Everyone talks about growth like it’s the only goal that matters. Open more locations. Sign more leases. Add more brands to the portfolio. Yes, those things are important. But after going from 15 travel centers to more than 82 in under two years, I can tell you that the real challenge isn’t getting bigger, it’s making sure every part of your business grows at the same pace.
Here are three ways my business partner Val Amiel, CEO of LV Petroleum, and I have been deliberate about building LV Petroleum from the outside in, and vice versa.
Building Leadership Depth Across Every Location
A location is only as strong as the team that’s running it. As LV Petroleum has grown, the priority has been on fostering genuine leadership talent at every level. That means identifying people within our existing teams who are ready to take on more responsibility, and giving them a path to learn while doing. Making vertical mobility visible within the company is essential to employee satisfaction, and the benefits of that are endless.
We promote from within wherever possible. The people who already understand our culture, our standards and our customers are often the best candidates to lead the next location we open. When you grow as fast as we have, it’s tempting to hire from the outside for every new role, but that approach dilutes what you’ve built. Depth comes from hiring carefully at every level, then developing the people you’ve already invested in.
Standardizing Operations So Quality Scales With You
When you have one location, you can manage quality through presence – that was how Val and I used to do it, back when we managed our first location by trading off 12-hour shifts. But when you have 82 of them, you need systems to keep things on track and running smooth. Over the past two years, we’ve standardized the processes that govern how our locations operate, from how a truck bay is managed, to how a store is stocked and how customer issues get resolved, we have a well-tested process for everything.
Standardization isn’t about removing judgment – good judgement and great people will always play a role in running a successful location. It’s about making sure the right decisions get made consistently, regardless of who’s on shift or what state you’re in. That’s what allows a brand to scale without losing what made it worth growing in the first place.
Investing in a Formal Training Infrastructure
The single biggest thing we are doing to protect our growth is building up our LV Performance Center, a training facility and curriculum to help ensure everyone who works at our travel centers knows how to do their job at the highest level.
When you’re operating travel centers across dozens of states, you can’t afford inconsistency. A driver pulling into one of our locations in West Virginia should have the same confidence as one pulling into our home location in Nevada. That only happens if the people working at and running those locations have been trained to the same high-quality standard.
The Performance Center is developing dedicated curriculums for truck technicians, store managers and site managers. Each training track is built around the specific demands of that job, because what a technician needs to keep a truck bay running is completely different from what a site manager needs to know to run a 24-hour operation. We’re building these training centers both in a new Las Vegas building and out of our Gastonia, North Carolina facility, all with a clear goal in mind: every person who comes through that program leaves more capable than when they arrived.
Training is the infrastructure that makes everything else work.
A company’s outward growth is always visible. It shows up as new dots on the company map, well-circulated press releases and ribbon-cutting celebrations. Internal growth, however, is much quieter, though it’s what determines whether your expansion actually holds. If your people, your processes and your infrastructure aren’t keeping up with your footprint, you’re not really growing, you’re just spreading your business thin.
Guy Madmon is the co-founder of LV Petroleum, a leading nationwide network of travel centers, gas stations, and quick-service restaurants based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has built businesses by acquiring and improving underperforming assets, with a leadership style rooted in hands-on operations and community engagement.
