Edgar Filing: TRAVELCENTERS OF AMERICA LLC

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20549

FORM 10-K

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018

Commission file number 001-33274



TRAVELCENTERS OF AMERICA LLC
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

Delaware		20-5701514
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

	24601 Center Ridge Road, Suite 200, Westlake, OH 44145-5639
	(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

	(440) 808-9100
	(Registrant's Telephone Number, Including Area Code)



Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class		Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Shares		The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC
8.25% Senior Notes due 2028		The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC
8.00% Senior Notes due 2029		The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC
8.00% Senior Notes due 2030		The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes o No x

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes o No x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes x No o

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company" and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.



Large accelerated filer o		Accelerated filer x

Non-accelerated filer o		Smaller reporting company x

Emerging growth company o

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes o No x

The aggregate market value of the voting common shares of beneficial ownership, no par value, or common shares, of the registrant held by non-affiliates was $114.8 million based on the $3.50 closing price per common share on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC on June 29, 2018. For purposes of this calculation, an aggregate of 3,550,313 common shares held directly by, or by affiliates of, the directors and the officers of the registrant, plus 3,420,000 common shares held by Hospitality Properties Trust, have been included in the number of common shares held by affiliates.

Number of the registrant's common shares outstanding as of February 25, 2019: 40,397,551.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Certain information required in Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K is incorporated by reference to our definitive Proxy Statement for our 2019 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A, or our definitive Proxy Statement.

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References in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or our Annual Report, to "TA," "TravelCenters," the "Company," "we," "us" and "our" include TravelCenters of America LLC and our consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise stated or the context indicates otherwise.

WARNING CONCERNING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

THIS ANNUAL REPORT CONTAINS STATEMENTS THAT CONSTITUTE FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995 AND OTHER SECURITIES LAWS. WHENEVER WE USE WORDS SUCH AS "BELIEVE," "EXPECT," "ANTICIPATE," "INTEND," "PLAN," "ESTIMATE," "WILL," "MAY" AND NEGATIVES AND DERIVATIVES OF THESE OR SIMILAR EXPRESSIONS, WE ARE MAKING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS. THESE FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS ARE BASED UPON OUR PRESENT INTENT, BELIEFS OR EXPECTATIONS, BUT FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS ARE NOT GUARANTEED TO OCCUR AND MAY NOT OCCUR. ACTUAL RESULTS MAY DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE CONTAINED IN OR IMPLIED BY OUR FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS AS A RESULT OF VARIOUS FACTORS. AMONG OTHERS, THE FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS THAT APPEAR IN THIS ANNUAL REPORT THAT MAY NOT OCCUR INCLUDE STATEMENTS THAT:

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OUR OPERATING RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2018, REFLECT CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS, SUCH AS INCREASES IN FUEL AND NONFUEL REVENUES AND FUEL AND NONFUEL GROSS MARGIN OVER THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR. THIS MAY IMPLY THAT WE WILL INCREASE OR MAINTAIN THESE IMPROVEMENTS AND THAT WE WILL BE PROFITABLE IN THE FUTURE. HOWEVER, CERTAIN OF THESE IMPROVEMENTS RESULTED FROM UNIQUE ITEMS THAT MAY NOT OCCUR IN THE FUTURE. IN ADDITION, FUEL PRICES, CUSTOMER DEMAND AND COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS, AMONG OTHER FACTORS, MAY SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT OUR FUEL AND NONFUEL REVENUES AND THE COSTS OF OUR FUEL AND NONFUEL PRODUCTS MAY INCREASE IN THE FUTURE BECAUSE OF INFLATION OR OTHER REASONS. IF FUEL GROSS MARGIN PER GALLON OR FUEL OR NONFUEL SALES VOLUMES DECLINE, IF WE ARE NOT ABLE TO PASS INCREASES IN FUEL OR NONFUEL COSTS TO OUR CUSTOMERS, OR IF OUR NONFUEL SALES MIX CHANGES IN A MANNER THAT NEGATIVELY IMPACTS OUR NONFUEL GROSS MARGIN, OUR FUEL AND NONFUEL REVENUES OR OUR FUEL AND NONFUEL GROSS MARGIN MAY DECLINE. IN FACT, SINCE WE BECAME A PUBLIC COMPANY IN 2007, WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PRODUCE ONLY OCCASIONAL PROFITS AND WE HAVE ACCUMULATED SIGNIFICANT LOSSES. WE MAY BE UNABLE TO PRODUCE FUTURE PROFITS AND OUR LOSSES MAY INCREASE;

•

WE EXPECT THAT LOCATIONS WE ACQUIRE, DEVELOP OR RENOVATE WILL PRODUCE STABILIZED FINANCIAL RESULTS AFTER A PERIOD OF TIME FOLLOWING ACQUISITION, DEVELOPMENT OR RENOVATION. THIS STATEMENT MAY IMPLY THAT STABILIZATION OF OUR ACQUIRED, DEVELOPED OR RENOVATED SITES WILL OCCUR AS EXPECTED, AND IF SO, WILL GENERATE INCREASED OPERATING INCOME. HOWEVER, MANY OF THE LOCATIONS WE HAVE ACQUIRED OR MAY ACQUIRE IN THE FUTURE PRODUCED OPERATING RESULTS THAT CAUSED THE PRIOR OWNERS TO EXIT THESE BUSINESSES. OUR ABILITY TO OPERATE THESE ACQUIRED, DEVELOPED OR RENOVATED LOCATIONS PROFITABLY DEPENDS UPON MANY FACTORS, SOME OF WHICH ARE BEYOND OUR CONTROL. ACCORDINGLY, THESE LOCATIONS MAY NOT GENERATE INCREASED OPERATING INCOME OR IT MAY TAKE LONGER THAN WE EXPECT TO REALIZE ANY SUCH INCREASES;

•

WE HAVE MADE ACQUISITIONS AND DEVELOPED NEW LOCATIONS AND WE MAY MAKE ACQUISITIONS AND DEVELOP NEW LOCATIONS IN THE FUTURE, INCLUDING ADDING SITES THROUGH FRANCHISING. MANAGING AND INTEGRATING ACQUIRED AND DEVELOPED LOCATIONS CAN BE DIFFICULT, TIME CONSUMING AND/OR MORE EXPENSIVE THAN ANTICIPATED AND INVOLVE RISKS OF FINANCIAL LOSSES. WE MAY NOT OPERATE OUR ACQUIRED OR DEVELOPED LOCATIONS AS PROFITABLY AS WE MAY EXPECT. IN ADDITION, ACQUISITIONS OR PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT MAY SUBJECT US TO GREATER RISKS THAN OUR CONTINUING OPERATIONS, INCLUDING THE ASSUMPTION OF UNKNOWN LIABILITIES;

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WE PLAN TO CONTINUE TO INVEST IN EXISTING LOCATIONS AND MAY INVEST IN NEW LOCATIONS. AN IMPLICATION OF THIS STATEMENT MAY BE THAT WE HAVE OR WILL HAVE SUFFICIENT CAPITAL TO MAKE THE INVESTMENTS WE HAVE IDENTIFIED AS WELL AS OTHER INVESTMENTS THAT WE HAVE NOT YET IDENTIFIED. HOWEVER, WE CANNOT BE SURE THAT WE WILL HAVE SUFFICIENT CAPITAL FOR SUCH INVESTMENTS. IN ADDITION, OUR GROWTH STRATEGIES AND BUSINESS REQUIRE REGULAR AND SUBSTANTIAL CAPITAL INVESTMENTS. OUR CAPITAL EXPENDITURES PLAN FOR 2019 CONTEMPLATES AGGREGATE INVESTMENTS OF APPROXIMATELY $100.7 MILLION. THE AMOUNT AND TIMING OF CAPITAL EXPENDITURES ARE OFTEN DIFFICULT TO PREDICT AND MAY COST MORE THAN ANTICIPATED. UNANTICIPATED PROJECTS THAT WE MAY BE REQUIRED TO UNDERTAKE IN THE FUTURE (AS A RESULT OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS OR REGULATION, ADVANCES OR CHANGES MADE BY OUR COMPETITION, DEMANDS OF OUR CUSTOMERS, OR FOR OTHER REASONS) MAY ARISE AND CAUSE US TO SPEND MORE THAN CURRENTLY ANTICIPATED. SOME CAPITAL PROJECTS TAKE MORE TIME TO COMPLETE THAN ANTICIPATED. AS A RESULT OF MARKET CONDITIONS OR OTHER CONSIDERATIONS, WE MAY DEFER CERTAIN CAPITAL PROJECTS AND ANY SUCH DEFERRALS MAY HARM OUR BUSINESS OR REQUIRE US TO MAKE LARGER CAPITAL EXPENDITURES IN THE FUTURE. ALSO, WE MAY BE UNABLE TO ACCESS REASONABLY PRICED CAPITAL TO MAKE SUCH INVESTMENTS IN THE FUTURE;


•	STATEMENTS ABOUT THE AGREEMENTS WE ENTERED WITH A PROSPECTIVE FRANCHISEE PURSUANT TO WHICH WE EXPECT TO ADD UP TO SIX TA EXPRESS BRANDED TRAVEL CENTERS TO OUR NETWORK. THESE AGREEMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO CONDITIONS AND THESE FRANCHISE ARRANGEMENTS MAY NOT OCCUR OR MAY BE DELAYED, AND THE TERMS OF THE ARRANGEMENTS MAY CHANGE;

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WE BELIEVE THE U.S. GOVERNMENT MAY RETROACTIVELY REINSTATE THE BIODIESEL BLENDERS’ TAX CREDIT FOR 2018. THIS STATEMENT MAY IMPLY THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT WILL RETROACTIVELY REINSTATE THE BIODIESEL BLENDERS’ TAX CREDIT, RESULTING IN A TAX CREDIT OF APPROXIMATELY $35.0 MILLION FOR US IN 2019. HOWEVER, THE U.S. GOVERNMENT MAY CHOOSE NOT TO RETROACTIVELY REINSTATE THE BIODIESEL BLENDERS’ TAX CREDIT FOR 2018 IN 2019 OR ANY OTHER TIME. IN ADDITION, THE U.S. GOVERNMENT COULD CHOOSE TO ONLY RETROACTIVELY REINSTATE THIS CREDIT IN PART, WHICH WOULD RESULT IN OUR NOT RECOVERING THE FULL AMOUNT WE PAID TO OUR SUPPLIERS IN CONNECTION WITH BIODIESEL PURCHASES IN 2018. IN ADDITION, THESE STATEMENTS ABOUT THE BIODIESEL TAX CREDIT MAY IMPLY THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT WILL EXTEND OR RETROACTIVELY REINSTATE THE BIODIESEL BLENDERS’ TAX CREDIT FOR 2019 AND FUTURE YEARS. HOWEVER, THE U.S. GOVERNMENT MAY CHOOSE NOT TO DO SO;


•	WE PLAN TO REDUCE THE LEVEL OF IMPROVEMENT SALES TO HOSPITALITY PROPERTIES TRUST, OR HPT, DURING 2019 IN ORDER TO LIMIT THE RELATED RENT INCREASES. CIRCUMSTANCES AND OUR PLANS MAY CHANGE AND WE MAY NOT REDUCE SUCH SALES AND, AS A RESULT, WE MAY NOT LIMIT THE RELATED RENT INCREASES;

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WE HAVE A CREDIT FACILITY WITH A CURRENT MAXIMUM AVAILABILITY OF $200.0 MILLION, WHICH WE REFER TO AS OUR CREDIT FACILITY. THE AVAILABILITY OF THIS MAXIMUM AMOUNT IS SUBJECT TO LIMITS BASED ON OUR QUALIFIED COLLATERAL, INCLUDING OUR ELIGIBLE CASH, ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE AND INVENTORY, THAT VARIES IN AMOUNT FROM TIME TO TIME. ACCORDINGLY, OUR BORROWING AND LETTER OF CREDIT AVAILABILITY AT ANY TIME MAY BE LESS THAN $200.0 MILLION. AT DECEMBER 31, 2018, BASED ON OUR ELIGIBLE COLLATERAL AT THAT DATE, OUR BORROWING AND LETTER OF CREDIT AVAILABILITY WAS $100.2 MILLION, OF WHICH WE HAD USED $14.8 MILLION FOR OUTSTANDING LETTERS OF CREDIT. THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT AVAILABLE UNDER THE CREDIT FACILITY MAY BE INCREASED TO $300.0 MILLION, THE AVAILABILITY OF WHICH IS SUBJECT TO LIMITS BASED ON OUR AVAILABLE COLLATERAL AND LENDER PARTICIPATION. HOWEVER, IF WE DO NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT COLLATERAL OR IF WE ARE UNABLE TO IDENTIFY LENDERS WILLING TO INCREASE THEIR COMMITMENTS OR JOIN OUR CREDIT FACILITY, WE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO INCREASE THE SIZE OF OUR CREDIT FACILITY OR THE AVAILABILITY OF BORROWINGS WHEN WE MAY WANT OR NEED TO DO SO. WE INTEND TO RENEW OR REPLACE THE CREDIT FACILITY PRIOR TO DECEMBER 2019, BUT DO NOT KNOW WHETHER OR AT WHAT MAXIMUM AMOUNT WE WILL BE ABLE TO DO SO; AND


•	WE MAY FINANCE OR SELL UNENCUMBERED REAL ESTATE THAT WE OWN. HOWEVER, WE DO NOT KNOW THE EXTENT TO WHICH WE CAN MONETIZE OUR EXISTING UNENCUMBERED REAL ESTATE OR WHAT THE TERMS OF ANY SUCH FINANCING OR SALE WOULD BE.

