Anyone ever think of opening their own truck stop?

The cost of the property alone would be out of many drivers reach.
You would have to win the lottery in order to build an attractive truck stop.
It's a nice dream but then reality sinks in.

 

Yeah no doubt...the Interstates are littered with closed up truck stops.

I can't think it would be very doable without some really really really deep pockets.

 

Race car driver Sam Sessions wanted to build a truck stop south of Grand Rapids, MI, on US 131. The EPA worried about pollution of an underground stream, and Sessions was blocked. Today, someone else owns the Exit 76 Auto Truck Plaza at that exact location.

Allan D. "Sam" Sessions died in 1977 from a brain aneurysm while racing a snowmobile. His widow, Trinket, later married Johnny Logan, a supermodified driver from Charlotte, MI;

 

I've thought about this a lot. You know who needs to start their own branch of truck stops around the country?


Hooters

 

I do believe I saw a Hooters truck stop, but I don't remember where it was. Maybe somewhere in Washington?

But I wouldn't worry about fuel. I wouldn't be able to compete with the Big 4 anyway (T/A-Petro, Pilot-Flying J, Love's and Sapp Bros)

I would open an establishment with truck parking, showers, a C-store and a restaurant that serves real food, not that premixed, prebreaded and frozen/reheated crap you get in most places now. I would serve stuff like frybread tacos, my own recipe pan fried chicken, mashed taters from real taters, pan dripping gravy, scratch-made lasagne, you know...stuff you wish your wife knew how to make. (Jk) my focus would be on serving good food at a reasonable price in an attractive setting with staff who are genuinely happy to see you, treat you with respect and actually listen to your requests. And Miracle Whip would be banned from the premises.

My small C-store would contain enough choices of drinks to be interesting but not so many as to be confusing. Aisles not clogged with crap to walk around or trip over, decent coffee, stuff generally needed by truck drivers. If the general public finds it useful too, so be it. But I would not be catering to them like Pilot seems to be doing.

Clean bathrooms with all products stocked and showers with a decent water flow enough to get more than your left foot wet. And not with those flimsy curtains that the wind off the spray sucks in to stick to you while you're trying to wash.

Trash cans all over the parking lot, a couple of port-yer-potties in the far reaches and if you're caught peeing on the pavement or dumping your garbage on the ground, you will be first suspended from the property and asked to leave immediately and if you do it again after your suspension is up, you will be 86ed for good. Oh, and my security? ...People even the cops don't want to argue with.

A TV lounge with comfortable recliners and if you're funky, get a bath before infusing your stench into my nice furniture.

An outdoor smoking area that is covered, out of the wind and heated in wintertime. There are some very effective outdoor heaters on the market. Tables and chairs in that area to encourage drivers to sit and chat a spell. My wait staff would be expected to take the coffee pot around to the lounge and the smoking area periodically. Coffee, after all, would be on the house. I figure you'd buy more than enough other stuff on average to make it worth my while.

And I would call it The Savage Heathen.

 

Well,I would stop there at every chance.....

 

With the present pay rates in this industry, most drivers would not be able to afford to visit a "real" truckstop now. You would not be getting $20 meals for $2.95... LOL

Most of you guys out here whine about paying $10 to park if you dont spend money inside... I would not be running a free campground for freeloaders that cant even manage to park straight in the lines...

 

but..but...a sandwich isn't a sandwich without the tangy zip of Miracle Whip salad dressing!

 

Pulling oversize I would make a special oversize load parking lot seperate from the other truck parking. It would be a HUGE gravel lot that was graded on a regular basis to keep the craters filled in. How about some driveways really wide so even the newest rookie drivers could get in and out with no problem and seperate entrances and exits so everybody isnt coming and going at the same time in the same driveway.