CSN EXCLUSIVE: Onvo's Largest Travel Plaza Introduces Many Firsts
POTTSVILLE, Pa. — Whether they're gassing up, getting charged or fueling up with food, Onvo's Pottsville travel plaza is designed to be a welcome respite for truckers and travelers alike.
Coming in at 9,961 square feet, the retailer's largest travel plaza yet opened in October 2024, showcasing the brand's innovative approach to food and amenities, while providing travelers the comforts they expect from Onvo.
Convenience Store News recently caught up with Harman Aulakh, vice president of marketing for the Scranton, Pa.-based company, to discuss how this site came to fruition and what's ahead for the retailer.
CSN: The Pottsville travel plaza introduces a few new features for the company, one of which is the debut of the Food on the Fly program. Can you tell me about the development of Food on the Fly and what items are available?
Aulakh: Our Food on the Fly program is centered around our trademark Craverito, which is a toasted burrito that is filled with all sorts of craveable fillings, as you can imagine from the name. The development of the program has been a few years in the works. So, our Pottsville store was the first location to receive a full MTO [made-to-order] experience but, earlier last year, we launched [Food on the Fly] as a grab-and-go menu at one of our existing locations.
The program has the made-to-order menu, which has enhanced offerings but built off of that same core menu of Craveritos, bowls and quesadillas. One part that I personally enjoy is our handcrafted espresso drinks. So, we have signature recipes on lattes, mochas, matcha, all that kind of stuff. We've got one — it's the candy bar latte, and it's just as indulgent as it sounds. It's delicious.
CSN: Why did Onvo choose Pottsville as the launch site for the Food on the Fly MTO program?
Aulakh: The simple answer is timing. It was the next location that was up for development, so we were able to design the site around what we wanted: to see [it] from the customer experience perspective. We've remodeled a few sites in recent years and we didn't want to try to shoehorn a kitchen into a site where it might not have worked, especially for our first go at it. We really wanted to just start from scratch. So, it's kind of a mixture of both wanting to be able to control that customer experience and then just happening to be the right time.
CSN: The travel plaza is also home to Onvo's first dog park, the Barking Lot. Can you tell me about how that concept came to fruition?
Aulakh: We've been talking about doing a dog park at one of our locations for a while and this property has quite a bit of acreage, so we had the space to make it work. I think as travel plazas, we're really catering to folks who are in their vehicles for long stretches of time and just like how humans need their bathroom breaks, our four-legged friends need the same. And quite a few truck drivers drive with pets and obviously families and passenger vehicles are constantly traveling with their pets. It just made sense as an extra amenity for our guests. ... We know how important people's pets are to them, so if we provide an interesting or safe and clean environment for people to walk their dogs, it's a win-win for everyone.
CSN: You just spoke about the acreage of the site, and I know the Pottsville location is Onvo’s largest to date. What other amenities are offered?
Aulakh: It also has a full-size Burger King and three state-of-the-art showers in the facility. We've put a lot of emphasis on creating a nice, relaxing, clean shower experience so that drivers have a place where they can really feel refreshed while on the road. So, we're really proud about that shower experience at the Pottsville location. We also have laundry facilities onsite and quite a bit of truck parking out in the back with more coming in a second phase of development here in the spring.
We'll also be developing a hotel on the property. We're currently building a 111-room TownePlace Suite by Marriott on the property adjacent to the travel plaza. We're looking at an October 2025 open date. So, it's coming along quite well. It'll be our seventh hotel property in our portfolio. We're really excited about this opportunity to, again, just provide an interesting mix of amenities at this development.
CSN: How have your guests responded to the new travel center so far?
Aulakh: So far, the feedback has been honestly amazing. We had a really great grand-opening event and the community had never seen a facility like that in their area, and just the feedback of the bright stores and the overall store design has been great. Going back to our showers, I'm hearing truck drivers talk about how much they appreciate the thoughtfulness behind the design and really feeling like they're a priority, which is important to us. I mean, all of our guests are and we don't want anyone feeling second-class or anything like that.
Understanding how meaningful the development's been for the community, as well as the amenities that we've been able to offer, has been great. And then, the response to Food on the Fly has been great. Every day, the program's growing and the feedback to everything from the pulled pork Craverito to the candy bar latte, people are just loving it.
CSN: How does the Pottsville store fit into Onvo's short- and long-term strategic goals? Do you have plans to open more travel plazas with similar designs and footprints?
Aulakh: I think overall, amenity-wise, we're going to have to mix and match. Not every location is going to have the space to do everything we're doing, but Food on the Fly is definitely a priority and our showers will always be a priority as well. So, those two items will definitely always be a part of our plans moving forward.
As far as stuff like the Barking Lot, for example, it's just a matter of whether we've got enough space to make it work. We'd love to do it everywhere but, you know, it's a matter of whether we've got the space or whether it's the right area even for us to do something like that.
CSN: Is there anything else we can expect from Onvo in 2025?
Aulakh: Not to give too much away, but we're growing. So, keep an eye out for some news on that front, hopefully later this year.
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