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THESE AND OTHER UNEXPECTED RESULTS MAY BE CAUSED BY VARIOUS FACTORS, SOME OF WHICH ARE BEYOND OUR CONTROL, INCLUDING:


•	CONTINUED IMPROVED FUEL EFFICIENCY OF MOTOR VEHICLE ENGINES AND OTHER FUEL CONSERVATION AND ALTERNATIVE FUEL PRACTICES AND SOURCES EMPLOYED OR USED BY OUR CUSTOMERS AND ALTERNATIVE FUEL TECHNOLOGIES OR OTHER MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION THAT MAY BE DEVELOPED AND WIDELY ADOPTED IN THE FUTURE MAY CONTINUE TO REDUCE THE DEMAND FOR THE FUEL THAT WE SELL AND MAY ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR BUSINESS;


•	COMPETITION WITHIN THE TRAVEL CENTER, TRUCK REPAIR AND RESTAURANT INDUSTRIES MAY ADVERSELY IMPACT OUR FINANCIAL RESULTS. OUR BUSINESS REQUIRES SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNTS OF WORKING CAPITAL AND OUR COMPETITORS MAY HAVE GREATER FINANCIAL AND OTHER RESOURCES THAN WE DO;


•	FUTURE INCREASES IN FUEL PRICES MAY REDUCE THE DEMAND FOR THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT WE SELL;


•	FUTURE COMMODITY FUEL PRICE INCREASES, FUEL PRICE VOLATILITY OR OTHER FACTORS MAY CAUSE US TO NEED MORE WORKING CAPITAL TO MAINTAIN OUR INVENTORY AND CARRY OUR ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE THAN WE NOW EXPECT AND THE GENERAL AVAILABILITY OF, DEMAND FOR AND PRICING OF MOTOR FUELS MAY CHANGE IN WAYS WHICH LOWER THE PROFITABILITY ASSOCIATED WITH OUR SELLING MOTOR FUELS;

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OUR SUPPLIERS MAY BE UNWILLING OR UNABLE TO MAINTAIN THE CURRENT CREDIT TERMS FOR OUR PURCHASES. IF WE ARE UNABLE TO PURCHASE GOODS ON REASONABLE CREDIT TERMS, OUR REQUIRED WORKING CAPITAL MAY INCREASE AND WE MAY INCUR MATERIAL LOSSES. ALSO, IN TIMES OF RISING FUEL AND NONFUEL PRICES, OUR SUPPLIERS MAY BE UNWILLING OR UNABLE TO INCREASE THE CREDIT AMOUNTS THEY EXTEND TO US, WHICH MAY INCREASE OUR WORKING CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS. THE AVAILABILITY AND THE TERMS OF ANY CREDIT WE MAY BE ABLE TO OBTAIN ARE UNCERTAIN;

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MOST OF OUR TRUCKING COMPANY CUSTOMERS TRANSACT BUSINESS WITH US BY USE OF FUEL CARDS ISSUED BY THIRD PARTY FUEL CARD COMPANIES. FUEL CARD COMPANIES FACILITATE PAYMENTS TO US AND CHARGE US FEES FOR THESE SERVICES. THE FUEL CARD INDUSTRY HAS ONLY A FEW SIGNIFICANT PARTICIPANTS. WE BELIEVE ALMOST ALL TRUCKING COMPANIES USE ONLY A SINGLE FUEL CARD PROVIDER AND HAVE BECOME INCREASINGLY DEPENDENT UPON SERVICES PROVIDED BY THEIR RESPECTIVE FUEL CARD PROVIDER TO MANAGE THEIR FLEETS. CONTINUED LACK OF COMPETITION AMONG FUEL CARD COMPANIES MAY RESULT IN FUTURE INCREASES IN OUR TRANSACTION FEE EXPENSES OR WORKING CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS, OR BOTH;


•	FUEL SUPPLY DISRUPTIONS MAY OCCUR, WHICH MAY LIMIT OUR ABILITY TO PURCHASE FUEL FOR RESALE;


•	IF TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE UNABLE TO SATISFY MARKET DEMANDS FOR TRANSPORTING GOODS OR IF THE USE OF OTHER MEANS OF TRANSPORTING GOODS INCREASES, THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY MAY EXPERIENCE REDUCED BUSINESS, WHICH WOULD NEGATIVELY AFFECT OUR BUSINESS, RESULTS OF OPERATIONS AND LIQUIDITY;


•	COMPLIANCE WITH, AND CHANGES TO, FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS, INCLUDING THOSE RELATED TO TAX, EMPLOYMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS, ACCOUNTING RULES AND FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS, PAYMENT CARD INDUSTRY REQUIREMENTS AND SIMILAR MATTERS MAY INCREASE OUR OPERATING COSTS AND REDUCE OR ELIMINATE OUR PROFITS;


•	WE ARE ROUTINELY INVOLVED IN LITIGATION. DISCOVERY DURING LITIGATION AND COURT DECISIONS OFTEN HAVE UNANTICIPATED RESULTS. LITIGATION IS USUALLY EXPENSIVE AND CAN BE DISTRACTING TO MANAGEMENT. WE CANNOT BE SURE OF THE OUTCOME OF ANY OF THE LITIGATION MATTERS IN WHICH WE ARE OR MAY BECOME INVOLVED;

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•	ACTS OF TERRORISM, GEOPOLITICAL RISKS, WARS, OUTBREAKS OF SO CALLED PANDEMICS OR OTHER MANMADE OR NATURAL DISASTERS BEYOND OUR CONTROL MAY ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR FINANCIAL RESULTS; AND

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ALTHOUGH WE BELIEVE THAT WE BENEFIT FROM OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH OUR RELATED PARTIES, INCLUDING HPT, THE RMR GROUP LLC, OR RMR, AFFILIATES INSURANCE COMPANY, OR AIC, AND OTHERS AFFILIATED WITH THEM, ACTUAL AND POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST WITH RELATED PARTIES MAY PRESENT A CONTRARY PERCEPTION OR RESULT IN LITIGATION AND THE BENEFITS WE BELIEVE WE MAY REALIZE FROM THE RELATIONSHIPS MAY NOT MATERIALIZE.

RESULTS THAT DIFFER FROM THOSE STATED OR IMPLIED BY OUR FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS MAY ALSO BE CAUSED BY VARIOUS CHANGES IN OUR BUSINESS OR MARKET CONDITIONS AS DESCRIBED MORE FULLY UNDER ITEM 1A. "RISK FACTORS" AND ELSEWHERE IN THIS ANNUAL REPORT.

YOU SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE RELIANCE UPON FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS. EXCEPT AS REQUIRED BY LAW, WE UNDERTAKE NO OBLIGATION TO UPDATE OR REVISE ANY FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT AS A RESULT OF NEW INFORMATION, FUTURE EVENTS OR OTHERWISE.

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		Page
	PART I
Item 1.	Business	7
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	19
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	34
Item 2.	Properties	35
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	36
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	36
	PART II
Item 5.	Market for Our Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	36
Item 6.	Selected Financial Data	36
Item 7.	Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	37
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	48
Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	48
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	48
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	48
Item 9B.	Other Information	49
	PART III
Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	49
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	49
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	49
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	50
Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	50
	PART IV
Item 15.	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules	50
Item 16.	Form 10-K Summary	56
	SIGNATURES

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PART I

Item 1. Business

Business Overview

TravelCenters of America LLC, which we refer to as the Company or we, us and our, is a Delaware limited liability company. As of December 31, 2018, we operated or franchised 301 travel centers and standalone restaurants. Our customers include trucking fleets and their drivers, independent truck drivers, highway and local motorists and casual diners. We also collect rents, royalties and other fees from our tenants and franchisees.

As of December 31, 2018, our business included 258 travel centers in 43 states in the United States, primarily along the U.S. interstate highway system, and the province of Ontario, Canada, operated primarily under the "TravelCenters of America," "TA," "TA Express," "Petro Stopping Centers" and "Petro" brand names. Of our 258 travel centers at December 31, 2018, we owned 32, we leased 201, we operated two for a joint venture in which we own a noncontrolling interest and 23 were owned or leased from others by our franchisees. We operated 233 of our travel centers and franchisees operated 25 travel centers, including two we leased to franchisees. Our travel centers offer a broad range of products and services, including diesel fuel and gasoline, as well as nonfuel products and services such as truck repair and maintenance services, full service restaurants, quick service restaurants, or QSRs, and various customer amenities.

As of December 31, 2018, our business included 43 standalone restaurants in 14 states in the United States operated primarily under the "Quaker Steak & Lube," or QSL, brand name. Of our 43 standalone restaurants at December 31, 2018, we operated 16 restaurants (seven we owned, eight we leased and one we operated for a joint venture in which we own a noncontrolling interest) and 27 were owned or leased from others and operated by our franchisees.

We manage our business as one segment. We make specific disclosures concerning fuel and nonfuel products and services because it facilitates our discussion of trends and operational initiatives within our business and industry. We have a single travel center located in a foreign country, Canada, that we do not consider material to our operations.

As of December 31, 2018, we employed approximately 13,861 people on a full time basis and 6,884 people on a part time basis at our travel centers and standalone restaurants and we employed an additional 974 people in field management, corporate and other roles to support our locations. Thirty-six of our employees at two travel centers are represented by unions.

Recent Significant Transactions

Sale of Convenience Stores Business

On December 5, 2018, we sold 225 convenience stores, one standalone restaurant and certain related assets, or the convenience stores business, for an aggregate sale price of $330.6 million. We received net proceeds of $319.9 million, after transaction related costs of $9.7 million, from this sale. In connection with the sale of our convenience stores business, we recognized a loss on disposal of $79.6 million and a goodwill impairment charge of $17.8 million.

Lease Amendments and Travel Center Purchases

In January 2019, we acquired from HPT 20 travel centers we previously leased from HPT for $308.2 million and amended our existing leases with HPT such that:


•	the 20 purchased travel centers were removed from the applicable leases and our annual minimum rent was reduced by $43.1 million;


•	the term of each of the leases was extended by three years;


•	the amount of deferred rent obligation to be paid to HPT was reduced from $150.0 million to $70.5 million and we agreed to pay that amount in 16 equal quarterly installments beginning April 1, 2019; and


•	commencing with the year ended December 31, 2020, we will be obligated to pay to HPT an additional amount of percentage rent equal to one-half percent (0.5%) of the excess of the annual nonfuel revenues at leased sites over the nonfuel revenues for each respective site for the year ending December 31, 2019.

The lease amendments are further described in Note 9 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report.

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Our Growth Strategy

Our growth strategy is focused on both extending our travel center network and on expanding our scope of products and services as well as the customer segments we serve in a way that enhances and compliments our travel center product and service offerings.

We intend to extend our travel center network by adding travel centers to our network through acquisitions, franchising and new build development. While we have not actively pursued expansion of our franchised sites in the last several years, during 2018 we began actively promoting our brands to existing travel center operators. We expect that we will add a number of sites to our network through franchising beginning in 2019. In 2019, we have entered a franchise agreement for an independently operated travel center that will convert to our TA Express brand and an agreement to add up to five additional TA Express sites to our network, three by February 2020, one within five years and one within 10 years.

We also intend to expand our scope of products and services and our customer segments through investments of capital and human resources in our truck service business, particularly our RoadSquad®, RoadSquad OnSite® and Commercial Tire Dealer Network™ programs. Each of these programs, as further described below under the heading "TA Truck Service," can service our traditional long haul trucking customers as well as other truck owner customers we historically have not served.

Our recent travel center, standalone restaurant and other acquisition, development and franchising activities are summarized as follows:

Travel Centers. During the three years ended December 31, 2018, we acquired five travel centers for an aggregate investment of $31.6 million, including costs of renovations. In 2016 we completed construction of three travel centers and in 2017 we completed the construction of an additional travel center. These four new travel centers were developed on land we owned for an aggregate investment of $97.9 million and were subsequently sold to, and leased back from, HPT. In 2016 we added one new franchised travel center with a new franchisee (during 2018 we acquired this travel center from our former franchisee).

