Pilot, Huck’s Honored with CStore Decisions’ Tech Innovation Awards

Huck's Market is gearing up for an AI-savvy and integrated future, as Pilot updates its digital offerings and modernizes the back office.

Tech innovation awards

Tech-forward convenience retailers are anticipating an industrywide shift toward automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and integration in the coming years. Retailers that are actively pursuing and capitalizing on this trend will be well positioned for the future.

One such retailer is Pilot Co., which operates over 900 locations and is focused on evolving its digital ecosystem through deeper integration, personalization and operational efficiency.

The travel center chain over the last year has enhanced its mobile app, redesigned its website, expanded its digital ordering capabilities and penned an agreement with a tech platform that will modernize its back office and point of sale (POS).

It also surpassed a milestone 250 electric vehicle (EV) charging locations across 40 states.

Pilot company updates

To acknowledge Pilot’s achievements in technological and digital innovation, CStore Decisions is recognizing the company with a 2026 Tech Innovation Award.

Pilot spent the past year advancing its digital offerings through efforts such as its redesigned website and revamped mobile app.

“Our digital advancements have been driven by two simple goals: creating exceptional experiences for all drivers and being the leading energy and experience provider people rely on,” said David Dawson, VP of retail and digital technology for Pilot.

The app and website are now part of a more intuitive, user-friendly and unified digital ecosystem. They were built on new, modern platforms to allow the company better flexibility to respond to customer needs more quickly. Added features include mobile ordering, streamlining navigation, real-time location information, and easier access to service availability such as amenities and fuel prices.

“Feedback has been strong from digital users, and the Pilot app continues to be quite popular with a 4.8 average rating from roughly 186,000 reviewers in the Apple App Store. Particularly around added value, convenience and seamlessness of reserving parking spaces, showers and more,” said Dawson. “Drivers have expressed appreciation for being able to plan stops in advance and reduce downtime in-store or on the lot while still getting the experience they rely on.”

Pilot has noticed pro drivers use the mobile fueling feature in the app to save time and simplify payment. They can get authorization to fuel, turn on the pump and get a digital receipt without having to swipe their card or see the cashier. They ensure they earn their loyalty points with each fill and can begin the process while sitting in their cab.

“The result is a more efficient operation and a better overall experience for guests,” Dawson added.

The tools have also helped Pilot’s teams operate more efficiently.

As for Pilot’s digital ordering capabilities, the company partnered with platforms such as DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats.

“At the same time, we’ve enhanced our own app experience, giving guests the ability to mobile order ahead for pickup at a nearby location. Together, these advancements are about meeting our guests where they are and providing a flexible, convenient experience,” explained Dawson.

Pilot is also upgrading store technology for its owned and operated quick-service restaurant franchise locations to better align with its brand standards. It’s unlocking e-commerce platforms, kiosk ordering and improved kitchen management.

In addition to these initiatives, Pilot reached a five-year agreement with NCR Voyix to modernize and standardize the core technology powering the company’s retail and operational systems across the network — POS, back office, and integrated digital capabilities that support the customer experience and team member functions.

“For our guests, this means a more consistent, reliable and seamless experience across locations, from faster transactions to improved integration between in-store and digital touch points. For our team members, it simplifies operations by reducing system complexity and enabling more intuitive tools that support day-to-day workflows and reduce unnecessary tech-induced headaches,” said Dawson.

As Pilot looks to the second half of 2026 and beyond, it’s continuing to evolve its digital ecosystem through further enhancements to mobile ordering, expanded capabilities with the Pilot app and continued rollout of technologies supporting its EV charging network.

Pilot now has over 250 locations offering EV charging, most locations with four or more charging stalls.

“With our travel centers located just off major highways, our network enables longer road trips and helps relieve range anxiety for EV drivers,” said Dawson. “In addition to amenities like canopies, 24/7 monitoring and food on-site, our network consistently receives ratings over 9.4 on Plugshare.”

The travel center chain plans to expand coverage across key routes while maintaining charging speed, uptime and integration with its broader travel center network.

Outside of this, Pilot is focusing on creating tools to improve in-store operations, including inventory management capabilities and better food production planning systems to reduce waste. The company also looks to improve upon tools to communicate with team members at travel centers to better forecasting, store operations and the overall customer experience.

Additionally, Pilot is integrating systems across the enterprise to improve data flow and decision-making.

“By connecting insights from across our network, we can better anticipate demand, optimize staffing and ensure product availability,” said Dawson.

Pilot sees technology becoming increasingly embedded across every aspect of the travel center experience.

