Our Under the Hood series takes a look at the companies, systems, and stories that keep life moving on the road.
One of the largest privately held companies in America is, at heart, a place to pull off the highway.
It's not a flashy consumer brand or a tech firm. It's travel stop chain built for people who measure their days in miles, rest breaks, and the next good place to land for a while. If you have driven the US interstates long enough, you know the sign: that bright heart in the distance that tells you there is coffee, light, and a few minutes to be a person again.
Love's Travel Stops began in 1964 in Watonga, Oklahoma. Tom and Judy Love leased an abandoned service station for $5,000 and turned a closed building into something useful again. At first, it was a small-town business. Then the country’s roads changed.
The interstate system pulled travelers away from main streets and toward exits and on-ramps. Love’s followed the traffic.
In 1981, the company opened its first travel stop on Interstate 40 in Amarillo, Texas. It was a turning point. Love’s was no longer serving just locals and passersby. Instead, it was building infrastructure for the long-haul life. From there, the growth was not flashy. It was steady. Exit by exit, Love’s became part of the American road map, still headquartered in Oklahoma City and still owned by the Love family.
This matters because a travel stop is not just a store. For long-distance drivers, it is a checkpoint. A place to refuel, wash up, eat something warm, do laundry, and trade a few words with someone who understands the road. Love’s is woven into that rhythm, the way a familiar diner is woven into a small town.
The surprising part is how far that rhythm reaches.
In 2024, Forbes ranked Love’s as the 11th largest private company in the United States. That list is filled with household names, yet near the top is a company many people recognize mainly by a heart sign beside the interstate.
The point is not the number, but what it reveals. America runs on unseen infrastructure. Not only bridges and pavement, but the places that make life on the road livable for the people moving everything we buy.
Today, Love’s has more than 600 locations across 42 states. You can drive for days and keep seeing that same heart, the same yellow and red, the same promise of consistency. And for all that scale, the business still reads as personal. It is family-owned and operated. The Love name has stayed on the door for decades.
You can feel it in the small things that repeat across the map. A place clean enough to take a deep breath. A layout that makes sense at 2 a.m. A counter person who has seen every kind of tired and does not make a show of it.
Love’s is a story about American entrepreneurship that does not start in a boardroom. It starts with a closed service station in Watonga, a family willing to work, and a decision to build alongside the roads the country was building.
The next time you see that heart from half a mile out, it is worth remembering what it represents: A business that grew up with the interstate, and a culture that has always depended on places like this, even when many people never think twice about them.
Sources:
Forbes. America’s Largest Private Companies. Forbes Media, most recent annual ranking. forbes.com
Forbes. Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores. Company profile, ownership status, revenue estimates, and ranking context. forbes.com
Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores. The Love Legacy. Official company history detailing founding in 1964 by Tom and Judy Love in Watonga, Oklahoma, and early business development. loves.com
Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores. About Love’s. Corporate overview including headquarters location, family ownership, and national footprint. loves.com