RaceTrac began its expansion into the Nashville area with the grand opening of its first new convenience store in Gallatin, Tenn., in the Middle Tennessee region.
The event featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony by RaceTrac CEO Max McBrayer, RaceTrac Chief Legal Officer Joe Akers, Tennessee House of Representatives Majority Leader William Lamberth of Tennessee’s 44th District, Mayor of Gallatin Paige Brown and Lucia Folk, Board Chair of Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, along with an appearance by T-Rac and the Tennessee Titans cheerleaders.
“The Nashville market continues its unprecedented growth with a daily influx of new residents and steady stream of new businesses,” said McBrayer. “On behalf of RaceTrac, we are humbled for the opportunity to make our tasty food and beverage offers, friendly, professional people, and competitively-priced fuel a part of your daily routine.”
Mayor Brown spoke about RaceTrac’s future impact on the community.
“We’re honored RaceTrac has chosen Gallatin to celebrate its entrance into Middle Tennessee,” said Brown. “The city of Gallatin is filled with people that possess true grit and amazing grace – a perfect alignment for RaceTrac as they deliver on their mission of making people’s lives simpler and more enjoyable. With two stores planned for Gallatin, we’ll continue to work with RaceTrac on this mission by providing jobs for the hardworking and skilled people of our city.”
Majority Leader Lamberth echoed his excitement for RaceTrac and the commitment the company has made to the state.
“RaceTrac is investing over $100 million in Tennessee,” said Lamberth, “and I look forward to the continued economic investment, delicious food and competitively-priced fuel RaceTrac will bring to the state.”
Attendees were welcomed to the all-new convenience store with free food and beverage items, along with grand prize giveaways, including $500 RaceTrac gift cards, “Free for a Year” offers on RaceTrac’s “Crazy Good Coffee” and other beverages, made-in-store pizza and Swirl World frozen desserts. Those first to arrive were also provided coupons for various RaceTrac products.
During the grand opening event, RaceTrac and Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee announced their 2020 partnership dedicated to fundraising and donating to those struggling with food insecurity throughout Middle Tennessee.
As a private, not-for-profit and tax-exempt organization, Second Harvest distributes food and other products to approximately 490 nonprofit partner agencies in 46 counties in Middle and West Tennessee.
RaceTrac will donate up to $50,000 to Second Harvest through its RaceTrac Gives Back Program that will be held at each Tennessee-area RaceTrac location that opens in 2020. These in-store fundraising efforts will provide more than 200,000 meals to the Middle Tennessee community.
“Second Harvest is dedicated to serving the Middle Tennessee community by providing meals to our neighbors struggling with hunger, so a partnership with a company like RaceTrac who’s already so actively involved in the various communities they serve will allow us to further expand our impact across the state,” said Folk.
RaceTrac will build about 30 stores throughout Middle Tennessee by 2023, including locations already planned or under construction in Clarksville, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Hendersonville and Spring Hill.
Each location provides about 90 trade jobs during the construction phase and up to 20 career opportunities to the community.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., family-owned RaceTrac has been serving guests since 1934 and now operates over 530 convenience store locations in Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Tennessee. In 2014, CStore Decisions named RaceTrac the Chain of the Year.
