Entering its third year in business, the management team at Abbott’s Travel Center in Abbott, Texas, has cracked the code for the best ways to serve two disparate customer bases: over-the-road truckers and travelers and local clientele that make the daily trip to the 12,000-square-foot Exxon-branded facility.
Abbott’s offers 10,500 square feet of interior space, with six showers complete with soaps and towels, lounge area and more –all aimed at serving its over-the-road trucker customers. Outside, Abbott’s Travel Center offers more than 30 truck parking spots and eight diesel fueling lanes.
No doubt, the unit oozes “travel” in many ways, but there’s a dichotomy going on here: Abbott’s can easily morph into a neighborhood store as easily as a travel stop, all thanks to some deft and nuanced merchandising tactics.
- Abbott’s Travel Center was a 2022 CSP Indie Influencer.
“I think we provide a happy medium to serve both truckers and families [and] pedestrians,” said co-founder Numan Dharani, adding that 70% of customers are interstate-centric and 30% local.
Dharani and his team work diligently to ensure the Abbott’s experience works for all—never an automatic task catering to two uniquely different bases. Locals, for instance, might view the interior as a venue that doesn’t quite match what they’re seeking in their local retail provider.
Some might scoff at being exposed to “too much” over-the-road trucker merchandise upon entering. “From a visual aid standpoint, we’re always working to catch their attention and mitigate any of that friction,” Dharani said.
“At the end of the day, clean stores and product availability is the most important aspect to create that great experience for all customers,” he says “We’re always identifying ways to innovate and stay a step ahead in being the destination center for people traveling through Texas. We like to seek new solutions and think outside the box.”
Bullish on Tech
The travel center is leveraging several technology investments to raise its value proposition.
One is an investment in Palo Alto, Calif.-based Mudflap, a discount fuel rewards program targeting independent owner-operators and small fleets.
“When we opened, my initial task was seeking a solution to drive daily foot traffic—particularly diesel volume—and Mudflap was one strategy we identified,” Dharani said. “The idea was stimulating daily traffic count via very competitive diesel prices.
Abbott’s Travel Center enjoyed diesel volume increases of up to 20% thanks to the Mudflap app directing drivers to their store, which is known for offering ultra-competitive diesel prices.
“The Mudflap experience has been beneficial, and there’s no cost to join. As the retailer, you don’t pay until they generate business to the retail store—it’s the best scenario we could expect,” said Dharani, who doesn’t have data on number of user downloads but said he knows it’s regularly expanding.
Another advantage: “Mudflap settles payments for retailers, so if a driver account is in arrears, Mudflap reconciles it. Owner-operators such as us are always seeking ways to reduce fees and create value.”
High on Hifive
Another investment that Dharani is bullish on is a proprietary one: Hifive, a digital tipping tech solution to help operators improve employee retention by increasing wages through the tech’s end-to-end encrypted digital tipping solution—all while gathering insights to improve a guest experience.
Hifive is being adopted by hoteliers such as Hilton, Hyatt and Radisson—and the partners are working with convenience-store chains on adoption as well.
With Hifive, c-store customers or guests at hotels can scan a QR code to give a gratuity to various store associates that typically don’t receive them the way front-facing servers or cashiers do, he explained.
In that context, think back-of-house kitchen staff that receives a gratuity for preparing a great meal—or hotel valet and shuttle driver. “They can tip and also provide real feedback about the dining experience,” said Dharani. “It’s a creative way to incentivize staff that often goes unnoticed. People can send tips using Google Pay or Apple Pay without needing to download an app.”
Dharani said the web app is active in Abbott’s Travel Center, with plans to target c-store companies that might want to give it trial, for free. “We found that these [unsung] employees often earn another $1 to $3 per hour more through the power of Hifive,” he said.
The retailer is offering to help owners, operators or managers of c-stores and travel centers that are interested in learning more about digital tipping for free. A “Get Started” form is available at Hifive’s digital tipping website.
Equally High on Local Partners
As it commences its third year serving Texas, at the root of Abbott’s strategy has been partnering with local suppliers that fit the retailer’s success criteria.
Over time, the team has learned how to better selectively curate the right local partners from a quality assurance standpoint.
“We continue to partner with locally owned entrepreneurs, such as Polite Coffee Roasters, Cornucopia Popcorn and Jeni’s Ice Cream; however, we had to step back and understand that some types of local suppliers weren’t as compatible,” said Dharani, an Emory University grad who began construction on Abbott’s during COVID-19.
From a quality assurance standpoint through the direct-store delivery cycle, Dharani found that “we might have ordered too much of a fresh, limited shelf-life brand—and that only led to spoilage. The question became, how do we create a presence to where these products are brought in daily and avoid oversupply—in a travel center with limited ‘fresh’ shelf space?”
Dharani added: “We’re always seeking to leverage price, promotion and display more effectively—so that a larger DSD order isn’t going to incur waste since we executed the logistics and the merchandising right.”
Thus far, a lot is “going right” at Abbott’s Travel Center.
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