Two West Treasure Valley businessmen created a new brand of truck stop earlier this year — and they're using Boise's college football bowl game to tell the nation about it.
Roady's Truck Stops, headquartered in New Plymouth, will serve as the title sponsor of the Humanitarian Bowl from 2007 to 2009. The three-year contract was signed and announced Wednesday at Boise State University, where the game is played.
The first Roady's Humanitarian Bowl — and 11th edition of the game overall — will be played at noon Dec. 31 at Bronco Stadium. The matchup between teams in the Western Athletic Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference will air on ESPN2.
Roady's owners Scott Moscrip of New Plymouth and Kelly Rhinehart of Fruitland considered several sports avenues, including NASCAR, the NFL and college basketball, before deciding the Humanitarian Bowl was the best way to promote their new brand.
"We love putting money back into Idaho," Rhinehart said. "We can put money back into Idaho, and we can still get the national marketing piece that we need. It just made sense."
Roady's already has nearly 400 truck stops and 10,000 employees in its network, making it the largest truck stop brand in the nation, the company says. Roady's has 25 corporate employees in New Plymouth and Pennsylvania.
Pilot Travel Centers, the previous industry giant, features 281 stores and 13,000 employees, according to its Web site.
Roady's stores nationwide get nearly 900,000 customer visits per day.
Roady's was formed when Moscrip and Rhinehart purchased and merged TruckStops Direct and Great Savings Network, the two largest of six companies that helped market independent truck stops. The deal was completed Jan. 1.
The company is in the process of turning all of its outlets — including Boise Stage Stop near Mountain Home — into Roady's Truck Stops.
Roady's signs will dominate each of the outlets, but the facilities will retain their current names. Roady's will market its franchises as "your hometown truck stops."
Roady's does not actually own the truck stops. It serves as the umbrella brand, which will allow the independent businesses to increase their buying power, offer customer rewards and gain national recognizability.
If all goes well, the stops also will make more money.
"We're the Wendy's," Rhinehart said. "Most of the Wendy's are owned by franchisees. So we're the brand."
Kurt Miller bought Baker Truck Corral in Baker City, Ore., from Rhinehart and Moscrip last year. He is part of the Roady's network, and he already has noticed a difference.
For example, his truck stop soon will receive corporate discounts when buying food for the restaurant.
Miller pays $500 per month to Roady's. He says the money is well spent.
"What I'm really impressed with is their honesty and integrity," Miller said. "Most people, they're in it for their own pocket. These guys are odd in that they're doing it to do it — for the challenge."
Moscrip says he and Rhinehart first told the six truck stop marketing groups that they needed to consolidate.
That was about 18 months ago."They couldn't do it," Moscrip said. "We stepped in and said, ‘If you guys can't do it, we will.' "
The Roady's brand will allow the independent stops to compete on a level playing field with the likes of major brands Flying J Travel Plazas, Pilot and TravelCenters of America, the company says.
"The industry has been in dire need of some consolidation because you have a few major chains that get all the breaks and the discounts and the buying power," Moscrip said. "And then you have all the independents out there hanging."
Moscrip, 41, has been the president of Internet Truckstop for 12 years. The company has 70 employees and also is headquartered in New Plymouth.
He compares the company to an Internet dating service — loads and empty trucks find each other through cyberspace. The company also offers a credit service that reports on businesses involved in trucking, fuel optimization products and carrier performance ratings.
Moscrip is a football fan — and a Boise State fan — but he sticks to warm-weather games. That's why his company bought a suite in the Bronco Stadium addition that opens in 2008.
"He's a fair-weather fan," Rhinehart said.
Rhinehart, 40, has owned convenience stores and truck stops for several years. He attended Boise State for one year before transferring to then-Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa.
He attends several Boise State football games a year and sits in the north end zone. He figures he'll still sit there when he has access to Internet Truckstop's suite because he likes the atmosphere.
Moscrip and Rhinehart are longtime friends.
"We've kind of paralleled each other in the business," Rhinehart said.
Now they're working together, and they have big goals.
They hope to expand their network to 700 to 1,000 truck stops. They have added about 70 stops since March.
The company has stops in almost every state and parts of Canada. It has, or soon will have, a stop near every market with a WAC or ACC university.
"Our phones are continually ringing off the hook with people who want to join," Moscrip said.
Chadd Cripe: 377-6398
