Spiceland Truck Stop Plaza, Indiana Branded Truck Stop with Real Estate

$7.8M

Revenue

$1.1M

SDE

6.4x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a branded truck stop plaza in Spiceland, Henry County, Indiana, sitting on ten acres roughly between Indianapolis and the Ohio border on an interstate corridor. The operation bundles multiple revenue streams under one roof: a 7,500 SF convenience store and restaurant doing $50k to $55k and $190k to $200k in monthly sales respectively, high-volume fuel (70,000 gallons of diesel and 35,000 to 40,000 gallons of gas per month, plus 2,000 gallons of DEF), a 23,000 SF mechanic shop with five bays, a truck wash, a bar and lounge, showers, laundry, a barber shop, an arcade, and EV charging stations. The dispenser setup includes four double-sided gas MPDs and six double-sided fast diesel MPDs.

Total reported revenue is $7.78M with $1.13M in owner cash flow, and the $7.2M asking price includes the business and the real estate (inventory of roughly $100k is extra). The restaurant is doing the heavy lifting on top-line volume at well over $2M annually, while fuel margin, inside-sales margin, and ancillary rebates from lottery, ATM, cigarettes, showers, and commissions stack additional profit. Five years remain on the gas and diesel supply agreements.

This is a classic owner-operator or family-run roadside asset: multiple small profit centers that compound into real cash flow when a hands-on operator is squeezing every margin. The seller is exiting to focus on other businesses, which signals a transactional sale rather than a distressed one. The combination of owned land, essential interstate fuel/food demand, and diversified income makes it a durable, cash-generating physical asset rather than a trend play.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is anchored by $1.13M of cash flow on $7.78M of revenue, spread across fuel, restaurant, c-store, truck wash, mechanic bays, and ancillary rebates. That diversification means no single line item can sink the operation, and the inside-sales and restaurant margins are called out as high. The mix of high-volume commodity fuel plus higher-margin inside sales is the proven truck stop economic model.
The real estate is included in the $7.2M price: ten acres, a 7,500 SF c-store/restaurant, and a 23,000 SF five-bay mechanic shop. Owning the dirt on an interstate corridor is the moat here, because location is the entire value of a truck stop and it cannot be replicated nearby. You are buying a hard asset plus a going concern, not just goodwill.
Fuel, food, truck repair, and showers for long-haul drivers are non-discretionary services that persist through downturns. Freight volume fluctuates but trucks still need diesel, DEF, mechanics, and a hot meal, and the five-year supply agreements lock in branded fuel economics. This is about as recession-resistant as roadside retail gets.
This is a textbook owner-operator play where hands-on management directly drives margin. An operator who tightens inventory shrink, labor scheduling, and fuel buying can meaningfully lift the $1.13M number. The seller is leaving to run other businesses, suggesting the asset has been somewhat passively managed and has upside for a focused buyer.

How to improve it

Audit and re-price the restaurant menu and inside c-store SKUs in the first 90 days. The restaurant is doing $190k to $200k monthly but food cost and labor on roadside restaurants are notoriously leaky, so small margin gains on a $2.3M revenue line drop straight to the bottom line.
Build out the EV charging and DEF revenue as freight electrification and emissions rules expand. The site already has charging stations and sells 2,000 gallons of DEF monthly, so a modest marketing and signage push to long-haul drivers can grow two high-margin, future-proof lines.
Formalize the 23,000 SF mechanic shop as a standalone profit center with posted rates, fleet accounts, and online booking. Five bays serving interstate truckers is a strong recurring-revenue opportunity if you sign fleet maintenance contracts rather than relying on walk-in breakdowns.
Negotiate better fuel supply and jobber terms as the five-year agreements wind down. Diesel at 70,000 gallons monthly means even a penny or two per gallon improvement in buying cost is material annual EBITDA, so start positioning for renewal leverage early.
Install or upgrade back-office systems to capture every ancillary stream: lottery, ATM, showers, laundry, arcade, barber shop, and vendor rebates. These small lines are easy to under-collect or mismanage, and a clean POS and vendor-rebate reconciliation can recover leakage worth tens of thousands.
Drive loyalty and professional-driver traffic through trucking apps and dispatcher relationships. Showers, parking, food, and fuel bundled for drivers builds repeat stops, so a driver rewards program and listings on trucker routing apps increase utilization of the whole plaza.

Diligence notes

Verify the revenue and cash flow with three years of tax returns and fuel supplier statements, because truck stop listings often blend fuel gallons at retail into gross revenue that can distort margin optics. Confirm whether the $1.13M cash flow is net of a market manager salary or assumes full owner labor across multiple departments.
Scrutinize the fuel supply agreements with five years remaining, including branding requirements, volume commitments, pricing formulas, and any image or capital reinvestment obligations. These contracts can carry hidden costs or restrict your ability to switch jobbers, which directly affects the single largest cost line.
Order an environmental Phase I and likely Phase II on the fuel site and tanks given the age and interstate location. Underground storage tank liability and remediation can run into six or seven figures, and you are buying the land so you inherit all of it.
Get an independent appraisal of the real estate and equipment to separate how much of the $7.2M is dirt and buildings versus operating goodwill. At a 6.37x cash flow multiple the real estate component should support a meaningful portion of the price, which changes financing and downside protection.
Confirm staffing, management depth, and whether the two-week training transfers real operating knowledge across six-plus profit centers. A plaza this complex running fuel, a full restaurant, a mechanic shop, and a bar needs capable department leads, so understand who actually runs each unit today.
Validate the reported monthly volumes for fuel, restaurant, and inside sales against point-of-sale data rather than seller estimates. The listing uses averages and ranges, and for a $7.2M asset you want hard daily transaction data to confirm the economics before committing.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →