Modernizing convenience retail: What Canadian retailers can learn from Pilot Travel Centers’ tech shift
LAS VEGAS — What does it take to modernize a massive, complex travel center network while placing the guest at the center of every decision? At a feature session during the 2026 NACS Show, executives from Pilot Travel Centers and NCR Voyix took the stage to share the strategies, technologies and operational mindsets powering Pilot's multi-year digital evolution and AI adoption.
The fireside discussion featured Andy Lupo, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer at Pilot—who oversees Retail Fuel, Marketing, Technology, Digital Products and AI—alongside Nick East, executive vice-president and chief product officer for NCR Voyix, who leads global product strategy, marketing and brand across retail, restaurants and payments. Together, they outlined how a classic brick-and-mortar operator and a leading tech provider are collaborating to reshape convenience retail.
Putting technology at the heart of the journey
For Pilot, operating roughly 850 locations across 43 states, modernizing its technology stack is not merely a matter of swapping out legacy hardware or updating point-of-sale terminals. It represents a fundamental shift toward building a seamless, highly reliable experience for the millions of professional drivers, commuters, electric-vehicle drivers and team members who rely on its network every day.
“We’re in the business of really keeping things simple for the customer,” Lupo told attendees. “Trying to be really reliable, being that wingman that they count on when they’re out over the interstate.”
As consumers become accustomed to frictionless digital experiences in ride-sharing, quick-service dining and e-commerce, convenience retail must match that pace. Lupo emphasized that consumer expectations across Pilot’s diverse customer segments filter into four core pillars: convenience, experience, empowerment and personalization. Whether a professional driver is reserving a shower and parking spot via an app or a motorist is grabbing coffee at the register, every interaction requires background speed and total connectivity.
A stronger foundation with NCR Voyix
Central to this roadmap is Pilot’s renewed partnership with NCR Voyix. By standardizing and upgrading the underlying enterprise architecture, Pilot aims to bridge physical store environments with digital channels seamlessly. Modernization in a large legacy ecosystem presents unique challenges, which is why Pilot chose a disciplined, value-focused framework rather than a disruptive overall overhaul.
“Technology can either hurt you or help you,” noted Lupo. “You don’t get credit when it works, and you take a lot of grief when it doesn’t work.” Partnering with NCR Voyix, led by product strategy from East and his team, allows Pilot to establish a stable enterprise foundation while retaining the agility required to innovate quickly as technologies evolve.
Six pillars guiding large-scale transformation
During the NACS session, Lupo detailed six strategic principles that guide Pilot through complex digital decisions:
1. Establish a clear mandate: Modernization demands unwavering commitment from the top. Board members, C-suite executives and regional leaders must align behind a shared long-term goal.
2. Maintain rigor and discipline: Transforming hundreds of locations will encounter unexpected roadblocks. Maintaining strict project discipline ensures teams remain focused despite roadblocks.
3. Tie everything to value: Avoid deploying tech simply because it is novel. Every deployment must demonstrate how it enhances the P&L or elevates the guest and associate experience.
4. Build it right from the start: Modernization is an opportunity to fix underlying technical debt rather than applying digital band-aids over legacy architecture.
5. Invest in internal talent: While technology partners provide valuable expertise, internal teams must possess the capabilities to manage, scale and own the environment long term.
6. Quadruple down on change management: Clear, repeated communication ensures store employees, franchise operators and end users understand the intent behind changes and adopt new tools smoothly.
Moving beyond AI hype to practical utility
No technology session today is complete without addressing artificial intelligence, but Lupo cautioned retailers against leaping blindly into hype-driven implementations. Pilot’s AI journey began years ago through predictive and analytical models—such as econometrics, segmentation, demand forecasting, and yield optimization—before branching into generative and agentic AI tools.
Today, Pilot leverages AI across dynamic loyalty programs, revenue growth management and frontline knowledge assistants that empower team members to find operational answers instantly without navigating disparate databases.
Lupo’s guidance for peer organizations is direct: “Don’t go right to AI. Don’t go right to the platform. Start with the pain point.” By identifying specific operational friction points first, retailers can determine whether AI, basic automation or simple process redesign is the optimal solution. In addition, he highlighted that effective AI requires strong data governance. Without trustworthy data, even sophisticated models fail to yield ROI.
Ground-level results and the power of listening
Despite sophisticated platform architectures and machine-learning algorithms, both speakers stressed that human-centric feedback remains the most important input for innovation. Pilot actively encourages corporate leaders to visit stores, spend time behind counters and listen to guest feedback directly.
“The customer, the team member, the guest—if you just listen, they will tell you the truth,” Lupo reflected.
This focus is producing real-world results. During the session’s Q&A segment, an audience member from Knoxville shared that she had noticed tangible store-level improvements across nearby Pilot locations in recent months, praising the refreshed guest experience.
For Pilot and NCR Voyix, that commentary encapsulates the purpose of modern retail technology: powering invisible, seamless infrastructure in the background so that every customer journey feels simpler, faster and more personal on the front lines.
- 5 key takeaways for retail modernization
1. Establish an executive mandate: Transformation requires clear alignment from the board, executive officers and operational leaders from day one.
2. Tie innovation directly to business value: Every tech investment must carry a solid business case and show tangible impact on the bottom line and guest satisfaction.
3. Solve pain points before adopting tech: Avoid chasing shiny tools like AI without first identifying the core operational or customer problem to solve.
4. Build sound data governance first: Advanced analytics, generative tools and automated workflows fail without accurate, well-governed data behind them.
5. Quadruple down on change management: Bringing store associates, operators and customers along through constant communication is vital to long-term success.
