Innovation in food service isn’t just about trendy new menu items. For truck stop and travel center operators, food service innovation can help draw in customers, reduce friction and improve margins while also ensuring locations deliver food that people actually crave. During the NATSO Connect Food Focus Forum at NATSO Connect 2026, three industry leaders shared practical ways to think about and execute innovation.

The trucking industry’s long downturn is finally easing after a years-long freight recession, but the recovery is being driven by decreased availability of capacity rather than increased freight. Fleets and drivers are leaving the industry, and new truck purchases are running below replacement levels, gradually tightening capacity in what American Trucking Associations Chief Economist and Senior Vice President Bob Costello called a “supply-side cycle.” “I’m going to let you decide if the glass is half full or half empty. I’m going to go with it being half full,” Costello said while speaking during NATSO Connect 2026 in late February.

NATSO, along with its industry allies, on April 6, 2026, submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Treasury outlining changes to the proposed regulations for the ‘Section 45Z’ Clean Fuel […]