Typical improvements we make at acquired travel centers include adding truck repair facilities and nationally branded QSRs, paving parking lots, rebranding gasoline offerings, replacing outdated fuel dispensers, installing diesel exhaust fluid, or DEF, dispensing systems, changing signage, installing point of sale and other information technology, or IT, systems and general building and cosmetic upgrades. The cost of capital improvements to recently purchased travel centers and the development of new travel centers are often substantial and require a long period of time to plan, design, permit and complete; and, after being completed, the improved, or new, travel centers require a period of time to become part of our customers' supply networks and produce stabilized financial results. We estimate that the travel centers we acquire or develop generally will reach financial stabilization approximately three years after completion of improvements or development, but actual results can vary widely from this estimate due to many factors, some of which are outside our control, and we cannot be sure that acquired or developed locations will operate profitably.

Standalone Restaurants. During the three years ended December 31, 2018, we acquired 51, and developed one, standalone restaurants for an aggregate investment, including costs of renovations, of $42.2 million; 27 of these restaurants were owned and operated by franchisees as of December 31, 2018. Of the 51 standalone restaurants acquired, as of December 31, 2018, 11 are no longer part of our business. In addition, one standalone restaurant was developed by a joint venture in which we own a noncontrolling interest.

Other Acquisitions. During the year ended December 31, 2018, we acquired a tire retread facility that is part of the Goodyear Authorized Retread Network for a total investment of $4.1 million, including costs of renovations and equipment.

See Note 3 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 15 of this Annual Report for more information about our acquisitions during 2018 and 2017.

Our Travel Centers

Our typical TA or Petro branded travel center includes:


•	over 25 acres of land with parking for approximately 200 tractor trailers and 100 cars;


•	a full service restaurant and one or more QSRs that we operate as a franchisee under various brands;


•	a truck repair facility and parts store;


•	multiple diesel and gasoline fueling points, including DEF at the diesel lanes; and

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•	a travel store, game room, lounge and other amenities for professional truck drivers and motorists.

Our typical TA Express branded travel center includes:


•	approximately eight acres of land with parking for approximately 40 tractor trailers and 40 cars;


•	one or more QSRs that we operate as a franchisee under various brands;


•	multiple diesel and gasoline fueling points; and


•	a travel store and other amenities for professional truck drivers and motorists.

Substantially all of our travel centers are full service sites located on or near an interstate highway exit and offer fuel and nonfuel products and services 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Our travel center locations offer a broad range of products and services designed to appeal to our customers, including:


•	Fuel. We sell unbranded diesel fuel at separate truck fueling lanes and we sell gasoline and diesel fuel at motorist fuel islands. As of December 31, 2018, we offered branded gasoline at 244 of our 258 locations and unbranded gasoline at six of our travel centers operated by our franchisees.


•	Diesel Exhaust Fluid. DEF is an additive that is required by most truck engines manufactured after 2010. As of December 31, 2018, we offered DEF from dispensers on the diesel fueling island at 253 of our travel centers.

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Full Service Restaurants and QSRs. Most of our TA and Petro branded travel centers have both full service restaurants and QSRs, and our TA Express branded travel centers have one or more QSRs that offer customers a wide variety of nationally recognized branded food choices. The substantial majority of our full service restaurants within travel centers are operated under our Iron Skillet® and Country Pride® brands and offer menu table service and buffets. At certain travel centers we have converted the full service restaurant to a franchised brand, such as Fuddruckers®, Black Bear Diner® and Bob Evans®. We also operate approximately 39 different brands of QSRs, including Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits®, Subway®, Taco Bell®, Burger King®, Pizza Hut®, Dunkin' Donuts®, Starbuck's Coffee® and Arby's®. As of December 31, 2018, approximately 194 of our travel centers included a full service restaurant, approximately 177 of our travel centers offered at least one QSR and there were a total of approximately 463 QSRs in our 258 travel centers.

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Truck Service. Most of our travel centers have truck repair and maintenance facilities. Our 244 truck repair and maintenance facilities typically have between three and eight service bays and are staffed by service technicians employed by us or our franchisees. These shops generally operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year and offer extensive maintenance and emergency repair and road services, ranging from basic services such as oil changes, wheel alignments and tire repair to specialty services such as diagnostics and repair of air conditioning, brakes and electrical systems and diesel filter cleaning. Our repair and maintenance services are generally covered by our warranty. Most of our truck repair and maintenance facilities provide some warranty work on Daimler Trucks North America, or Daimler, brand trucks through our participation in the Freightliner ServicePoint® and Western Star ServicePoint® programs, as described under the heading "Operations - Daimler Agreement" below. In addition to work we perform at our facilities, we also provide roadside emergency truck repair, call center and off site truck repair and maintenance services, as described under the heading "TA Truck Service" below.

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Travel Stores. Travel stores located at our travel centers typically have a selection of over 5,000 items, including packaged food and snack items, beverages, non-prescription drug and beauty supplies, batteries, automobile accessories, and music and video products. Each travel store also has a "to go" bar offering fresh brewed coffee, hot dogs, prepared sandwiches and other prepared foods. The travel stores in our travel centers also sell items specifically designed for the truck driver's "on the road" lifestyle, including laundry supplies, clothing, truck accessories and a variety of electronics.

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Parking. Our travel centers offer the Reserve-It!® parking program, which allows drivers to reserve for a fee a parking space in advance of arriving at a travel center. As of December 31, 2018, we offered Reserve-It!® parking at 241 of our travel centers and had deployed a total of approximately 5,824 reserved parking spaces. These reserved parking spaces comprise an average percentage of the total parking spaces per site of approximately 12%.

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Additional Driver Services. We believe that trucking fleets can improve the retention and recruitment of truck drivers by directing them to visit large, high quality, full service travel centers with plentiful overnight parking. We offer commercial trucker and other customer loyalty programs, the principal program being the UltraOne® Club, that are similar to the frequent shopper programs offered by other retailers. Drivers receive points for diesel fuel purchases and for spending on selected nonfuel products and services. These points may be redeemed for discounts on nonfuel products and services at our travel centers. In addition, we publish a magazine called RoadKing® which includes articles and advertising of interest to professional truck drivers. Some of our travel centers offer casino gaming. We strive to provide a consistently high level of service and amenities to professional truck drivers at all of our travel centers, making our travel centers an attractive choice for trucking fleets. Most of our travel centers provide truck drivers the amenities listed below:


•	specialized business services, including an information center where drivers can send and receive faxes, overnight mail and other communications;


•	a banking desk where drivers can cash checks and receive funds transfers from fleet operators;


•	wi-fi internet access;


•	a laundry area with washers and dryers;


•	private showers;


•	free exercise facilities; and


•	areas designated for truck drivers only, including a theater or big screen television room with a video player and comfortable seating.

Operations

Fuel. We sell fuel to our customers at prices that we establish daily or are indexed to market prices and reset daily. For the year ended December 31, 2018, diesel fuel and gasoline revenue represented approximately 84.7% and 15.3%, respectively, of our total fuel revenue. For the year ended December 31, 2018, approximately 80.6% of our diesel fuel was sold at discounts to posted prices under pricing arrangements with customers. We have numerous sources for our diesel fuel and gasoline supply, including nearly all of the large oil companies operating in the United States. We purchase diesel fuel from various suppliers at rates that fluctuate with market prices and generally are reset daily. By establishing diesel fuel supply relationships with several alternate suppliers for most locations, we believe we are able to effectively create competition for our purchases among various diesel fuel suppliers. We also believe that purchasing arrangements with multiple diesel fuel suppliers may help us avoid product outages during times of diesel fuel supply disruptions. At some locations, however, there are few suppliers for diesel fuel in that market and we may have only one viable supplier. Generally we have single sources of supply for gasoline at each of our locations. We offer biodiesel at a number of our travel centers and have a limited number of suppliers for this product at those sites.

A large majority of truck drivers use a payment method known as truck "fuel cards" that allow truck drivers to purchase fuel and other goods and services, and permits trucking companies to track fuel and other purchases made by their drivers throughout the United States. Most of our trucking customers transact business with us by use of fuel cards, most of which are issued by third party fuel card companies. The fuel card industry has only two significant participants, FleetCor Technologies, Inc., the parent of Comdata Inc., or Comdata, and its subsidiaries, or FleetCor, and WEX Inc., and its subsidiaries, or WEX. We believe almost all trucking companies use only a single fuel card provider and have become increasingly dependent upon the data, reports and other services provided by their respective sole fuel card provider to manage their fleets and simplify their data processing.

Generally our fuel purchases are delivered directly from suppliers' terminals to our locations and we do not contract to purchase substantial quantities of fuel to hold as inventory. We generally have only a few days of diesel fuel and gasoline inventory at our travel centers. We believe our exposure to market price increases for diesel fuel and gasoline is partially mitigated by the significant amount of our diesel fuel and gasoline sales that are sold under arrangements that include pricing formulae that reset daily and are indexed to market prices and by us generally not purchasing fuel for delivery other than on the date of purchase. We historically have not engaged in any fixed or hedged price fuel contracts.

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Nonfuel Products. We have many sources for the large variety of nonfuel products that we sell. We have developed supply relationships with several suppliers of certain nonfuel products, including Daimler for truck parts, Bridgestone Corporation, Continental AG, Cooper Tire and Rubber Company, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Michelin North America, Inc. and Yokohama Tire Corporation for truck tires, Core-Mark Holding Company Inc. for tobacco and other travel stores products, U.S. Foods for restaurant food products and ExxonMobil Oil Corporation, Equilon Enterprises LLC doing business as Shell Oil Products U.S., or Shell, and Chevron Corporation for lubricants. We maintain two distribution centers to distribute certain nonfuel and nonperishable products to our locations using a combination of contract carriers and our fleet of trucks and trailers. We believe these distribution centers allow us to purchase, maintain and transport inventory and supplies at lower costs.

TA Truck Service. In addition to the truck repair and maintenance services provided at our travel centers, we also provide customers a wide variety of "off site" repair and maintenance services, as described below.

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RoadSquad® is a roadside truck service program that operates 24 hours per day, seven days per week. As of December 31, 2018, this program included a fleet of approximately 573 heavy duty professionally maintained emergency vehicles equipped with GPS technology at our travel center and other sites and third party roadside service providers in 50 U.S. states and 10 Canadian provinces with a total of approximately 1,643 locations. We centrally dispatch our service trucks and third party service providers from our call center to assist customers with comprehensive repair services when they are unable to bring their trucks to our travel centers due to a break down. We also provide outsourced call center services to trucking fleets and other truck owners in place of their internal call centers, which customers may use on a full-time basis or for only a portion of a day, on certain days of the week or for certain designated periods. As of December 31, 2018, we provided outsourced call center services to 100 customers, including 72 on a full time basis.

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RoadSquad OnSite® offers truck and trailer mobile maintenance and repair services performed by certified technicians at customer facilities, with a fleet of approximately 198 trucks in service as of December 31, 2018. RoadSquad OnSite® is designed to be a "bay on wheels" fully stocked with standard and specialty parts and state of the art technology that offers various services such as pre-trip truck inspections, U.S. Department of Transportation required inspections, tire repair and replacement, marker light operation checks, brake inspections, truck refurbishings and complete lubrication services.

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TA Commercial Tire Network™ is a commercial tire program we began in late 2016 through which we sell a variety of branded tires at our truck repair and maintenance facilities, on customers' lots, distribution centers, through direct sales and under tire manufacturers' national fleet account programs. The TA Commercial Tire Network™ includes a tire retread facility that is part of the Goodyear Authorized Retread Network, providing a full line of Goodyear commercial tire retread products to fleets, local industries and tire dealers within a 150 mile radius of its location in Bowling Green, Ohio. Many of our truck service facilities have access to the retread tires produced at this plant. We believe the TA Commercial Tire Network™ is the most comprehensive commercial tire purchasing, monitoring and maintenance program in the United States.

Daimler Agreement. We are party to an agreement with Daimler that extends to July 2019. Daimler is a leading manufacturer of large trucks and truck engines in North America under the Freightliner, Western Star and Detroit Diesel brand names. Except for locations in Texas, our TA and Petro truck repair and maintenance facilities are authorized providers of repair work and specified warranty repairs to Daimler's customers. This is accomplished through the Freightliner ServicePoint® program at TA locations and through the Freightliner and/or Western Star ServicePoint® programs at our Petro locations. Our TA and Petro truck maintenance and repair facilities are also part of Freightliner's 24 hour customer assistance database for emergency and roadside repair referrals and we have access generally to Daimler's parts distribution, service and technical information systems.

