BP Buys Travel Centers of America

Gas stations & convenience stores (AM/PM, 7-Eleven, etc.)
BillyGr
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Re: BP Buys Travel Centers of America

Post by BillyGr »

pseudo3d wrote: February 25th, 2023, 8:37 pm
BillyGr wrote: February 25th, 2023, 11:26 am
storewanderer wrote: February 24th, 2023, 9:44 pm After Pilot bought Flying J and closed all of the restaurants or subleased them to tenants who opened mostly Dennys units, TA was the last truck stop network left with company operated restaurants. TA has played around with various concepts. They had a concept called Quaker Steak that I think they opened some units away from truck stops, but not sure what the status of that is.
Quaker Steak (and Lube) was an existing restaurant chain from (not surprisingly) Pennsylvania (being both an early state in the oil business and of course the Quaker STATE branding that was used in selling it).

Thus, there were many of them in existence before TA got involved (though they had closed some like so many of those type of chains have).
Quaker Steak & Lube opened a few locations in Texas in the early 2010s, they sold wings and burgers, but they never really got more than 3-4 locations. TA acquired them in 2015 after Quaker Steak went bankrupt (all the Texas stores closed by this time) but that was obviously a bad choice--they weren't good fits for truck stops, they weren't a hot growth model, and they needed new leadership & investment to right the ship, which I don't think TA was willing to give them.
Not sure why they wouldn't work just fine for a truck stop. As others pointed out, the drivers enjoy something that is a bit different (which they are - they have actual meals as well as the burgers and wings). They also offer that option to have food served to you, rather than just walk up and order as most of the stops would have (fast food type places).
Yet, they still have items that can be prepared quickly for those who haven't got a whole lot of time as well.
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Re: BP Buys Travel Centers of America

Post by storewanderer »

BillyGr wrote: February 26th, 2023, 11:25 am
Not sure why they wouldn't work just fine for a truck stop. As others pointed out, the drivers enjoy something that is a bit different (which they are - they have actual meals as well as the burgers and wings). They also offer that option to have food served to you, rather than just walk up and order as most of the stops would have (fast food type places).
Yet, they still have items that can be prepared quickly for those who haven't got a whole lot of time as well.
I've never seen the concept but at the time my understanding was TA was really optimistic it would be a concept they could expand to various truck stops and hopefully attract more non-truck customers.

It would have needed a breakfast program to work at the truck stops.

I am also wondering if possibly too much emphasis on liquor sales made it a bad fit for truck stops. Or if the concept freestanding had a higher percentage of liquor sales and putting the concept at a truck stop, liquor sales were obviously much lower, and it messed up the financial model of the concept.
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Re: BP Buys Travel Centers of America

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: February 26th, 2023, 11:50 am
BillyGr wrote: February 26th, 2023, 11:25 am
Not sure why they wouldn't work just fine for a truck stop. As others pointed out, the drivers enjoy something that is a bit different (which they are - they have actual meals as well as the burgers and wings). They also offer that option to have food served to you, rather than just walk up and order as most of the stops would have (fast food type places).
Yet, they still have items that can be prepared quickly for those who haven't got a whole lot of time as well.
I've never seen the concept but at the time my understanding was TA was really optimistic it would be a concept they could expand to various truck stops and hopefully attract more non-truck customers.

It would have needed a breakfast program to work at the truck stops.

I am also wondering if possibly too much emphasis on liquor sales made it a bad fit for truck stops. Or if the concept freestanding had a higher percentage of liquor sales and putting the concept at a truck stop, liquor sales were obviously much lower, and it messed up the financial model of the concept.
I suppose that the drink issue could cause problems, though there are, of course, restaurants that don't serve them at all and do just fine without them.
Breakfast is not (that I know of) something that chain ever was doing, but it seems that even something limited just to go in these special locations could be done fairly easy (or, depending on what else was being offered at the same stop, maybe not even be needed, as long as there was an option(s) for breakfast in some other part of the plaza?
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Re: BP Buys Travel Centers of America

Post by storewanderer »

Meanwhile TA came out this week with a new restaurant concept. Still sit down format. Looks like it has a smaller/lighter menu than the Country Pride/Iron Skillet formats and no buffet format.
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Re: BP Buys Travel Centers of America

Post by wnetmacman »

TA used to be the leader, especially when they were new in the early 70s, taking over old stops and revitalizing them. Later, they expanded some on their own before taking over most of the National Truck Stop chain of 76 Auto/Truck Stops.

