How do you draw customers to your business? The Tennessean Travel Stop in Cornersville, Tennessee, had great food and decided that an element of fun might get travelers and locals to extend their visit. The travel stop has become a destination, complete with music, dancing and trivia night.
“If you think of travel stops, it’s a quick in and out. We want to be a place that people want to come and stay,” said Tara Polk, general manager.
The Tennessean’s been around since 1972. Gregory Sachs bought it in 2017 and hired Polk. “He saw potential. He loved the food and the atmosphere,” she said.
Buffet Favorites
“I think we have the best meatloaf in the world.”
Polk makes a bold claim, but according to customers, she’s right.
“We’re known for our meatloaf. I’ve had meatloaf in other places and ours is the best. I love it so much that I make the same meatloaf at home,” she said, adding, “It’s not just my opinion. Customers love it. It’s the one thing we keep on our buffet every day. We swapped it out once and the customers were mad.”
People love the Southern, homecooked food offered by the Tennessean, which has its own propriety barbeque sauce in original, sweet heat and chipotle. “We smoke everything here,” said Polk. “We have pulled pork, brisket, chicken, smoked bologna and ribs.”
Adding live music was part of changing the travel stop from a pit stop to a destination.
Smoked bologna?
Bologna is rising in popularity. If you move in the world of food, you’ll find everything from basic deli style to gourmet offerings—and that’s no bologna.
Polk and her team have jumped on the bologna train and are taking the venerable standby to a new level by smoking it.
“We start with a chub of bologna and rub it with our proprietary rub. We put it on our rotisserie smoker and smoke it with cherry and hickory wood. Once it’s cooled down, we slice it thick and place it in the cooler. When a customer orders it, we heat it on the griddle. It has that smoked flavor and it’s delicious.”
It is served for breakfast or as a sandwich on Texas toast with fries. “You can get an omelet with smoked bologna,” said Polk, adding that truckers ask for bologna to take on the road.
Music and Trivia
Cornersville is about an hour’s drive from Nashville. Music is huge in this part of the country.
“The whole goal was to bring Nashville to Cornersville,” Polk said.
“Here, a traffic jam is when you get stuck behind a tractor. So, music gives people an opportunity to experience live music and entertainment that you’d have to go to Nashville to see. It gives locals a chance to see this and truckers a chance to see entertainers that they would not have the opportunity to experience.” Polk said. “We move the furniture around so people can dance. Our next thing coming is line dancing. I suspect it’s going to be pretty popular. People around here love to dance.”
Traditional homestyle foods, such as meatloaf, are a hit at the Tennessean.
Trivia nights draw crowds, too. “Trivia Thursday is very popular. We give first-, second- and third-place cash prizes. We come up with a theme. A few weeks ago it was Stranger Things and we had a Disney Name That Tune. It’s mostly local teams. This past week we had five teams. We have a lot of spectators as well,” said Polk.
In addition, there’s a sports lounge with a big TV. “This appeals to travelers and locals. There’s not a lot to do in small town. … We are the spot.”
Community Connections
Polk shared that the “biggest challenge in this business is staffing. We currently employ 85 employees. You have turnover. I try to listen to staff with the intent of understanding, not necessarily with the intent to respond. I try to make them feel like they’re with me and not beneath me.”
Getting involved in the local community has been a win-win for the Tennessean. It’s an opportunity to touch a lot of local lives.
“Every Friday we feed the high school football team. We give them a pregame meal for free. The owner is generous. He likes to give back,” she said, adding, “We have a lot of events. We had a big Fourth of July event. Everyone had cancelled fireworks. So, we were the only fireworks show. We had over 1,000 people come out. We had a live band. We had a portable bar. It was like a big cookout. It was a hit. It’s expensive to put on a fireworks show, but it was a way to give back.”
“We want to perfect this and have more Tennessean Travel Stops,” Polk said. “It’s like the Ritz-Carlton of travel centers. … Customers get a nice environment that’s down to earth and welcoming.”