Competition

Fuel and nonfuel products and services can be obtained by trucking companies and truck drivers from a variety of sources, including national and regional full service travel centers and pumper only truck stops, some of which are owned or franchised by large chains and some of which are independently owned and operated, and some large service stations. In addition, some trucking companies operate their own terminals to provide fuel and services to their own trucking fleets and drivers. Some of our competitors may have more resources than we do and vertically integrated fuel and other businesses which may provide them competitive advantages. For all of these reasons and others, we can provide no assurance that we will be able to compete successfully.

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We believe that although the travel center and truck stop industry is highly fragmented, with approximately 7,000 travel centers and truck stops in the United States, the largest trucking fleets tend to purchase the majority of their fuel from us and our two largest competitors. We believe that large trucking fleets and long haul trucking fleets tend to purchase the large majority of their fuel at the approximately 1,900 travel centers and truck stops that are located at or near interstate highway exits. Based on the number of locations, Pilot Travel Centers LLC, or Pilot, Love's Travel Stops and Country Stores, Inc., or Love's, and TA are the three largest companies focused principally on the travel center industry. We believe that, during 2018, both of our principal competitors, Pilot and Love's, added significantly more travel centers to their networks than we added to our network, and in some cases competition from new sites added by Pilot and Love's has negatively impacted our unit results. Nevertheless, we believe we are able to compete successfully in part because many of our travel centers were originally developed years ago when prime real estate locations along the interstate highway system were more readily available than they are today, which we believe would make it difficult to fully replicate our travel center business, and also in part because of our full service offerings and larger locations that are not often replicated by our principal competitors.

We compete with other travel center and truck stop chains based primarily on diesel fuel prices and the quality, variety and pricing of our nonfuel products, services and amenities. Our truck repair and maintenance facilities compete with other providers of truck repair and maintenance facilities, including some at Pilot and Love's locations. These two competitors have increased their respective numbers of truck repair and maintenance facilities and service offerings over the past few years. For truck maintenance and repair services, we also compete with regional full service travel center and smaller truck stop chains, full service independently owned and operated travel centers and truck stops, fleet maintenance terminals, independent garages, truck and commercial tire dealerships, truck quick lube facilities and other parts and service centers. We also compete with other full service restaurants, QSRs, mass merchandisers, electronics stores, drugstores, gasoline stations and convenience stores. Some truck fleets own their own fuel and repair and maintenance facilities; however, we believe the long term trend has been toward a reduction in these facilities in favor of obtaining fuel and repair and maintenance services from third parties like us. We believe that we are able to compete successfully because we offer consistent, high quality products and services, and our nationwide travel centers provide an advantage to large trucking fleets, particularly long haul trucking fleets, by enabling them to (i) take advantage of efficiencies afforded by the wide array of products and services our travel centers provide for their equipment and their drivers and (ii) reduce the number of their suppliers by routing their trucks through our travel centers nationwide.

An additional source of competition in the future could result from commercialization of state owned interstate highway rest areas. Some state governments have historically requested that the federal government allow these rest areas to offer fuel and nonfuel products and services similar to that offered at a travel center and certain congressional leaders have historically supported such legislation. If commercialized, these rest areas may increase the number of locations competing with us and these rest areas may have significant competitive advantages over existing travel centers, including ours, because they are generally located on restricted (i.e., toll) roads and have dedicated ingress and egress.

Our Leases with HPT

We have five leases with HPT, four of which we refer to as the TA Leases and one of which we refer to as the Petro Lease, and which we refer to collectively as the HPT Leases.

HPT Leases. Pursuant to the amended leases, we lease 144 properties under the TA Leases and 35 properties under the Petro Lease. One of our subsidiaries is a tenant under the leases, and we, and in the case of our TA Leases certain of our subsidiaries, guarantee the tenants' obligations under the leases.

Term. The TA Leases, as amended, expire on December 31, 2029, 2031, 2032 and 2033, respectively. The Petro Lease, as amended, expires on June 30, 2035. We may extend each of these leases for up to two additional periods of 15 years.

Annual Minimum Rent. As of January 31, 2019, our aggregate annual minimum rent payable to HPT under the HPT Leases was $243.9 million. We may request that HPT purchase approved renovations, improvements and equipment additions we make at the leased properties, in return for an increase in our annual minimum rent equal to the amount paid by HPT times the greater of (i) 8.5% or (ii) a benchmark U.S. Treasury interest rate plus 3.5%. HPT is not required to purchase any improvements and we are not required to sell any improvements to HPT.

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Percentage Rent. Under the HPT Leases, we incur percentage rent payable to HPT. The percentage rent is 3% of the excess of nonfuel revenues for any particular year over the percentage rent base year amount. HPT had agreed to waive payment of the first $2.5 million of percentage rent that may become due under our Petro Lease, and as of June 30, 2016, HPT had waived, in aggregate, all of the $2.5 million of percentage rent to be waived. Beginning with the year ended December 31, 2020, the percentage rent payable by us to HPT will increase by an amount equal to 0.5% of the excess of annual nonfuel revenues at leased sites over the nonfuel revenues for each respective site for the year ending December 31, 2019.

Deferred Rent. We owe deferred rent to HPT in an aggregate amount of $70.5 million, which is payable in 16 equal quarterly installments beginning April 1, 2019. Interest does not accrue on this deferred rent obligation, subject to exceptions. This deferred rent obligation may be accelerated by HPT and become due on an earlier date and interest shall begin to accrue thereon upon the occurrence of certain events, including a change of control of us.

Maintenance and Alterations. We must maintain, at our expense, the leased properties, including maintenance of structural and non-structural components. At the end of each lease we must surrender the leased properties in substantially the same condition as existed at the commencement of the lease subject to any permitted alterations and reasonable wear and tear.

Assignment and Subletting. HPT's consent is required for any direct or indirect assignment or sublease of any of the leased properties. We remain liable under the leases for subleased properties.

Indemnification and Insurance. With limited exceptions, we indemnify HPT for certain environmental matters and for liabilities that arise during the terms of the leases from ownership or operation of the leased properties. We generally must maintain commercially reasonable insurance. Our insurance coverage requirements include:


•	property insurance in an amount equal to the full replacement cost of at risk improvements at our leased properties;


•	business interruption insurance;


•	general liability insurance, including bodily injury and property damage, in amounts that are generally maintained by companies operating travel centers;


•	flood insurance for any property located in whole or in part in a flood plain;


•	workers' compensation insurance if required by law; and


•	such additional insurance as may be generally maintained by companies operating travel centers, including certain environmental insurance.

The HPT Leases generally require that HPT be named as an additional insured under our insurance policies.

Damage, Destruction or Condemnation. If any leased property is damaged by fire or other casualty or taken by eminent domain, we are generally obligated to rebuild. If the leased property cannot be restored, (a) HPT will generally receive all insurance or taking proceeds, (b) in the case of a casualty loss, we are liable to HPT for any deductible or difference between the replacement cost and the amount of any insurance proceeds, and (c) the annual minimum rent will be reduced by (i) in the case of the TA Leases, at HPT's option, either 8.5% of the net proceeds paid to HPT or the fair market rental of the damaged, destroyed or condemned property, or portion thereof, as of the commencement date of the TA Leases; (ii) in the case of a casualty loss under the Petro Lease, 8.5% of the net proceeds paid to HPT plus the fair market value of the land; and (iii) in the case of a taking under the Petro Lease, 8.5% of the amount of the net proceeds paid to HPT.

Events of Default. Events of default under each lease include the following:


•	our failure to pay rent or any other amounts when due;


•	our failure to maintain the insurance required under the lease;


•	the occurrence of certain events with respect to our insolvency;


•	the institution of a proceeding for our bankruptcy or dissolution;


•	our failure to continuously operate any leased properties without HPT's consent;

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the acquisition by any person or group of beneficial ownership of 9.8% or more of our voting shares or the power to direct the management and policies of us or any of our subsidiary tenants or guarantors; the sale of a material part of the assets of us or any such tenant or guarantor; or the cessation of certain continuing directors constituting a majority of the board of directors of us or any such tenant or guarantor; in each case without the consent of HPT;


•	our default under any indebtedness of $10.0 million or more for the TA Leases, or $20.0 million or more for the Petro Lease, that gives the holder the right to accelerate the maturity of the indebtedness; and

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•	our failure to perform certain other covenants or agreements of the lease and the continuance thereof for a specified period of time after written notice.

Remedies. Following the occurrence of any event of default, each lease provides that, among other things, HPT may, to the extent legally permitted:


•	accelerate the rent;


•	terminate the lease; and/or


•	make any payment or perform any act required to be performed by us under the lease and receive from us, on demand, an amount equal to the amount so expended by HPT plus interest.

We are also obligated to reimburse HPT for all costs and expenses incurred in connection with any exercise of the foregoing remedies.

Lease Subordination. Each lease may be subordinated to any mortgages of the leased properties by HPT, but HPT is required to obtain nondisturbance agreements for our benefit.

Financing Limitations; Security. Without HPT's prior written consent, our tenant subsidiaries may not incur debt secured by any of their assets used in the operation of the leased properties; provided, however, our tenant subsidiaries may incur purchase money debt to acquire assets used in these operations and we may encumber such assets to obtain a line of credit secured by our tenant subsidiaries' receivables, inventory or certain other assets used in these operations.

Lease Termination. When a lease terminates, any equipment, furniture, fixtures, inventory and supplies at the leased properties that we own may be purchased by HPT at its then fair market value. Also at termination of the TA Leases, HPT has the right to license any of our software used in the operation of the leased properties at its then fair market value and to offer employment to employees at the leased properties; and under the HPT Leases we have agreed to cooperate in the transfer of permits, agreements and the like necessary for the operation of the leased properties.

Territorial Restrictions. Under the terms of each lease, without the consent of HPT, we generally cannot own, franchise, finance, operate, lease or manage any travel center or similar property within 75 miles in either direction along the primary interstate on which a travel center owned by HPT is located.

Right of First Refusal. We have granted to HPT in the HPT Leases a right of first refusal to acquire or finance certain properties that we determine to acquire.

Non-Economic Properties. If during a lease term the continued operation of any leased property becomes non-economic in our reasonable determination and we and HPT cannot agree on an alternative use for the property, we may offer that property for sale, including the sale of HPT's interest in the property, free and clear of our leasehold interests. No sale of a property leased from HPT, however, may be completed without HPT's consent. In the event we obtain a bona-fide offer to purchase the property and HPT consents to the sale, the net sale proceeds received will be paid to HPT, exclusive of amounts associated with our personal property, which we can elect to sell to the buyers or keep, and the annual minimum rent payable shall be reduced. In the case of the TA Leases, this rent reduction will be, at HPT's option, either the amount of such proceeds times 8.5% or the fair market rental for such property as of the commencement date of the lease; in the case of the Petro Lease, this reduction will be the amount of such proceeds times 8.5%. If we obtain a bona-fide offer to purchase the property but HPT does not consent to the sale of the property, that property will no longer be part of the lease and the minimum rent will be reduced as if the sale had been completed at the amount offered. No more than a total of 15 properties subject to the TA Leases and no more than five properties subject to the Petro Lease may be offered for sale as non-economic properties during the applicable lease term.

Arbitration. Our leases with HPT also include arbitration provisions for the resolution of disputes, claims and controversies.

See Note 9 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 15 of this Annual Report for more information about the terms of the HPT Leases and related amounts.

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Relationships with Franchisees

We have lease and franchise agreements with lessees and owners of travel centers and standalone restaurants. We collect rent and franchise, royalty, advertising and other fees under these agreements. The table below summarizes by state information as of December 31, 2018, regarding branding and ownership of the travel centers and standalone restaurants our franchisees operate and excludes travel centers and standalone restaurants we operate. Information about the locations we operate is included in Item 2 of this Annual Report.



	Brand Affiliation:				Ownership of Sites By:
	TA⁽¹⁾	Petro	QSL	Total	TA	Franchisee or Others⁽¹⁾
Alabama	1	1	—	2	1	1
Florida	—	—	1	1	—	1
Illinois	—	1	—	1	—	1
Iowa	1	—	1	2	—	2
Kansas	1	1	—	2	—	2
Kentucky	—	—	1	1	—	1
Louisiana	—	—	1	1	—	1
Minnesota	—	2	—	2	—	2
Missouri	2	2	—	4	—	4
New Jersey	—	—	3	3	—	3
North Carolina	—	1	—	1	—	1
North Dakota	—	1	—	1	—	1
Ohio	1	1	9	11	—	11
Oregon	1	—	—	1	—	1
Pennsylvania	1	—	7	8	—	8
South Carolina	—	—	1	1	—	1
Tennessee	1	—	1	2	—	2
Texas	1	—	—	1	1	—
Virginia	1	2	1	4	—	4
West Virginia	—	—	1	1	—	1
Wisconsin	1	1	—	2	—	2
Total	12	13	27	52	2	50


⁽¹⁾	Since December 31, 2018, through the date of this Annual Report, we entered into a franchise agreement for one additional travel center in North Dakota and an agreement for up to five additional travel centers.

