Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, RaceTrac, Inc. is a third-generation, family-owned company that operates more than 575 RaceTrac convenience stores and over 200 RaceWay locations across the Southeast. Guided by its mission to “make people’s lives simpler and more enjoyable,” RaceTrac has become a trusted brand for fuel, food, and a seamless shopping experience. To support this growth and ensure reliable operations, the company deployed Scale Computing Reliant Platform™ Edge Computing as a Service to modernize its edge infrastructure and position itself for future innovation.
Challenge: Legacy Systems Undermining Reliability
RaceTrac’s store technology environment had grown increasingly complex over the years. Each location relied on a patchwork of single-purpose systems, from point-of-sale terminals and payment controllers to fuel pumps and in-store devices, all operating with limited coordination. While these systems kept daily operations running, they created mounting inefficiencies. Without centralized monitoring or management, IT teams struggled to maintain visibility, and troubleshooting often required sending technicians to stores, adding both time and cost.
This lack of integration became a major liability for a brand that could not afford downtime. Fuel transactions, POS operations, and food service systems all played critical roles in revenue and customer satisfaction. As John Lukas, CIO and VP of Information Technology noted, “RaceTrac simply can’t afford any downtime or interruption in service as it impacts our guests’ experience.”
The decentralized model also made it difficult to scale new innovation initiatives. Rolling out updates, patches, or new applications across hundreds of locations was cumbersome, often requiring weeks of effort and inconsistent execution. The reliance on truck-rolls for on-site fixes not only increased costs but also delayed recovery from critical device failures. The IT team recognized that this approach was unsustainable in a business environment that prioritized agility and reliability.
Meanwhile, the sheer variety of single-purpose hardware created a costly refresh cycle. Each time a device reached end-of-life or new functionality was required, the default solution was to purchase more hardware, driving up capital expenses and operational overhead. For a fast-growing company, this model limited flexibility and locked RaceTrac into a pattern of reactive, hardware-dependent decision-making.
As RaceTrac expanded, these challenges compounded. The need for a retail-hardened, resilient, and centrally managed edge platform became impossible to ignore. The leadership team understood that the future of the business depended on a new retail architecture – one that could consolidate existing systems, reduce downtime, and enable rapid, cloud-driven innovation.
Solution: Consolidation and Control with Scale Computing
RaceTrac turned to Scale Computing Reliant Platform to modernize its retail IT environment. The platform stood out as a hardware and cloud-agnostic edge solution capable of managing both current and future applications with high availability. Its ability to consolidate disparate systems into a single, resilient framework was particularly appealing, as it offered a way to eliminate the inefficiencies of legacy, single-purpose hardware while creating room for innovation.
With the Reliant Platform in place, RaceTrac could centrally manage deployments across its entire chain of stores. This capability meant changes no longer had to be executed piecemeal. Instead, updates, patches, and new applications could be rolled out to individual stores, select regions, or the entire enterprise in near real time. This shift dramatically reduced labor costs and minimized support incidents tied to inconsistent rollouts.
The architecture also enabled virtualization at the edge. By creating new virtual machines or containers, RaceTrac could add applications without deploying new hardware. This not only accelerated innovation but also extended the life of existing infrastructure. IT teams could respond quickly to business needs while avoiding the capital-intensive cycles of the past.
Observability was another critical improvement. With real-time monitoring and centralized visibility into store systems, the IT team could track performance, detect anomalies, and address issues before they disrupted customer service. As Executive Director of Store Technology Tyler Grubbs explained, “The ability to consolidate hardware and systems plus allowing us to make changes to a single location, specific groups of stores, or even chain wide in near real time was a game changer for us. Real-time observability into operations is critical for our continued success.”
Finally, the Reliant Platform Edge Computing as a Service provided RaceTrac with the flexibility to future-proof its environment. Its vendor-agnostic design ensured that new applications could be integrated without lock-in, while its cloud-managed model reduced dependence on truck-rolls for fixes and upgrades. Together, these capabilities established a modern IT foundation that combined resiliency, scalability, and adaptability.
Results: Greater Uptime, Lower Costs, and Future-Ready Innovation
The impact of the Reliant Platform on RaceTrac’s operations was immediate and measurable. Since deployment, the company has seen a more than 40% reduction in overall support incidents. Issues that once required hours or even days to resolve are now addressed in minutes, dramatically improving both employee efficiency and the guest experience.
Perhaps even more striking has been the reduction in truck-rolls. Critical device failures that previously required on-site intervention have fallen by 90%. With centralized management and virtualization, RaceTrac can address problems remotely, reducing both operational costs and the time required to return systems to full functionality. This improvement has not only lowered total cost of ownership but also freed IT resources to focus on innovation rather than firefighting.
By consolidating single-purpose systems into a scalable, centrally managed edge environment, the Reliant Platform has given RaceTrac the stability it needed to maintain uptime in a 24x7x365 business. Fuel operations, in-store POS, and digital services now run on a foundation designed for resilience. Customers enjoy seamless transactions, and store teams are empowered to serve without disruption.
Equally important, the Reliant Platform has unlocked new agility. RaceTrac can now roll out new applications via software rather than hardware, enabling innovation without capital-intensive investments. This capability has proven invaluable as the company continues to experiment with digital engagement, loyalty programs, and next-generation customer experiences. What once took weeks to implement can now be achieved in hours, giving RaceTrac a competitive edge in responding to market demands.
From a financial perspective, the solution has delivered impactful ROI by lowering operational costs, reducing downtime, and extending the life of existing infrastructure. The combination of centralized control, edge virtualization, and real-time observability has given RaceTrac the flexibility to evolve while maintaining predictable costs.
By partnering with Scale Computing, RaceTrac has transformed its approach to technology, shifting from a fragmented, hardware-bound environment to a unified, software-driven model. This reinvention has positioned RaceTrac to continue its mission of simplifying and improving guests’ lives, with the right foundation in place to deliver next-generation applications and experiences to their customers.