Thinking of opening an independent truck stop

Furry Toilet seat covers and little Furry Bunny slippers when we get out of the showers?

 

Some very good ideas here, but I would suggest that in order to bring customers to your facility, you should partner up with a franchise chain. AM Best comes to mind. The ability to accept a variety of fuel cards will make a big difference. I agree with some other drivers saying that if you make free or driver points based rooms available, they'll be destroyed in a matter of months. I'd suggest low cost rooms with a ton of cable tv channels, a decent sized bed, a half bath with shower, and a network port for internet. Wifi gets bogged down easily when lots of people are using it. For a sit down restaurant, instead of trying to please everybody, I would suggest a small menu that rolls every day for variety. That way, if the food is good (and it had better be) drivers will know, "Hmmm, it's Friday, Truckstop ABC has chicken parm tonight!" I have nothing to add as far as the restrooms and showers. Keep 'em clean, and I mean CLEAN. A suggestion for the parking lot: glow in the dark or at least highly reflective pavement lines. No matter how well lit the lot is, there's always going to be a spot that you can't really see what you're backing into at night. Your indoor parking idea is a good one, but I see a lot of potential problems. You could make it a no-idle zone by making sure that building is temperature controlled. Gonna cost you a bundle though. If cost is no object, how about this: say the building has 20 spots. Each spot has its own door, accessible by entering a code on a keypad that they purchase from the fuel desk. Pull in, back out. But again, the problem is you can't have reefer trailers in there because having exhaust vents also blows your climate control right out the ceiling.

 

I love your spirit. I had a friend that had a truckstop....make 5 to 8 cents a gallon at best he was in WI. He owned other businesses he kept it 5 years sold it off...he said it never never made money...

Be Safe Out There

Captain Dave

 

Can’t do rooms as each state has hotel tax. Trust me you don’t want some of these drivers in your rooms.

Be prepared to spend a lot and I mean a million plus to renovate.

 

What would truck drivers pay per hour to be in a secured yard with cameras and security officer that checked ID like hotels do? The yard would have bath houses and laundry in the yard like state parks do, only nicer. Every park space would be provided with electricity. I think the brokers might pick up the tab on this considering the added security would reduce their losses, and the costs of ideling trucks, or running auxiliary generators.

 

Let's discuss, in great detail, what it would cost to clear land and make a gravel or dirt parking area (not paved).

 

Or we could discuss how this thread was dead for the last 3.5 years until today.

 

And then we can all visit this new paradise on the edge of the highway this fellow was describing. He has had 3 years to build it, make a couple of million and build another. He should have about 5 of them in the works by now.
Oh, I forgot. He got fired as the manager of the truckstop he was at because he was delusional. Either the Mega chains could do all of the same things now and are just keeping the money for themselves, OR it is simply not economically viable.