TA, TA Express and Petro Franchise Agreements

The following is a summary of the material provisions typically included in our TA, TA Express and Petro travel center franchise agreements.

Initial Franchise Fee. The initial franchise fee for a new TA or Petro franchise is $150.0 thousand. The initial franchise fee for a new TA Express franchise is $100.0 thousand.

Term of Agreement. The initial term of a franchise agreement is generally 10 years. Our TA and TA Express franchise agreements generally provide for two five year renewals on the terms then being offered to prospective franchisees at the time of the franchise renewal and our Petro franchise agreements generally provide for two five year renewals on the same terms as the expiring agreements. As of December 31, 2018, our franchise agreements had an average remaining term excluding renewal options of four years and an average remaining term including renewal options of nine years.

Protected Territory. Under the terms of our franchise agreements for TA and TA Express travel centers, generally we have agreed not to operate, or allow another person to operate, a travel center or travel center business that uses the TA or TA Express brand in a specified territory for that TA or TA Express branded franchise travel center. Under the terms of our franchise agreements for Petro travel centers, generally we have agreed not to operate, or allow another person to operate, a travel center or travel center business that uses the Petro brand in a specified territory for that Petro branded franchise travel center.

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Restrictive Covenants. Generally our franchisees may not operate any travel center or truck stop related business under a franchise agreement, licensing agreement or marketing plan or system of another person or entity. If the franchisee owns the franchised premises, generally for a two year period after expiration or earlier termination of our franchise agreement the franchisee may not operate the premises under a competitive brand.

Nonfuel Product Offerings. Franchisees are required to operate their travel centers in conformity with guidelines that we establish and offer any products and services that we deem to be a standard product or service in our travel centers.

Fuel Purchases and Royalties. Our franchise agreements require the franchisee to pay us a royalty fee of $0.003 per gallon of fuel sold based on sales of certain fuels at the franchised travel center. We also purchase receivables generated by some of our franchisees in connection with sales to common trucking fleet customers through our proprietary billing system on a non-recourse basis in return for a fee.

Royalty Payments on Nonfuel Revenues. Franchisees are required to pay us a royalty fee generally equal to between 2.0% and 4.0% of nonfuel revenues, including on revenues from branded QSRs, in some cases up to a threshold amount, with a lower percentage fee payable on amounts in excess of the threshold amount.

Termination/Nonrenewal. Generally, we may terminate or refuse to renew a franchise agreement for default by the franchisee. Generally, we may also refuse to renew if we determine that renewal would not be in our economic interest or, in the case of TA franchisees, TA Express franchisees and Petro franchisees under our current form of franchise agreement, if the franchisee will not agree to the terms in our then current form of franchise agreement.

Rights of First Refusal. During the term of each franchise agreement, we generally have a right of first refusal to purchase the franchised travel center at the price the franchisee is willing to accept from a third party. In addition, some of our agreements give us a right to purchase the franchised travel center for fair market value, as determined by the parties or an independent appraiser, upon expiration or earlier termination of the franchise agreement.

Franchisee Lease Agreements

In addition to franchise fees, we also collect rent from franchisees who lease their travel centers from us. At December 31, 2018, there were two such leased franchised travel centers. These franchisees exercised their final renewal term options and renewed their lease agreements during 2017; the terms of these lease agreements expire in June 2022.

QSL Franchise Agreements

Material provisions of our QSL franchise agreements typically include the following:

Initial Franchise Fee. The initial franchise fee for a new QSL franchise is $40.0 thousand. If a franchisee develops a QSL, the franchisee also is required to sign an area development agreement and is required to pay an initial development fee of $20.0 thousand per restaurant.

Term of Agreement. The initial term of a QSL franchise agreement is generally 10 to 20 years. Our QSL franchise agreements generally provide for a 10 year renewal on the terms then being offered to prospective franchisees at the time of the franchise renewal. As of December 31, 2018, our franchise agreements had an average remaining term excluding renewal options of 10 years and an average remaining term including renewal options of 18 years.

Protected Territory. Under the terms of our QSL franchise agreements, generally we have agreed not to operate, or allow another person to operate, a restaurant that uses the QSL brand in a specified territory. In addition, the franchisees have agreed not to operate a similar restaurant within a specified territory during the term and for a minimum of two years commencing on the effective date of termination or expiration of the franchise agreement.

Restaurant Offerings. Franchisees are required to operate their restaurants in conformity with the image of QSL and agree to prepare, sell and offer only those menu items that have been approved by us.

Royalty Payments on Gross Sales. QSL franchisees are required to pay us a royalty fee on gross sales, which includes revenues of all goods and merchandise, or services, equal to between 4.0% to 5.0%.

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Advertising, Promotion and Image Enhancement. Our franchisees are required to make additional payments to us as contributions to the applicable brand wide advertising, marketing and promotional expenses we incur. In addition, franchisees are required to spend an agreed upon percentage of net revenues on local advertising.

Termination/Nonrenewal. Generally, we may terminate or refuse to renew a franchise agreement for default by the franchisee.

Rights of First Refusal. During the term of each franchise agreement, we generally have a right of first refusal to purchase that restaurant at the price the franchisee is willing to accept from a third party.

Regulatory Environment

Environmental Regulation

Extensive environmental laws regulate our operations and properties. These laws may require us to investigate and clean up hazardous substances, including petroleum or natural gas products, released at our owned and leased properties. Governmental entities or third parties may hold us liable for property damage and personal injuries, and for investigation, remediation and monitoring costs incurred in connection with any contamination and regulatory compliance at our locations. We use both underground storage tanks and above ground storage tanks to store petroleum products, natural gas and other hazardous substances at our locations. We must comply with environmental laws regarding tank construction, integrity testing, leak detection and monitoring, overfill and spill control, release reporting and financial assurance for corrective action in the event of a release. At some locations we must also comply with environmental laws relative to vapor recovery or discharges to water. Under the terms of the HPT Leases, we generally have agreed to indemnify HPT for any environmental liabilities related to properties that we lease from HPT and we are required to pay all environmental related expenses incurred in the operation of the leased properties. Under an agreement with Shell, we have agreed to indemnify Shell and its affiliates from certain environmental liabilities incurred with respect to our travel centers where Shell has installed natural gas fueling lanes.

For further information about these and other environmental and climate change matters, see the disclosure under the heading "Environmental Contingencies" in Note 15 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report. In addition, for more information about these environmental and climate change matters and about the risks which may arise as a result, see elsewhere in this Annual Report, including "Warning Concerning Forward Looking Statements," Item 1A, "Risk Factors," and Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis - Environmental and Climate Change Matters."

Franchise Regulation

Subject to certain exemptions, the Federal Trade Commission regulations require that we make extensive disclosure to prospective franchisees and some states require state registration and delivery of specified disclosure documentation to potential franchisees. Some state laws also impose restrictions on our ability to terminate or not renew franchises and impose other limitations on the terms of our franchise relationships or the conduct of our franchise business. The Petroleum Marketing Practices Act imposes special regulations on franchises where petroleum products are offered for sale. Also, a number of states include, within the scope of their petroleum franchising statutes, prohibitions against price discrimination and other allegedly anticompetitive conduct. These provisions supplement applicable federal and state antitrust laws. We believe that we are in compliance with all franchise laws applicable to our business.

Gaming Regulation

Because we have gaming operations at some of our travel centers, we and our concerned subsidiaries are currently subject to gaming regulations in Illinois, Louisiana, Montana and Nevada. Requirements under gaming regulations vary by jurisdiction but include, among other things:


•	findings of suitability by the relevant gaming authorities with respect to, or licensure of, certain of our and our licensed subsidiaries' directors, officers and key employees and certain individuals having a material relationship with us or our licensed subsidiaries;


•	findings of suitability by the relevant gaming authorities with respect to certain of our security holders and restrictions on ownership of certain of our securities;


•	prior approval in certain circumstances by the relevant gaming authorities of offerings of our securities;


•	prior approval by the relevant gaming authorities of changes in control of us; and

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•	specified reporting requirements.

Holders of beneficial interests in our voting securities are subject to licensing or suitability investigations by the relevant gaming authorities under various circumstances including, generally, service on our Board of Directors, the attainment of certain levels of ownership of a class of our voting securities, or involvement in the gaming operations of or influence over us or our licensed subsidiaries. Persons or entities seeking to acquire control of us or our operation of the license are subject to prior investigation by and approval from the relevant gaming authorities. Any beneficial owner of our voting securities, regardless of the number of shares owned, may be required by a relevant gaming authority to file an application and have their suitability reviewed in certain circumstances, including if the gaming authority has reason to believe that such ownership of our voting securities would otherwise be inconsistent with its state's gaming laws. In some jurisdictions, the applicant must pay all costs of investigations incurred in connection with such investigations. Additionally, in the event of a finding by a relevant gaming authority that a person or entity is unsuitable to be an owner of our securities, such person would be prohibited from, among other things, receiving any dividend or interest upon such securities, exercising any voting right conferred through such securities or continuing to hold our securities beyond such period of time as may be prescribed by such gaming authority, managing the licensed business and, in some cases, the shareholder may be required to divest himself or itself of our voting securities.

Certain of our and our subsidiaries' directors and officers must also file applications, be investigated and be licensed or found suitable by the relevant gaming authorities in order to hold such positions. In the event of a finding by a relevant gaming authority that a director, officer, key employee or individual with whom we or our licensed subsidiary have a material relationship is unsuitable, we or our licensed subsidiary, as applicable, may be required to sever our relationships with such individual or such individual may be prohibited from serving as our director or officer.

Any violations by us or any of our licensed subsidiaries of the gaming regulations to which we are subject could result in fines, penalties (including the limiting, conditioning, suspension or revocation of any licenses held) and criminal actions. Additionally, certain jurisdictions, such as Nevada, empower their regulators to investigate participation by licensees in gaming outside their jurisdiction and require access to periodic reports regarding those gaming activities. Violations of laws in one jurisdiction could result in disciplinary action in other jurisdictions.

We have a Gaming Compliance Plan, or the Compliance Plan, as required by the Nevada Gaming Commission in connection with our gaming operations at certain of our travel center locations. In connection with the Compliance Plan we have a Gaming Compliance Committee, or the Compliance Committee, on which a member of our Audit Committee of the Board of Directors serves as the Board of Directors' liaison to the Compliance Committee pursuant to the terms of the Compliance Plan. The Compliance Committee assists us in monitoring activities relating to our continuing qualifications under applicable gaming laws.

Seasonality

Our sales volumes are generally lower in the first and fourth quarters than the second and third quarters of each year. In the first quarter, the movement of freight by professional truck drivers as well as motorist travel are usually at their lowest levels of each calendar year. In the fourth quarter, freight movement is typically lower due to the holiday season. While our revenues are modestly seasonal, the quarterly variations in our operating results may reflect greater seasonal differences as our rent and certain other costs do not vary seasonally.

Intellectual Property

We own the "Petro Stopping Center" and "Quaker Steak & Lube" names and related trademarks and various trade names used in our business including RoadSquad®, RoadSquad OnSite®, TA Commercial Tire Network™, UltraOne®, Iron Skillet®, Reserve-It!®, eShop® and others. We have the right to use the "TA," "TA Express," "TravelCenters of America," Country Pride® and certain other trademarks, which are owned by HPT, during the term of each TA Lease. We also license certain trademarks used in the operation of certain of our restaurants. We believe that these trademarks are important to our business, but that they could be replaced with alternative trademarks without significant disruption in our business except for the cost of such changes, which may be significant.

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Internet Websites

Our internet website addresses are www.ta-petro.com, www.thelube.com and www.roadsquadconnect.com. Copies of our governance guidelines, code of business conduct and ethics, our insider trading policy and the charters of our audit, compensation and nominating and governance committees are posted on our website at www.ta-petro.com and also may be obtained free of charge by writing to our Secretary, TravelCenters of America LLC, Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458-1634. We also have a policy outlining procedures for handling concerns or complaints about accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters and a governance hotline accessible on our website that shareholders can use to report concerns or complaints about accounting, internal controls or auditing matters or violations or possible violations of our code of business conduct and ethics. We make available, free of charge, on our website at www.ta-petro.com, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after these forms are filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. Security holders may send communications to our Board of Directors or individual Directors by writing to the party for whom the communication is intended at Secretary, TravelCenters of America LLC, Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458-1634 or email secretary@ta-petro.com. Our website addresses are included several times in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as a textual reference only and the information on our websites are not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Our business faces many risks. If any of the events or circumstances described in the following risk factors occurs, our business, financial condition or results of operations could suffer and the market prices of our equity or debt securities could decline. Investors and prospective investors should carefully consider the following risks, the risks referred to elsewhere in this Annual Report and the information contained under the heading "Warning Concerning Forward Looking Statements" before deciding whether to invest in our securities.

