Keep on trucking: How Love’s Travel Stop went from one location to a global giant

WATONGA, OKLAHOMA — Harold Wells, 73, has worked for Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores for 51 years, an entire career, after starting out here in one of the late Tom Love’s earliest stores.

Al Harper, 70, is still here in Watonga, where he grew up and where he’s worked for 24 years in Love’s No. 1, the first of what is now nearly 650 Love’s Travel Stops and convenience stores catering to casual drivers and professional truckers in 42 states. The company has about 40,000 employees.

Over those decades, Wells and Harper have demonstrated, actually lived out what Love’s points to for its success: “humble beginnings, teamwork, work ethic and perseverance.”

The Love family, and the family-owned corporation, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, say those aspects of the company’s culture — humble beginnings, teamwork, work ethic and perseverance — have guided its growth since Tom and Judy Love started out in 1964.

Judy Love doesn’t say much to the media, but in light of Love’s 60th anniversary, she told The Oklahoman:

“When Tom and I opened the first location in Watonga 60 years ago, we couldn’t imagine what this company would become. The journey has been amazing. One thing I know is that we wouldn’t be here without our loyal team members and customers. We are fortunate so I feel that we should help others. That’s why we’ve always given back to many nonprofit organizations.”

Dedication and innovation keep longtime Love’s employees at work for decades

Harper said a manager at Love’s No. 1 recruited him to take the night shift in 2001, when shoplifters and others were causing the store trouble. It was his second career after 27 years working at a carpet mill until it closed. He said he “got it cleaned up,” and has been happy working there ever since.

“I like meeting the people. I told (a supervisor), ‘I’ll stay here and keep the store going as long as I can,'” the 70-year-old said.

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Wells started at Love’s in Watonga part time in 1972, when he was working on degrees in math and physics at Southwestern State College in Weatherford, just before it was renamed Southwestern Oklahoma State University. He graduated but stayed with Love’s, never looking back.

Wells is Love’s manager of retail accounting systems and has lived in Edmond and worked at company headquarters — at suburban 10601 N Pennsylvania Ave. in The Village — for decades. He said every innovation Love’s has made over the years has given him something new and exciting to learn. He could have retired 10 years ago, but he’s kept at it.

“It’s easy to work for a company and believe in what you do,” he said, when the company has a reputation like Love’s.

Love’s Field: A reminder that roots and reputation helped bring the big-hearted Loves big riches

Roots and reputation helped make Love’s a top workplace, and helped make the Loves generous billionaires, giving to causes across the state, not just in Oklahoma City.

Love’s Travel Stops had $26.5 billion in revenue last year, according to Forbes, making it the ninth-largest private company in the country. Judy Love had a net worth of $10.2 billion, landing her at No. 2 on USA Today’s list of “America’s richest self-made women.”

Symbols abound for “humble beginnings, teamwork, work ethic and perseverance.” Add benevolence, and the symbol Jenny Love Meyer keeps in her office makes sense. She’s a daughter of Tom and Judy Love, and Love’s chief culture officer.

The reminder of what it took to get the family and company where they are? A softball trophy, but a replica, making it a reminder of a reminder:

Love’s Field, which opened this year. Love’s contributed the lead gift of the $37 million that helped pay for the $48 million field and stadium, earning it naming rights. The trophy is a reproduction of the University of Oklahoma Sooners’ 2023 NCAA championship softball trophy.

“This 44,000 square-foot complex is a nod to Coach (Patty) Gasso and all those who have been instrumental to building the Oklahoma softball dynasty and hopefully an inspiration for the female student-athletes who compete in it. They are our leaders of the future,” Love Meyer said. “Love’s is humbled to stand alongside the more than 1,100 donors who graciously supported this project. The $37 million raised is the largest dollar amount privately fundraised for a female-specific facility project in college athletics history.”

Parallels between Love’s No. 1 in Watonga and Love’s Field in Norman

Raising Love’s Field took years and “a village of dedicated people to complete,” Love Meyer said. She said she sees parallels to her parents’ success after their beginnings in Watonga and Gasso’s success after 30 years of “building a softball powerhouse in Norman, Oklahoma.”

