Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/86111
CHANGING LANES Industry News Pilot Flying J Achieves 300-Restaurant Milestone Pilot Flying J celebrated its 300th company owned and operated restaurant with the opening of a Huddle House in its new Pilot Travel Center location in Anna, Texas, on June 11. The company historically has been a leader in adding restaurants to its network of more than 600 travel center locations across North America and plans to open another 23 restaurants by year's end, including four new Moe's Southwest Grill restaurants. Moe's is a division of Atlanta-based Focus Brands and is a fast, casual Mexican-style restaurant featuring made-to-order burritos and house- made salsa. "Pilot Flying J is a driver-driven company, and restaurants are a vital part of the service we provide to professional drivers and the motoring public," said Pilot Flying J CEO Jimmy Haslam. "We're proud to provide our customers with a wide variety of well-known restaurant concepts in addition to other in-store hot meal food options." Along with Huddle House, Pilot Flying J restaurants include Arby's, Chester's Chicken, Dairy Queen, KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Subway, Taco Bell and Wendy's. The company is the largest non-traditional Subway franchisee in North America. Pilot Flying J has risen to be one of the nation's largest restaurant operators. In 2011, the company was named to the Nation's Restaurant News (NRN) Top 100 list of food- 40 service chains and companies, with the Knoxville- based travel center company coming in as the 65th largest in revenue and second in terms of fastest revenue growth. The ranking was based on $451 million in U.S. food and beverage revenue during the highway ending December 2010. In addition to restaurant concepts, Pilot Flying J also offers full hot deli areas in locations across the U.S. The hot delis include Pepperoni's handmade 16-inch Italian-style pizzas, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fresh- made salads, chicken wings and chicken tenders as well as a full line of homemade breakfast sandwiches. AUGUST 2012 // WWW.CHANGINGLANESDIGITAL.COM