“AI (artificial intelligence) and automation will play a significant role in enabling more predictive, responsive and value-adding systems,” said Dawson.

The chain’s teams are able to use AI to bring new features to market faster, and Pilot can equip its corporate staff with AI assistance to help them perform their day-to-day tasks faster.

Out of all its tech investments, Pilot is seeing the strongest return on investment in customer satisfaction.

“Our goal is to make investments that reduce friction in the store, at the pump and online — then, we lean on the exceptional experiences that our team members provide, combined with amenities to meet the needs of all drivers,” said Dawson.

These investments create operational efficiencies, such as digital ordering, integrated systems and data-driven tools that reduce time on administrative tasks, that have not previously been realized.

“All these together are helping us redefine what guests should expect when they stop with us,” Dawson said.

Huck market advancements

Huck’s Market, which operates 135 stores in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee, is leveraging emerging technologies now to prepare for the future.

The chain recently implemented an AI-native point of sale (POS), modernized payment at the pump and rolled out a comprehensive camera system in addition to other advancements.

For all these achievements, CStore Decisions is recognizing Huck’s with a 2026 Tech Innovation Award.

Earlier this year, Huck’s rolled out its AI-native POS system, a partnership it entered into with Tote.ai.

“What makes it different is that AI is built into the workflow from the start, rather than being added on later. We wanted a platform that was simpler for store teams to use, better on the customer-facing side and stronger on the backend,” said Paul Black, director of IT at Huck’s.

The first install was a self-checkout at store No. 142. The second was at store No. 134 in Mt. Vernon, Ill., in February, a non-fuel store. The third install occurred at unmanned fuel store No. 42 in Carmi, Ill. Two additional self-checkout locations have been deployed since.

The phased approach was intended to test different operating environments.

“A self-checkout environment is different from a traditional non-fuel store, and both are different from an unmanned fuel site. We wanted to make sure the platform worked well across those models before expanding further,” said Black.

Benefits to the rollout include a simpler workflow, better consistency and a more modern platform on which the company can continue to build.

“We also continue to work with Tote on enhancements, not only for the customer-facing side, but also on the backend reporting side. The biggest challenge has been making sure we prove it out across different store formats while continuing to refine workflows, reporting and day-to-day execution as we go,” said Black.

Near term, Huck’s biggest technological focus is continuing to expand and improve this platform.

So far, the biggest impact the tech has had on operations is simplification.

“When you roll a platform into self-checkout, then a non-fuel location, then an unmanned fuel site, you see very quickly how important simplicity and consistency are. Good technology should make the job easier for employees, not harder, and that has been a big part of what we are trying to accomplish,” said Black.

Huck’s also embarked on a broad effort to modernize payments at the pump, resulting in a partnership with Car IQ, a vehicle payment solution provider, which allows fleet vehicles to automatically connect to the pump.

“The value there is reducing friction, especially for fleet-type transactions, and creating a more connected fueling experience. For us, it fits into the bigger picture of using technology to make the forecourt experience more efficient and seamless,” said Black.

Another rollout for the company was Solink, a video security system provider.

“That has been a very important rollout because we do not look at it as just a camera system. It gives us much better visibility into what is happening in the stores and lets us get to issues faster. It helps from a security standpoint, but it also helps operationally with investigations, exception review, compliance and overall store visibility,” Black noted.

Huck’s has also integrated its online ordering and third-party delivery platforms directly with its back-office system, a move which has significantly streamlined its operations.

This has delivered greater efficiency and accuracy across accounting, marketing and day-to-day store management.

“Ultimately, our customers benefit the most through a smoother, more seamless ordering experience from start to finish,” Black added.

The best return on investment (ROI), Black noted, comes from technology that improves daily execution and provides better visibility.

Huck’s has seen the highest ROI in AI investments that simultaneously grow sales and create front-line efficiencies.

“Generative AI powers personalized promotions, dynamic recommendations and targeted content that increase basket size and customer loyalty with minimal added effort. Agentic AI automates inventory, forecasting and pricing tasks, freeing our team to focus on delivering the fresh, fast, friendly service that customers have come to know and love,” said Black.

Huck’s is prepared to meet the shift toward AI as the technology grows and demand increases. Its existing digital infrastructure and data capabilities allow the company to do so and enable Huck’s to deliver greater efficiency internally and intelligent service to customers.

“I also think AI will have the most value when it helps store teams do their jobs better and helps organizations make decisions faster, not just as a headline,” Black continued.

Huck’s is also preparing for the move toward more connected systems.

“POS, payments, video, reporting and store operations are all starting to work together instead of living in separate silos,” Black explained.