“With little money to invest and a growing family to support, my parents used a $5,000 loan to lease an abandoned service station in Watonga, a small community 60 miles west of Oklahoma City,” she said. “That initial willingness to start and grow a business required confidence, innovative thinking, hard work and perseverance, and is why Love’s is where it is today.

“Similarly, when Coach Gasso arrived in Norman in 1994, she organized practices at a local park and needed to schedule practice in between slow pitch softball leagues. And sometimes had to clean up the dugout from festivities the night before.

“She never gave up. From former OU Associate Athletic Director Marita Hynes, Coach Gasso, softball alumni, to current players, and the university, they persevered through all the challenges. That championship mindset is how success is built.”

How Love’s started: Tom and Judy Love ‘had two small children to feed and bills to pay’

Nobody in the Love family, or among the earliest employees, could have dreamed that Love’s, first called Musket Corp., would ever become such a retail juggernaut, with locations popping up along interstate highways like spring dandelions — plus several other ventures catering to, and supporting, the trucking industry, everyday travelers, and fuel supply chain management.

“When my parents opened our first location 60 years ago, they never imagined what Love’s would grow into,” Love Meyer said. “They had two small children to feed and bills to pay and had to figure out a way to do that. My dad had the idea to lease an abandoned filling station, and through hard work, finding ways to learn about the business and, as he would say, working with and hiring people smarter than him, they grew it into what it is today.

“We attribute our success to our team members and customers. They’ve helped us grow into what we are today while remaining true to the family-owned and -operated business model that we know sets us apart from competitors. We always say that if our teams take care of customers, we’ll take care of them, and we think that’s been a pretty good standard to live by.”

Love’s rolls both ways, with professional drivers and casual customers

If you’re a professional truck driver, Love’s is a truck stop. If you’re not, Love’s is a convenience store with fast food. Chances are, trucker or not, you don’t know what all drives the family-owned company.

Love’s rolls both ways, of course. Two-thirds of fuel sales are to professional drivers, and two-thirds of in-store sales are to casual customers, the company says. But Love’s business is more than gasoline, diesel, and road trip snacks and fast food.

This year, the company plans to add up to 25 new locations, update up to 40 older stores, and rebuild four, among other company expansions, said Shane Wharton, Love’s president.

“Six decades ago, (the late) Tom Love opened our first service station in Watonga, Oklahoma, and almost immediately started selling household items to make stopping in more convenient for customers,” Wharton said. “Today, as the only major travel stop that is still family owned and operated, we continue with his innovative spirit by adding new products and improving the experience to give customers more reasons to stop in.”

Four generations of Loves are involved with the company, including billionaire co-founder Judy Love. But numerous others have helped build Love’s since 1964, Love-Meyer said.

“While a lot has changed … the heart of Love’s has not,” she said. “We are so grateful for our incredible team members — past and present — whose contributions play a role in shaping our company.

“Growth and innovation of our product offerings, living our core values and culture daily, and dedication to clean places, friendly faces are what this company was started on in 1964. Today, we proudly stand on that foundation and know our best is still ahead of us.”

RELATED: Biggest-ever Love’s Travel Stop reminds me why I love Love’s but will wait awhile yet to stop in

Love’s went on a buying spree in 2023, its biggest year for mergers and acquisitions.

The company acquired EZ GO from Lawton-based Carey Johnson Oil Co., including six travel stops on Oklahoma turnpikes, five on the Kansas turnpike and 11 convenience stores in Oklahoma and Nebraska.

EZ GO, like Love’s, features franchise food and owns and operates Back Forty Barbecue at two locations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Houston-based Musket Corp., owned by Love’s, established European operations with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Musket’s focus is supplying Love’s Travel Stops with gasoline and diesel and managing the company’s biodiesel program. Subsidiary Musket Europe SARL extends the company’s commodity supply and logistics, providing relief for the instability in global fuel supply chains.

