Two Ideas to Make it Easy for Professional Drivers to Park and Get Food at Your Travel Center

Article created for the digital issue of the NATSO Foundation’s magazine 

Adding convenience for drivers can help boost sales and grow wallet share, and two NATSO members shared simple yet effective strategies they are using to leverage their customers' behaviors, drive revenue growth and build loyalty.

Dale Elks at DAS Companies, Inc. and Sean Momin from Pat’s Travel Center joined Christine Schoessler, chief operating officer of NATSO, and Darren Schulte, NATSO’s vice president of membership, during a webinar highlighting the results of NATSO Services’ comprehensive survey that uncovered drivers’ shopping habits and expectations as well as opportunities for operators.

Below are two of the ideas shared. During the session, they also discussed loyalty programs, data analysis, how staff can aid in educating drivers and growing market share, staff contests and other small ways they’re meeting drivers’ needs. “Any type of program that you put in place to speed up the process of the customer coming in and buying will get results,” Schulte said. To view the full session, including a conversation with Elks and Momin, access the webinar at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzDON7L7BL8.

Add Quick 30-minute Parking at the End of the Fuel Canopy
To help reduce the time pressures that can keep drivers from coming inside, Pat’s Travel Center has added quick, 30-minute parking at the end of the fuel canopy before the scale for drivers can park, making it easy for drivers to come inside.

Momin said some of the location’s customers come in two or three times a day with some who want to take their time in the store and others who are in a hurry.  “We will try and do whatever we can to have their products ready to go. If it's anything from the food line or from behind the counter for tobacco or lottery tickets, we'll have that ready to rock and roll. They usually appreciate that,” he said.

Add a QR Code on the Pump for Easy Food Ordering
Elks recommends making it quick and easy for drivers to order food while fueling. By scanning a QR code on the pump, drivers can order from the full-service, sit-down restaurant and quick-service offerings at the pump and pick their meal up at the fuel desk. Elks also recommends you encourage your staff to promote the code adding, “You can really grow your wallet share by coaching staff at the fuel desk to constantly ask drivers, ‘Hey, did you try the QR code at the pump today?’”

If they didn’t, cashiers could explain that they can order from their phone and their order goes to the front of the line and that their food will be ready and waiting when they come to the fuel desk. “There might be 10 people in line at Chester's or 10 or 15 people in line at Subway, but you become the No. 1 priority because the staff know they only have 14 or 15 minutes from the time they submitted their order…until they come inside and get their ticket to have that food ready for them,” Elks said.

Darren Schulte, NATSO’s vice president of membership, echoed Elks’ idea, adding that some operators are adding the ability to order food from an app as soon as drivers pull on the property. “They're waiting in line…they jump on the app, and then they are able to order,” he explained. “We also have more operators, where they're not staff strapped, going out…to the customers.”

// This article was created for Stop Watch magazine, the magazine of the NATSO Foundation. The NATSO Foundation is the research, education and public outreach subsidiary of NATSO, Inc. The NATSO Foundation provides programs and products to strengthen travel plazas’ ability to meet the traveling public's needs through improved operational performance and business planning. Visit www.natsofoundation.org for more information. (Donate to the NATSO Foundation here.)