Risks Related to Our Business

Our operating margins are narrow.

Our operating margins are low. Fuel sales comprise the majority of our revenues and generate low gross margin percentages. A small percentage decline in our future revenues or increase in our future costs, especially revenues and costs and expenses related to fuel, may cause our profits to decline or us to incur losses. Fuel prices and sourcing have historically been volatile, which may increase the risk of declines in revenues or increases in costs. In the years during the most recent U.S. economic recession and the periods of historically high and volatile fuel prices, we realized large operating losses. Shifts in customer demand for our products and services, including as a result of increased fuel conservation practices, or heightened competition could cause our operating margins to narrow further and we may incur losses. Our operating margins will also be negatively impacted by any increase in transaction or other fees we are required to pay to fuel card providers that we cannot pass along to our customers.

Increasing fuel efficiency of motor vehicle engines and use of other fuel conservation practices and alternative fuels may adversely impact our business.

Truck and other vehicle manufacturers and our trucking and motorist customers continue to be focused on technological innovations to improve motor vehicle fuel efficiency and conserve fuel. The development of new technologies, such as truck platooning (the electronic linking of trucks with a lead vehicle), heat and kinetic energy recovery technologies, and substantially lighter "super trucks" and higher efficiency motor fuels could result in significant increases in fuel efficiency. In addition, advances in alternative fuel technologies may lead to their greater adoption by the trucking industry and other motorists. Government regulation may encourage or require the improved fuel efficiency of motor vehicle engines, other fuel conservation practices and alternative fuels. The largest part of our business consists of selling motor fuel. If our trucking or other customers purchase less motor fuel because their trucks or other vehicles operate more fuel efficiently or use alternative fuels, our financial results will decline and we may incur losses unless we are able to sufficiently offset the declines by selling substitute or other products or services, gaining market share, increasing our gross margins per gallon of fuel sold or reducing our operating costs. It is unclear whether we will be able to operate our travel centers profitably if the amount of motor fuels used by the U.S. trucking industry or other motorists declines.

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Our financial results are affected by U.S. trucking industry economic conditions.

The trucking industry is the primary customer for our goods and services. Demand for trucking services in the United States generally reflects the amount of commercial activity in the U.S. economy. When the U.S. economy declines, demand for goods moved by trucks declines, and in turn demand for our products and services typically declines, which could significantly harm our results of operations and financial condition.

The industries in which we operate are highly competitive.

We believe that large trucking fleets and long haul trucking fleets tend to purchase the large majority of their fuel at travel centers and truck stops that are located at or near interstate highway exits from us or our largest competitors. Based on the number of locations, we, Pilot and Love's are the largest companies in the travel center industry. These competitors may have greater financial and other resources than we do, which may facilitate their ability to compete more effectively. Increased competition between the major competitors in the travel center and truck stop business could result in a reduction of our gross margins or an increase in our expenses or capital improvement costs, which could negatively affect our profitability and our liquidity.

Further, the truck repair and maintenance service industry is highly competitive. Such services can be obtained by trucking companies and truck drivers from a variety of sources, including national and regional truck repair and maintenance facilities and roadside assistance fleets, full service travel centers, truck stop chains, fleet maintenance terminals, independent garages, truck and commercial tire dealerships, truck quick lube facilities and other parts and service centers. In addition, some trucking companies operate their own terminals to provide repair and maintenance services to their own trucking fleets and drivers. Pilot and Love's, our two largest competitors, have increased their respective numbers of truck repair and maintenance facilities and their roadside assistance fleets over the past several years and should this trend continue, our competitive position could be weakened. Some of our competitors in the truck repair and maintenance service business may have more resources or lower costs than we do and vertically integrated businesses which may provide them competitive advantages.

We also face competition from restaurants in the quick service and casual dining segments of the restaurant industry. These segments are highly competitive and fragmented. Our competition includes a variety of locally owned restaurants and national and regional chains offering dine-in, carry-out, delivery and catering services. Many of our competitors have existed longer and have a more established market presence with substantially greater financial, marketing, personnel and other resources than we do. Among our competitors are a number of multi-unit, multi-market, fast casual restaurant concepts, some of which are expanding nationally. These competitors may have, among other things, lower operating costs, better locations, facilities or management, more effective marketing and more efficient operations.

Any inability to successfully compete effectively will reduce customer traffic and sales at our locations and may prevent us from sustaining or increasing our revenue or improving our profitability.

Disruptive technologies in the energy or transportation industries may materially harm our business.

The major product we sell is fuel. Another significant part of our business is the sale of nonfuel products and services to drivers who visit our locations, often in connection with purchasing fuel. Various technologies are being developed in the energy and transportation industries that, if widely adopted, may materially harm our business. For example, electric motor vehicle engines that do not require diesel fuel and hybrid electric-diesel/gasoline engines may require substantially less diesel/gasoline fuel per mile driven. Further, driverless motor vehicle technologies may result in fewer individual drivers on the U.S. interstate highways and reduce the customer traffic and sales of fuel and nonfuel products at our locations. Such reductions may materially and adversely affect our sales and our business.

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We have a substantial amount of indebtedness and rent obligations, which could adversely affect our financial condition.

Our indebtedness and rent obligations are substantial. The terms of our leases with HPT require us to pay all of our operating costs and generally fixed amounts of rent. During periods of business decline, our revenues and gross margins may decrease but our minimum rents due to HPT and the interest payable on our senior notes do not. A decline in our revenues or an increase in our expenses may make it difficult or impossible for us to make payments of interest and principal on our debt or meet our rent obligations and could limit our ability to obtain financing for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, refinancing, lease obligations or other purposes. Our substantial indebtedness and rent obligations may also increase our vulnerability to adverse economic, market and industry conditions, limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business operations or to our industry overall, and place us at a disadvantage in relation to competitors that have lower relative debt levels. If we default under our HPT Leases, we may be unable to continue our business. Any or all of the above events and factors could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Fuel price increases and fuel price volatility could negatively affect our business.

Increasing fuel prices and fuel price volatility have several adverse impacts upon our business. First, high fuel prices result in higher truck shipping costs. This causes shippers to consider alternative means for transporting freight, which reduces trucking business and, in turn, reduces our business. Second, high fuel prices cause our trucking customers to seek cost savings throughout their businesses. This has resulted in the implementation by many of our customers of measures to conserve fuel, such as purchasing trucks that have more fuel efficient engines, employ alternative fuel or other technologies, lower maximum driving speeds and employ other practices to conserve fuel, such as truck platooning and reduced truck engine idling, which measures reduce total fuel consumption and in turn reduce our fuel sales volumes. Third, higher fuel prices may result in less disposable income for our customers to purchase our nonfuel goods and services. Fourth, higher and more volatile fuel commodity prices increase the working capital needed to maintain our fuel inventory and receivables, and this increases our costs of doing business. Further, increases in fuel prices may place us at a cost disadvantage to our competitors that may have larger fuel inventory or forward contracts executed during periods of lower fuel prices. If fuel commodity prices or fuel price volatility increase, our financial results may not improve and may worsen.

Limited competition among third party fuel card companies could adversely affect our business.

Most of our trucking customers transact business with us by use of fuel cards, which are issued by third party fuel card companies. The fuel card industry has only two significant participants, FleetCor and WEX. According to a published analyst report, FleetCor (which is the parent of Comdata) and WEX collectively account for more than 84% of the fuel card provider market. We believe almost all trucking companies use only a single fuel card provider and have become increasingly dependent upon the data, reports and other services provided by their respective fuel card provider to manage their fleets and simplify their data processing. Fuel card providers have direct negotiated contractual relationships with their trucking company customers. We cannot easily substitute an alternative fuel card for trucking companies to use to acquire fuel at our locations. Any effort to convince trucking companies to use an alternative card at our locations requires significant time, expense and coordination with the provider of that alternative card, and may not be successful. Limited competition in the fuel card industry and the increasing dependence of trucking companies on their fuel card provider could adversely affect our business. For example, last year Comdata purported to terminate our Merchant Agreement with us and unilaterally withheld increased fees from the transaction settlement payments due to us. While we were successful in litigation we brought against Comdata, with the court ordering Comdata to continue to perform under the Merchant Agreement, that agreement is scheduled to expire on January 2, 2022 unless renewed. In addition, our agreement with WEX is scheduled to expire on November 6, 2021, and, thereafter, will renew automatically for successive two year terms, in each case, unless terminated. We may not be able to renew our agreements with Comdata or WEX, or enter new agreements with them. Further, any renewal or new agreement we may enter with either of them may be on terms that are materially less favorable to us than our current agreements with them. If Comdata or WEX increase the fees we are required to pay, we may not be able to recover the increased expense through higher prices to customers, and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

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Climate change and other environmental legislation and regulation and market reaction thereto may decrease demand for our major product, diesel fuel, and require us to make significant changes to our business and to make capital or other expenditures, which may adversely affect our business.

Climate change and other environmental legislation and regulation, including those addressing greenhouse gas emissions, and market reaction to any such legislation or regulation or to climate change concerns, may decrease the demand for our major product, diesel fuel, and may require us to make significant capital or other expenditures. Federal and state governmental requirements addressing emissions from trucks and other motor vehicles, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's, or the EPA's, gasoline and diesel sulfur control requirements that limit the concentration of sulfur in motor fuel, could negatively impact our business. Further, legislative and regulatory initiatives requiring increased truck fuel efficiency have accelerated in the United States and these mandates have and may continue to result in decreased demand for diesel fuel, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. For example, in August 2016 the EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration established final regulations that will phase in more stringent greenhouse gas emission and fuel efficiency standards for medium and heavy duty trucks beginning in model year 2021 (model year 2018 for certain trailers) through model year 2027, and these regulations are estimated to reduce fuel usage between 9% and 25% (depending on vehicle category) by model year 2027. Regulations that limit carbon emissions may also cause our costs at our locations to increase, make some of our locations obsolete or require us to make material investments in our properties. Increased costs incurred by our suppliers as a result of climate change or other environmental legislation or regulation may be passed on to us in the prices we pay for our fuel supplies, but we may not be able to pass on those increased costs to our customers. Increased fuel costs resulting from these reasons would likely have similar effects on our business, operations and liquidity as discussed elsewhere regarding high fuel costs, including decreased demand for our fuel at our locations, increased working capital needs and decreased fuel gross margins. Moreover, as described elsewhere in this Annual Report, technological changes or changes in customer transportation or fueling preferences, including as a result of or in response to climate change or other environmental legislation or regulation or the market reaction thereto, may require us to make significant changes to our business and to make capital or other expenditures to adopt those technologies or to address those changed preferences and may decrease the demand for products and services sold at our locations.

An interruption in our fuel supplies would materially adversely affect our business.

To mitigate the risks arising from fuel price volatility, we generally maintain limited fuel inventory. Accordingly, an interruption in our fuel supplies would materially adversely affect our business. Interruptions in fuel supplies may be caused by local conditions, such as a malfunction in a particular pipeline or terminal, by weather related events, such as hurricanes in the areas where petroleum or natural gas is extracted or refined, or by national or international conditions, such as government rationing, acts of terrorism, wars and the like. Further, our fuel suppliers may fail to provide us with fuel due to these or other reasons. Any limitation in available fuel supplies or on the fuel we can offer for sale may cause our profits to decline or us to experience losses.

Our growth strategies and our locations require regular and substantial capital investment. We may be unable to access the capital necessary to invest in our locations or fund our growth strategies and we may fail to adequately maintain our properties.

Our growth strategies and business depend upon our ability to raise additional capital to invest in our locations and to fund acquisitions and investments that we believe are important to expand our business and maintain our competitiveness and to raise such capital at costs that are less than our returns on that capital. All of our travel centers are open for business 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Due to the nature and intensity of the uses of our locations, they require regular and substantial expenditures for maintenance and capital investments to remain functional and attractive to customers. Although we may request that HPT purchase future renovations, improvements and equipment at the properties that we lease from HPT, HPT is not obligated to purchase any amounts and such purchases only relate to improvements to facilities we lease from HPT and not to facilities that we own or lease from others or to general business improvements, such as improvements to our IT systems.

We may be unable to raise reasonably priced capital because of reasons related to our business, market perceptions of our prospects, the terms or amount of our outstanding indebtedness, the terms or amount of our rent obligations or for reasons beyond our control, such as market conditions. Moreover, there is potential for volatility in the availability of business capital on a global basis and in debt and equity markets generally. If we are unable to raise capital at costs that are less than our returns on that capital, our businesses and profits may decline and our growth strategies may fail. Further, we may fail to adequately budget for and fund sustaining and growth capital expenditures, which may reduce our properties' competitiveness and may require us to make larger capital expenditures in the future.

