Fast and Fresh Food Travel Center Offerings Considerations

Truck stops and travel centers typically have multiple food offerings under one roof and create a mix of grab-and-go, built-to-order and quick service options that can appeal to customers who are on the go. Creating the right combination allows operators to meet a wide range of customer needs and ensures there is something for everyone.

Grab-and-go, built-to-order and quick service models each offer distinct approaches to serving food and different roles to play in meeting customers’ demands.

Grab-and-Go and Built-to-Order
Freshly prepared foods, whether they’re made in advance and waiting in a case or built-to-order via a touchscreen, continue to be a huge offering that gives customers more choice and drives sales and profits for operators.

Speed is of ultimate importance to the customer today, and grab-and-go, which typically refers to pre-packaged items like sandwiches, salads or snacks that are prepared in advance and ready for immediate pickup, is a strong category for truck stops.

Crafting the Cold Case
Cold cases can hold everything from pre-made sandwiches and salads to meat to dairy products.

Port Fuel Center has grab-and-go offerings 24/7, so customers can get a meal even if the kitchen is closed. “We make our own sandwiches in-house and have everything from chicken salad and turkey to bologna and salami,” said Sean Register, president of Port Fuel enter.

The location also offers pre-made chef and Caesar salads, but one of its best sellers is its salad bar, which Register said offers drivers speed as well as variety. “It does very well for us, and it is one of our biggest draws,” he explained.

The salad bar is 12-feet long, and customers can access it from either side. It features four different types of lettuce, baked and fried chicken, turkey, ham, crab salad, potato salad, eggs, three different types of cheeses and a mix of vegetables. “We’ve been told we’re the largest user of lettuce in the Savannah area,” Register said.

Customers pay by the pound, and the average salad is between $8.50 and $11.50. “It’s cheaper than going to get a salad at one of the big fast-food chains,” Register said.

Waste isn’t an issue because the salad bar turns over regularly and the location maximizes labor by having staff prepare the salad bar ingredients overnight. “The crew from 10:00 at night to 6:00 in the morning prep and chop the food that will go on there,” Register said.

Speeding Service with a Hot Bar
Port Fuel Center, which has a port theme after the nearby port, also has a hot bar to-go meal option. Customers can order a “Container” via one of the location’s four kiosks. “You can self order and self-pay,” Register said. “From the time you place your order to the time you get it is three minutes and ten seconds.”

The Container comes with one meat, a roll and a drink, and the location has a variety of meats each day as well as a special prepared and waiting. In addition, the location has fried chicken, chicken fingers, and two flavors of chicken wings—Carolina gold barbecue and lemon pepper —but Register said drivers can’t eat chicken every day. He has had fun experimenting with different options. “You learn really quickly what sells and what doesn’t sell,” he said.

Parker’s Kitchen has a hot bar with a display case filled with fried chicken, pork chops, livers, gizzards and catfish along with sides, such as fries, potato logs and macaroni and cheese. During breakfast, the hot bar features grits, scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, biscuits and gravy, and catfish. “We do catfish and grits at breakfast. Catfish is huge in our area,” said Heather Davis, senior director of food service for Parker’s Kitchen.

In addition to the hot bar cases, Parker’s Kitchen has hot grab-and-go cases with breakfast sandwiches in the morning and pizza, nuggets and burgers in the afternoon and evening. A cold grab[1]and-go case features sandwiches and other refrigerated offerings.

“When I started, a huge portion of our business was coming out of the hot bar, but we’re seeing more people shift to a grab-and-go experience,” Davis said. “We’re really working with our teams to consistently execute that grab-and-go to keep those cases full.”

Wawa breaks its offerings down into two key categories: grab-and[1]go and built-to-order, explained Kimberly Norton, manager of the fresh food category at Wawa. Wawa’s offerings at breakfast include bowls, omelets and avocado toast that customers can customize with their choice of toppings. Grab-and-go options include bagel and croissant sandwiches.

“Our biggest piece of breakfast is our Sizzli,” Norton said, referring to a line of sandwiches, burritos and egg bites. “It is grab-and-go, but we consider it foodservice. We make it behind the line and put it on the warmer.”

At lunch, Wawa has built-to-order salads and sandwiches, which it is known for. Wawa has classic cold hoagies along with specialty sandwiches, such as the Italian and cheesesteak, and paninis.

Busy Bee added a Hunt Bros. Pizza grab-and-go solution at one of its locations after COVID due to rising demand for quick offerings. Elizabeth Waring, president of Busy Bee, said it complements the location’s quick[1]service offerings, Burger King and Dunkin. “Sometimes, the Dunkin and BK are busy, and guests don’t have time to wait so it’s very convenient to be able to grab a slice of pizza or wings,” she said.

Leingang said larger items are also growing in popularity. Whole roasted chickens, multiple-piece chicken packages and more robust grab and-go meals reflect a trend toward heartier, better-value offerings and are particularly appealing to budget conscious drivers and locals alike.

Roller Grills Remain Relevant
Even with the growth in fresh and build to-order offerings, the roller grill is still relevant, and there are a lot of different options locations can place on a roller grill, from hot dogs to taquitos, depending on the customer mix.

Coffee Cup Fuel Stops Travel Plazas has branded its roller grill with Nathan’s Hot Dogs. “Space doesn’t allow us to bring them in in their entirety without taking something out, but we have a nice branding package above the roller grill,” said Chris Heinz, director of operations and finance at Heinz Inc., which operates Coffee Cup Fuel Stops Travel Plazas.

The roller grill features four core six-inch dogs from Nathan’s Hot Dogs. Egg rolls that used to be on the roller grill were moved to a warmer. “We’re trying to have a broad enough product offering to give everybody a selection,” Heinz said