Several 黑料社区members have been building new sites and remodeling existing locations.

The only thing that is possibly stopping them are city, county or other regulations they run into. 鈥淚f they didn’t roll into those kinds of problems, I think we’d even see more building going on,鈥� Schulte said.

As locations are designing new facilities or making changes to their property, Schulte is seeing more and more focus on their backcourt and making it more welcoming for professional drivers. 鈥淲e’re finally really beginning to take a look at the professional driver as a professional. What I mean by that is we are thinking about the importance of entry and exit into the travel centers,鈥� he said.

There鈥檚 a lot of focus on how the driver enters the property, where they go after fueling and how to make everything easier, from pumping fuel to ordering food.

Looking Ahead
The future will undoubtedly bring more change, but the vast amounts of data available can help operators respond to shifting customer demands and identify opportunities. Loyalty programs, in particular, are generating more data, and artificial intelligence is making it easier to mine that data and make it actionable.

“I think in the next few years, we might see some even more interesting things coming out as they understand their customers and learn what they’re doing,” Schulte said.

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