That massive growth stalled them, and it allowed Pilot and Love's to come in with their Self Service brand of stop that the younger trucker really was going for. Then TA bought Petro and hasn't really done much.

In some locations, they removed Country Pride/Iron Skillet in favor of a larger franchise. Lafayette, LA has Boston Market - no breakfast!

They've followed the Kmart idea of growth - buy other things. Didn't work for Kmart, and it hasn't helped them.
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Re: BP Buys Travel Centers of America

Post by storewanderer »

wnetmacman wrote: March 1st, 2023, 9:55 am TA used to be the leader, especially when they were new in the early 70s, taking over old stops and revitalizing them. Later, they expanded some on their own before taking over most of the National Truck Stop chain of 76 Auto/Truck Stops.

That massive growth stalled them, and it allowed Pilot and Love's to come in with their Self Service brand of stop that the younger trucker really was going for. Then TA bought Petro and hasn't really done much.

In some locations, they removed Country Pride/Iron Skillet in favor of a larger franchise. Lafayette, LA has Boston Market - no breakfast!

They've followed the Kmart idea of growth - buy other things. Didn't work for Kmart, and it hasn't helped them.
I first encountered TA with that 76 buy out and I wasn't too impressed. The facility they bought wasn't the best but they just struck me as a milk it type of an operation. They didn't put much money into it, they had 3 separate terminals used if you bought car fuel from them with a credit card, and they just seemed like a poor stop.

As time has gone on and I've been to more TA stops I think the bones of these truck stops are actually very good. They have a lot of, yes, dated, but really nice large truck stops out there. If they would just do major remodels I think these stops could attract a lot more customers for various services.

The problem is TA seems to focus too much on poor franchise concepts. For instance their Mill City Stop for a while had Country Pride, Alamo Casino, Taco Bell Express, Subway, and a small 12 room Knights Inn. Now they have dumped everything but Alamo Casino and Taco Bell Express and just closed off the other un-used areas. The place is sad and depressing. They remodeled the restrooms a few years ago as they closed the other stuff, and put in new gas pumps for car fuel, but the lot for truckers is really poorly paved and the entire place just has a sad vibe. There are 2 each of much newer and smaller Pilot/Loves/Flying J stops within 90 miles either direction from this site that all do a booming business.
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Re: BP Buys Travel Centers of America

Post by wnetmacman »

storewanderer wrote: March 1st, 2023, 8:38 pm The problem is TA seems to focus too much on poor franchise concepts. For instance their Mill City Stop for a while had Country Pride, Alamo Casino, Taco Bell Express, Subway, and a small 12 room Knights Inn. Now they have dumped everything but Alamo Casino and Taco Bell Express and just closed off the other un-used areas. The place is sad and depressing. They remodeled the restrooms a few years ago as they closed the other stuff, and put in new gas pumps for car fuel, but the lot for truckers is really poorly paved and the entire place just has a sad vibe. There are 2 each of much newer and smaller Pilot/Loves/Flying J stops within 90 miles either direction from this site that all do a booming business.
I live near the Lafayette (LA) Travel Center. Within 50 miles are three Love's (One with Subway, one with Wendy's and soon Bojangle's, and one under construction that will have Hardee's) and two Pilots (one with Arby's and an acquisition with PJFresh and Subway). All but the last were new builds. Lafayette was an old 76 that had Country Pride, and at one time Arby's and Pizza Hut Express, but before that a casino that had to close due to local laws. TA never remodeled the PH/Arby's area, they just closed it off. Three years ago, they took out Country Pride and put in Boston Market. I love BM, but they only open for lunch and dinner; there is no breakfast and no night service. The rest of the facility is old and dated. The next closest corporate-owned TA is the same vintage, but still has Country Pride and is untouched otherwise from its 76 days. This has been their MO; if it's profitable, leave it alone.
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