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Our storage and dispensing of petroleum products create the potential for environmental damages, and compliance with environmental laws is often expensive.

Our business is subject to laws relating to the protection of the environment. The locations we operate include fueling areas, truck repair and maintenance facilities and tanks for the storage and dispensing of petroleum products, waste and other hazardous substances, all of which create the potential for environmental damage. Environmental laws expose us to the possibility that we may become liable to reimburse governments or others for damages and costs they incur in connection with environmental hazards or become liable for fines and penalties for failure to comply with environmental laws. We cannot predict what environmental legislation or regulations may be enacted or how existing laws or regulations will be administered or interpreted with respect to our products or activities in the future; more stringent laws, more vigorous enforcement policies or stricter interpretation of existing laws in the future could cause us to expend significant amounts or experience losses.

Under the leases between us and HPT, we generally have agreed to indemnify HPT from environmental liabilities it may incur arising at any of the properties we lease from HPT. Although we maintain insurance policies which cover our environmental liabilities, that coverage may not adequately cover liabilities we may incur. To the extent we incur material amounts for environmental matters for which we do not receive insurance or other third party reimbursement or for which we have not recognized a liability in prior years, our operating results may be materially adversely affected. In addition, to the extent we fail to comply with environmental laws and regulations, or we become subject to costs and requirements not similarly experienced by our competitors, our competitive position may be harmed. Also, to the extent we are or become obligated to fund any such liabilities, such funding obligation could materially adversely affect our liquidity and financial position.

We rely upon trade creditors for a significant amount of our working capital and the availability of alternative sources of financing may be limited.

Our fuel purchases are our largest operating cost. Historically, we have paid for our fuel purchases after delivery. In the past, as our fuel costs increased with the increase in commodity market prices, some of our fuel suppliers were unwilling to adjust the amounts of our available trade credit to accommodate the increased costs of the fuel volumes that we purchased. Also, our historical financial results and general U.S. economic conditions have caused some fuel suppliers to request letters of credit or other forms of security for our purchases. We cannot predict how high or low fuel prices may be in the future, or to what extent our trade creditors will be willing to adjust the amounts of our available trade credit to accommodate increased fuel costs. Fuel commodity prices significantly impact our working capital requirements, and the unavailability of sufficient amounts of trade credit or alternative sources of financing to meet our working capital requirements could materially adversely affect our business.

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We rely on information technology in our operations, and any material failure, inadequacy, interruption or security failure of information technology could harm our business.

We rely on IT systems, including the internet, to process, transmit and store electronic information, including financial records and personally identifiable information such as employee and payroll data and workforce scheduling information, and to manage or support a variety of business processes, including our supply chain, retail sales, credit and other card payments and authorizations, financial transactions, banking and numerous other processes and transactions. We purchase some of the IT systems we use from vendors on whom our IT systems materially depend and we also internally develop some of our IT systems. We rely on commercially available and proprietary IT systems, software, tools and monitoring to provide security for processing, transmission and storage of confidential customer information, such as payment card and credit information. In addition, the IT systems we use for transmission and approval of payment card transactions, and the technology utilized in payment cards themselves, may put payment card data at risk; and some of these IT systems are determined and controlled by the payment card suppliers, who may be prone to cyber attacks, data breaches and payment frauds, and not by us. Although we take various actions to protect and maintain the security of the IT systems we use and the data maintained in them, it is possible that our security measures will not prevent the improper functioning of or damage to the IT systems we use, or the improper access to such IT systems or disclosure of personally identifiable or confidential information, such as in the event of a cyber attack. Security breaches, including physical or electronic break ins, computer viruses, attacks by hackers and similar breaches, can create system disruptions, shutdowns or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. Any compromise or breach of our or our provider's IT systems could cause material interruptions in our operations, damage our reputation, require significant expenditures to determine the severity and scope of the breach, subject us to material liability claims, material claims of banks and payment card companies or regulatory penalties, reduce our customers' willingness to conduct business with us and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Moreover, banks and payment card companies continue to adopt new technologies to mitigate the risk of cyber attacks, data breaches and fraud and, if we do not adopt these new technologies by the deadlines set by the banks and payment card companies, those companies may not pay us for fraudulent transactions occurring at our locations with those companies' cards or may otherwise penalize us. Further, the failure of the IT systems we use to operate effectively, or problems we may experience with maintaining the IT systems we currently use or transitioning to upgraded or replacement systems, could significantly harm our business and operations and cause us to incur significant costs to remediate such problems.

Many of our labor costs cannot be easily reduced without adversely affecting our business.

To maintain and manage our operations requires certain minimum staffing levels to operate our travel centers 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, and we attempt to manage our staffing to avoid excess, unused capacity. As a result, it may be difficult for us to affect future reductions in our staff without adversely affecting our business prospects. Further, passage of federal and state legislation that results in increases to our labor costs, such as minimum wage increases and health insurance requirements, could result in higher labor costs than we currently anticipate. Certain aspects of our business require higher skilled personnel, such as truck service technicians. Hiring, training and maintaining higher skilled personnel can be costly, especially if turnover is high. Further, as we grow our business, particularly the aspects of our business that require higher skilled personnel, we may experience increased difficulty with staffing those positions with qualified personnel and may incur greater costs to do so. Also, certain opportunities for sales may be lost if staffing levels are reduced too much or if we are unable to maintain a sufficient number of higher skilled employees. In addition, costs for health care and other benefits, due to regulation, market factors or otherwise, may further increase our labor costs.

If the company is unable to attract, motivate and retain experienced and knowledgeable personnel in key positions, its future results could be adversely impacted.

The success of our business is dependent upon our ability to employ and train individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills and experience to execute our business model and achieve our business objectives. The failure of the company to attract, motivate and retain key personnel or implement an appropriate succession plan could adversely impact our ability to successfully carry out our business strategy and retain other key personnel.

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Changes in U.S. trade policies could significantly reduce the volume of imported goods into the United States, which may materially reduce truck freight volume in the United States and our sales.

The Trump administration, or the Administration, and members of the U.S. Congress have made public statements indicating possible significant changes in U.S. trade policy and have taken certain actions that may impact U.S. trade, including imposing tariffs on certain goods imported into the United States. Changes in U.S. trade policy could trigger retaliatory actions by affected countries, resulting in "trade wars," in increased costs for goods imported into the United States, which may reduce customer demand for these products if the parties having to pay those tariffs increase their prices, or in trading partners limiting their trade with the United States. If these consequences are realized, the volume of economic activity in the United States, including trucking freight volume, may be materially reduced. Such a reduction may materially and adversely affect our sales and our business. Further, the realization of these matters may increase our cost of goods and, if those costs cannot be passed on to our customers, our business and profits may be materially and adversely affected.

The trucking industry may fail to satisfy market demands for transporting goods or market participants may choose other means to transport goods.

The trucking industry has been experiencing a shortage of qualified truck drivers and trucks. Further, increased regulations on the activities of truck drivers and trucking companies, including increased monitoring and enforcement of the number of hours truck drivers may operate a truck each day, and other matters have limited the ability of trucking companies to satisfy market demands for transporting goods. In addition, other means of transporting goods besides by truck are available, and new means of transportation may be developed. For example, there have been general news reports of other means of transportation being increasingly explored, such as light rail, airplanes and drones. If the trucking industry is unable to satisfy market demands for transporting goods or if the use of other means of transporting goods increases, the trucking industry may experience reduced business, which would negatively affect our business, results of operations and liquidity.

Insurance may not adequately cover our losses.

We maintain insurance coverage for our properties, including for casualty, liability, fire, extended coverage and business interruption loss insurance. We also require our franchisees to maintain insurance for our travel centers they operate as a franchisee. Losses of a catastrophic nature, such as those caused by hurricanes, flooding, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, among other things, may be covered by insurance policies with limitations such as large deductibles or co-payments that we or a franchisee may not be able to pay. Insurance proceeds may not be adequate to restore an affected property to its condition prior to a loss or to compensate us for our losses, including the loss of future revenues from an affected property. Similarly, our other insurance, including our general liability insurance, may not provide adequate insurance to cover our losses.

Privatization of toll roads or of rest areas may negatively affect our business.

Some states have privatized their toll roads that are part of the interstate highway system. We believe it is likely that tolls will increase on privatized highways. In addition, some states may increase tolls for their own account. If tolls are introduced or increased on highways in the proximity of our locations, our business at those travel centers may decline because truck drivers and motorists may seek alternative routes. Similarly, some states have privatized or are considering privatizing their publicly owned highway rest areas. If publicly owned rest areas along highways are privatized and converted to travel centers in the proximity of some of our locations, our business at those locations may decline and we may experience losses.

On February 12, 2018, the Administration announced its proposal for a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan that contains several policy provisions detrimental to the truck stop industry and our business. Specifically, the Administration's proposal intends to shift the responsibility for financing infrastructure projects from the federal government to the states and the private sector; such shifting is expected to greatly increase tolling of U.S. highways. The Administration also proposed rest area commercialization. While it is uncertain the Administration's proposal will find sufficient Congressional support to be enacted, if enacted as proposed, the Administration's plans are likely to adversely affect our business, possibly significantly.

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Unfavorable publicity could negatively affect our results of operations as well as our future business.

We operate our travel centers and standalone restaurants under a small number of brand names. We sell gasoline under brands we do not own at most of our locations and many of our locations have QSRs operating under brands we do not own. In addition, we resell numerous other products we obtain from third parties. If we or the companies or brands associated with our products and offerings become associated with negative publicity, including as a result of customer or employee complaints, our customers may avoid purchasing our products and offerings at our locations because of our association with the particular company or brand. In recent years there has been an increase in the use of social media, which allows individuals access to a broad audience. The availability of information on social media is virtually immediate in its impact. The use of social media by our customers, employees or other individuals to make negative statements about our products, offerings, service, brands or other matters associated with us could quickly damage our reputation and negatively impact our revenues, and we may not be able to quickly and effectively address or counter the negative publicity. As noted elsewhere in this Annual Report, the control we may exercise over our franchisees is limited. Negative publicity or reputational damage relating to any of our franchisees may be imputed to our entire company and business. If we were to experience these or other instances of negative publicity or reputational damage, our sales and results of operations may be harmed.

Food safety and foodborne illness concerns could have an adverse effect on our business.

We cannot guarantee that our controls and training will be fully effective in preventing all food safety issues at our QSRs, full service restaurants or our standalone restaurants, including any occurrences of foodborne illnesses. Some foodborne illness incidents could be caused by third-party vendors and transporters outside of our control. New illnesses resistant to our current precautions may develop in the future, or diseases with long incubation periods could arise, that could give rise to claims or allegations. One or more instances of foodborne illness in any of our QSRs, full service restaurants or our standalone restaurants or related to food products we offer could negatively affect our sales and results of operations if it involves serious illness or is highly publicized. This risk exists even if it were later determined that the illness was wrongly attributed to us or one of our standalone restaurants or travel center locations. A number of restaurant chains have experienced incidents related to foodborne illnesses that have had a material adverse effect on their operations. The occurrence of a similar incident at one or more of our locations, or negative publicity or public speculation about an incident, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Territorial restrictions placed on us by our leases with HPT and our franchise agreements with our franchisees could impair our ability to grow our business.

Under our leases with HPT, without the consent of HPT, we generally cannot own, franchise, finance, operate, lease or manage any travel center or similar property within 75 miles in either direction along the primary interstate on which a travel center owned by HPT is located. Additionally, under our leases with HPT, we have granted HPT a right of first refusal on the properties that are the subject of such leases. Under the terms of our franchise agreements for TA travel centers, generally we have agreed not to operate, or allow another person to operate, a travel center or travel center business that uses the TA brand in a specified territory for that TA branded franchise location. Under the terms of our franchise agreements for Petro travel centers, generally we have agreed not to operate, or allow another person to operate, a travel center or travel center business that uses the Petro brand in a specified territory for that Petro branded franchise location. As a result of these restrictions, we may be unable to develop, acquire or franchise a travel center in an area in which an additional travel center may be profitable, thereby losing an opportunity for future growth of our business.

Our business and operations are subject to risks from adverse weather events.

Severe weather may have a material adverse effect on properties we own and the U.S. trucking industry, and some believe that the incidents of severe weather are increasing in frequency as a result of global climate change. When severe weather events, such as hurricanes, floods and wildfires, occur near our travel centers, we or our franchisees may need to suspend operations of any impacted travel centers until the event has ended, repairs are made and the impacted travel centers are ready for operation. In addition, severe weather across a geographic region may cause a material decrease in the movement of trucks and, as a result, in our business. We or franchisees of our travel centers may incur significant costs and losses as a result of severe weather, both in terms of operating, preparing and repairing our travel centers in anticipation of, during and after a severe weather event and in terms of lost business due to the interruption in operating our travel centers or decreased truck movements. Our insurance and our franchisees’ insurance may not adequately compensate us or them for these costs and losses.

