TravelCenters marks 50 years with refresh

WESTLAKE, Ohio — TravelCenters of America Inc. (TA) is starting its second half century in business quite differently than it started its first.

Since it was founded in 1972, TA has grown to 276 TA- and Petro-branded sites in the U.S. and Canada, with 15 more on the way this year, serving professional drivers and travelers alike. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, TA is throwing a year-long celebration filled with promotions, charitable giving and major site refreshes.

TA has planned several "50" themed promotions, such as potential 50-cent pricing, and fun ways to celebrate national holidays, such as national hot dog day and national coffee day.

TA announced at the recent Mid-America Trucking Show another aspect of its celebration: The first 50 UltraONE Loyalty Members to fuel 50 times with TA will win 5,000 Loyalty Points, compared with the one to four points typically earned per gallon of fuel purchased.

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According to Tina Arundel, senior director, communications at Westlake-based TA, giving back is an important component of the company's celebration this year. TA will be rewarding sites and departments at its headquarters that do a collective 50 hours of community service. More charitable initiatives will be announced throughout the year.

TA offers tires and tire-related services at 247 of its 276 sites, including 24/7 roadside assistance through a fleet of about 600 service vans.

It also maintains a fleet of 333 TA Truck Service Mobile Maintenance service vans designed to be a "bay on wheels" offering mobile truck and trailer maintenance and repair services performed by certified technicians at customer facilities/

The service is available to customers from 68 TA and Petro locations nationwide, according to the company.

TA offers a portfolio of major manufacturer brands, including BFGoodrich, Bridgestone, Continental, Firestone, Goodyear, Kelly, Marathon, Michelin, Roadmaster and Yokohama, as well as retreads from Bandag suppliers, in addition to its own Goodyear system offerings.

After opening its 32,000-sq.-ft. retread plant in Bowling Green, Ohio, in May 2018, TA has seen growth in its retread segment.

Arundel said its success has allowed the company to purchase new equipment, such as new chambers, to help improve the plant's efficiency. The facility is part of the Goodyear Authorized Retread Network, and offers a full line of Goodyear retread products.

The shortage of new tires has had an impact on business, she said, but TA has been able to adapt to the changes to ensure that its service centers have products available for each customer, even if a customer's first choice may not be available.

While the technician shortage has been an industry concern, TA has not been affected, according to Arundel. In fact, she said the company actually has been able to grow its number of technicians due to its training program and competitive compensation.

Arundel described TA's training program as "multi-tiered" and said all of the company's technicians are ASE-certified. To adapt to the technician shortage, she said, "TA assessed our training programs and our compensation to ensure we were remaining competitive and also a desired place to have a career."

TA's training center, located in Lodi, Ohio, offers classes to more than 1,500 TA technicians each year.

Since becoming CEO of TA in late 2019, Jon Pertchik has led a transformation of the company.

This is reflected in major refreshes to its sites. TA has renovated restrooms, upgraded showers, created more comfortable driver lounges, upgraded parking lots, added fresh paint and flooring and much more.

TA has more than 100 site refreshes planned throughout the year and has budgeted up to $200 million to carry them out. Roughly three-fourths of the capital expenditures are focused on growth initiatives that TA expects to meet or exceed its 15% to 20% cash-on-cash return hurdle, the company said.

TA's revenue jumped 51.4% last year to $7.33 billion, with fuel-related business accounting for the bulk of the increase. Revenue related to non-fuel-related business — which includes the tire, retread and vehicle service activities — rose 11.4%.

Despite the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, TA said it believes it has remained strong throughout, serving professional drivers, who were part of an industry deemed essential. Once the pandemic began, TA closed parts of its business, similar to other restaurants, but most have reopened.

As TA looks to the future, Arundel said, its mission statement, "Return every traveler to the road better than they came," informs every decision.

Among the future initiatives are improving its mobile app and loyalty program, as well as making more alternative fueling options available to customers as the transportation industry shifts.