Love’s also bought OKC-based TVC Pro-Driver, a motor club and commercial driver’s license protection service. It assists drivers and fleets in reducing or dismissing fines, preventing downtime for court, and protecting federal compliance, safety and accountability scores. A subscription provides access to a network of attorneys and discounts on safety solutions, health care and more. Terms were not disclosed.

Love’s continues to expand and enhance services for drivers — professional and casual.

Through awards from the Federal Highway Administration’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, Love’s-owned Trillium Energy Solutions, which Love’s acquired in 2016, plans to add to Love’s electric vehicle fast-charging network with new chargers at 29 locations this year.

For truckers driving Freightliners, which Love’s said accounts for about half all trucks on the road, Freightliner ExpressPoint is now available at more than 400 Love’s truck care locations, providing light mechanical warranty repair work for Freightliner trucks through Love’s partnership with Daimler Truck North America. Love’s rolled out the service in January and plans to expand it this year.

Love’s plans 10 new full-service Speedco locations next to its travel stops, 50 maintenance bays and and about 60 emergency roadside vehicles. Love’s has owned Speedco since 2017.

Love family philanthropy seen across Oklahoma, elsewhere

Love’s donates 2% of net profits to charity and good causes.

“Many know the story of Love’s…,” Love Meyer said last year in Love’s first-ever Community Impact Report. “And from those humble roots, he built a family-owned and -operated network of travel stops now approaching 700 locations.

“But it’s important to know that from the start, as he built the business, he cared about the communities where the stores were located. It is this caring, combined with a desire to give back, that is the foundation for charitable giving at Love’s. This is certainly one of the legacies my dad left with us. … Helping others is nothing new for Love’s.”

This year, in addition to the debut of Love’s Field, the Oklahoma City Zoo’s Expedition Africa and completely renovated Love’s Pachyderm Building opened, the new Women’s Center at Mercy Hospital opened, and Love’s Planetarium at Science Museum Oklahoma is scheduled to open.

“Our efforts are certainly not limited to Oklahoma and include building meaningful partnerships to transform communities nationwide,” Love Meyer said.

Love’s gave away nearly $12 million in 2022, according its 2023 Community Impact Report — 46% to youths and education, 20% to health and human services, 25% to civic and community organizations, and 9% to other needs. Recipients included:

In addition, Love’s corporate employees donated $676,000 to United Way of Central Oklahoma and 1,400 volunteer hours to various causes.

Judy Love, as matriarch, has led the way in the Love family’s giving.

Recipients include Positive Tomorrows, the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Children’s Miracle Network and United Way, as well as out-of-state organizations and groups.

All that giving, and all that innovation, have kept the Loves’ reputation growing, and Love’s competitive and growing, for 60 years.

“As Love’s has expanded its network and offerings over the past 60 years, we’ve been able to stay true to who we are and what we represent, clean places with friendly faces who work hard every day to get customers back on the road quickly,” Love Meyer said. “The dedication to helping our customers every day, while innovating and striving to be better, is foundational for Love’s, from our leaders to team members across the nation.”

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What you may not know about Love’s truck stops

Here are some things you might not know about Love’s, and some more of what the company says to expect in 2024.

• Love’s is growing its Fresh Kitchen concept after customer feedback, offering fresh, healthier and diet-specific food options, including a new omelet bowl, upgraded snack trays, improved mac and cheese bowls, and other items.

• Love’s, a top 10 restaurant operator in the U.S., with quick-service offerings from Arby’s to McDonald’s to Wendy’s, will add 20 restaurants this year.

• Love’s will keep expanding its own branded food and snacks including new chip flavors, meat sticks, honey buns, powdered doughnuts and cookies.

• Love’s will add RV hookups at 44 locations, ending 2024 with 1,500 hookups at 98 locations, and will double its number of truck washes by adding seven, for professional drivers and RV’ers.

Senior Business Writer Richard Mize has covered housing, construction, commercial real estate and related topics for the Oklahoman newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at rmize@oklahoman.com. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Real Estate with Richard Mize.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Love’s Travel Stops, based in Oklahoma, is continuing to grow