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Labor disputes or other events may arise that restrict, reduce or otherwise negatively impact the movement of goods in the United States, which may adversely impact parts of the trucking industry that are our customers and may adversely impact our financial results at travel centers we operate.

A meaningful aspect of the U.S. trucking industry involves the movement of goods across the United States. Events that restrict, reduce or otherwise negatively impact the movement of those goods may adversely impact the trucking industry. In recent years, there were extended labor disputes at U.S. west coast ports which slowed the loading and unloading of goods at those ports. A large percentage of the goods which are loaded and unloaded at those ports are transported to and from those ports by trucking companies, including some who are our customers. Future labor disputes could disrupt the transportation of goods across the United States and remain unresolved for a prolonged period. Such a disruption may materially and adversely affect our business and our ability to operate profitable travel centers and meet our rent obligations.

Changes in tax laws or other actions could have a negative effect on us.

At any time, the federal or state income tax laws, or the administrative or judicial interpretations of those laws, may change. Federal and state tax laws may be reviewed, interpreted, or reinterpreted by persons involved in the legislative process, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the courts and state taxing authorities. Changes to the tax laws, regulations and administrative or judicial interpretations, which may have retroactive application, could adversely affect us.

In particular, December 2017 legislation made substantial changes to the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, particularly as it relates to the taxation of both corporate income and international income. Among those changes are a significant permanent reduction in the generally applicable corporate income tax rate and the modification of tax policies, credits and deductions for businesses and individuals, particularly with regard to interest deductions. This legislation also imposes additional limitations on the deduction of net operating losses. The effects of these and other changes made in this legislation are still uncertain in many respects. Furthermore, many of the provisions of the legislation require additional guidance in order to fully assess their effect on us. It is also possible that there will be technical corrections legislation proposed with respect to the new law, the effect of which cannot be predicted and may be adverse to us.

We may be unable to utilize our net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards.

Net operating losses and other carryforwards are subject to limitations under the Code, such as a provision that carryforwards of net operating losses arising in taxable years beginning after 2017 generally cannot offset more than 80% of the current year's taxable income. Moreover, net operating losses arising in taxable years beginning after 2017 may not be carried back, but may be carried forward indefinitely. These limitations could affect our ability to utilize all of our existing net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards.

If we experience an ownership change, our net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards, which currently are expected to be utilized to offset future taxable income, may be subject to limitations on usage or elimination. Our bylaws impose certain restrictions on the transfer of our shares in order to help us preserve the tax treatment of our net operating losses and other tax benefits (see below for a discussion of the risks related to our ownership limitations under the heading "Risks Arising from Certain of Our Relationships and Our Organization and Structure").

Changes in lease accounting standards may materially and adversely affect us.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board recently adopted new guidance covering the accounting for leases that requires companies to record assets and liabilities for most leases on their balance sheets to recognize a lessee's rights and obligations. The rules were effective on January 1, 2019, and we now account for substantially all of our leases under which we are the lessee as assets and liabilities on our balance sheet, while for the year ended December 31, 2018, we accounted for such leases on an "off balance sheet" basis. As a result, the adoption of these new rules will have a material effect on our consolidated balance sheets as significant amounts of lease related assets and liabilities will be recognized. Though these changes will not have any direct impact on our overall financial condition or contractual payment or other obligations, these changes could cause investors or others to change the way they view our financial condition and could change the calculations of financial metrics and covenants, as well as third party financial models regarding our financial condition.

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Our business could be adversely impacted if there are deficiencies in our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting.

The design and effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and our internal control over financial reporting may not prevent all errors, misstatements or misrepresentations. While our management will continue to review the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and our internal control over financial reporting, there can be no guarantee that our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting will be effective in accomplishing all control objectives all of the time. Deficiencies, including any material weaknesses, in our disclosure controls and procedures or internal control over financial reporting could result in misstatements of our results of operations or our financial statements or could otherwise materially and adversely affect our business, reputation, results of operations, financial condition or liquidity.

Our business may be adversely impacted by a material increase in interest rates and adverse changes in fiscal policy or credit market conditions.

In the past, the U.S. federal government’s fiscal policies and economic stimulus actions have created uncertainty in the financial markets and caused volatility in interest rates, which impacted business and consumer behavior. In December 2018, the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate, which was the fourth increase in this rate made in 2018, to a range between 2.25% to 2.30%. The Federal Reserve also previously indicated its expectation that it would further increase this rate multiple times in 2019. However, in January 2019 it signaled that it may delay further rate increases. If key economic indicators, such as the unemployment rate, inflation, household spending and economic activity, are not sustained at levels the Federal Reserve believes support its objectives, the Federal Reserve may further increase the target range for the federal funds rate. Further increases in the federal funds rate would cause interest rates and borrowing costs to rise. Material increases in interest rates or market reactions to those increases may have a material adverse effect on our business.

Risks Related to Our Growth Strategies

We are in the process of executing new business strategies; we may fail to successfully execute these strategies and these strategies may prove to be unprofitable.

Our success depends on our ability to grow our business and adapt our business model to changing market conditions. We are executing new business strategies. In 2018, we commenced operating a commercial tire retread business with our acquisition and upgrade of a 32,000-square foot commercial tire retread facility in Bowling Green, Ohio that we anticipate will give us the ability to provide a complete tire management system and retread tires for national and local fleets, local industries, regional construction and agricultural segments. However, we have no prior experience operating a commercial tire retread facility and the prior owner had closed this facility because it was not operating profitably. We also launched a new smaller travel center format, branded TA Express, with the opening or conversion in 2018 of four smaller travel centers under this brand name and we plan to expand our travel center business, including the TA Express brand, through franchising, acquisition and development opportunities. These new business strategies will take time to execute and require additional investment. While we believe the pursuit of these business strategies will have a positive effect on our business in the long term, we cannot be sure that they will.

Acquisitions may be more difficult, costly or time consuming than expected and the anticipated benefits of our growth strategies or any particular transaction may not be fully realized.

Businesses and properties that we acquire often require substantial improvements in order to be brought up to our standards or to achieve our expected financial results. For example, improvements to our acquired travel centers are often extensive and require an extended period of time to plan, design, permit and complete, which is then followed by another period of time for the acquired travel center to become part of our customers' supply networks. Many locations we have acquired, and may in the future acquire, produced, or may produce, operating results before our acquisition that caused, or may cause, the prior owners to exit these businesses. Despite our efforts, the actual results of acquired properties may not improve under our management and may vary greatly from the results we expected when we made the acquisitions. These variances may occur due to many factors, including competition, the cost of improvements exceeding our estimates and our realization of less synergies and less cost savings than expected. Some of these factors are outside our control. If improvements are more difficult, costly or time consuming than expected or if reaching maturity takes longer than expected or does not occur at all, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be negatively affected.

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The success of our growth strategies, such as our expansion into the standalone restaurant business, and any particular acquisition, including the realization of anticipated benefits, synergies and cost savings, will depend, in part, on our ability to successfully combine acquired businesses with ours. Integration of acquired businesses may be more difficult, costly or time consuming than expected, may result in the loss of key employees or business disruption to us, or may adversely affect our ability to maintain relationships with customers, suppliers and employees or to fully achieve the anticipated benefits of the growth strategy or acquisition. If we experience difficulties, the anticipated benefits of a growth strategy or particular transaction may not be realized fully or at all, or may take longer to realize than expected.

We may not complete our development projects within the time frame or for the investment we anticipate, or at all, and the anticipated benefits of the new facilities may not be fully realized.

Developing a new location generally may be more risky than buying an existing operating location. Any development projects we plan could be delayed or not completed or could require a greater investment of capital or management time, or both, than we expect. Additionally, if we design, plan, permit or construct a project but do not complete it, we may incur substantial costs without realizing any expected benefits. Also, the facilities we construct may not generate the financial returns we anticipate.

Risks Arising from Certain of Our Relationships and Our Organization and Structure

Our agreements and relationships with HPT, RMR and others related to them may create conflicts of interest, or the perception of such conflicts, and may restrict our ability to grow our business.

We have significant commercial and other relationships with HPT, RMR, AIC and others related to them, including:


•	We lease a large majority of our travel centers from HPT and our business is substantially dependent upon our relationship with HPT.


•	HPT is our largest shareholder, owning 3.4 million, or approximately 8.5% of our outstanding common shares as of December 31, 2018.


•	RMR provides us with business management services pursuant to a business management agreement and we pay RMR fees for those services based on a percentage of our fuel gross margin and nonfuel revenues. RMR also provides business and property management services to HPT.

•

One of our Managing Directors, Adam D. Portnoy, is a managing trustee of HPT, owned 1.5% of HPT's outstanding common shares as of December 31, 2018, is a managing director and an officer and, as the sole trustee of ABP Trust, is the controlling shareholder of The RMR Group Inc. and is a managing director and the president and chief executive officer of The RMR Group Inc. and is an officer and employee of RMR. The RMR Group Inc. is the managing member of RMR and RMR is the majority operating subsidiary of The RMR Group Inc.


•	As of December 31, 2018, RMR owned 1.5 million, or approximately 3.7%, of our common shares.


•	Our other Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Andrew J. Rebholz, is an Executive Vice President of RMR.


•	Barry A. Richards, our President and Chief Operating Officer, William E. Myers, our Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and Mark R. Young, our Executive Vice President and General Counsel, are also officers of RMR.


•	Adam D. Portnoy and all of our Independent Directors are members of the boards of trustees or boards of directors of other public companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services.


•	In the event of conflicts between us and RMR, any affiliate of RMR or any publicly owned entity with which RMR has a relationship, including HPT, our business management agreement allows RMR to act on its own behalf and on behalf of HPT or such other entity rather than on our behalf.


•	We, HPT and five other companies to which RMR provides management services currently own AIC, an Indiana insurance company, which arranges and insures or reinsures in part a combined property insurance program for us and its six other shareholders and are parties to a shareholders agreement regarding AIC.

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In an agreement with HPT entered in 2007 in connection with our spin off from HPT and in our HPT Leases, we granted HPT a right of first refusal to purchase, lease, mortgage or otherwise finance any interest we own in a travel center before we sell, lease, mortgage or otherwise finance that travel center with another party. Under the 2007 agreement, we also granted HPT and other entities to which RMR provides management services a right of first refusal to acquire or finance any real estate of the types in which they invest before we do. Additionally, under the HPT Leases, without the consent of HPT, we generally cannot own, franchise, finance, operate, lease or manage any travel center or similar property within 75 miles in either direction along the primary interstate on which a travel center owned by HPT is located. These rights of first refusal and noncompetition provisions could limit our ability to purchase or finance our properties or properties we may wish to invest in or acquire in the future. Also, under the 2007 agreement we agreed not to take any action that might reasonably be expected to have a material adverse impact on HPT's ability to qualify as a real estate investment trust, or REIT. For more information regarding our transactions, and leases with HPT, see Note 9 and Note 14 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report.

These relationships could create, or appear to create, conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving us, HPT, RMR and others related to them. As a result of these relationships, our leases with HPT, management agreement with RMR and other transactions with HPT, RMR and others related to them were not negotiated on an arm's length basis between unrelated parties, and therefore the terms thereof may not be as favorable to us as they would have been if they were negotiated on an arm's length basis between unrelated parties. In the past, in particular following periods of volatility in the overall market or declines in the market price of a company's securities, dissident shareholder director nominations, dissident shareholder proposals and shareholder litigation have often been instituted against companies alleging conflicts of interest in business dealings with affiliated and related persons and entities. These activities, if instituted against us, and the existence of conflicts of interest or the perception of conflicts of interest, could result in substantial costs and diversion of our management's attention and could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business and the market price of our common shares and other securities.

The substantial majority of the travel centers that we operate are owned by HPT and our business is substantially dependent on our relationship with HPT. In addition, we have significant commercial arrangements with RMR and we are dependent on those arrangements in operating our business.

Of the 258 travel centers we operate, 179, or 69%, are owned by HPT and, as a result, our business is substantially dependent on our relationship with HPT. We lease these travel centers pursuant to five long term leases with HPT. HPT may terminate our leases in certain circumstances, including if HPT does not receive annual minimum rent on the subject properties or for certain other events of default. Our business is substantially dependent upon our continued relationship with HPT. The loss of our leases with HPT, or a material change to their terms, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Additionally, we are party to a business management agreement with RMR whereby RMR assists us with various aspects of our business. As a result, we are dependent on our arrangements with RMR in operating our business and any adverse developments at RMR or in those arrangements could have a material adverse effect on our business and our ability to conduct our operations.

Ownership limitations and certain other provisions in our limited liability company agreement, bylaws and certain material agreements may deter, delay or prevent a change in our control or unsolicited acquisition proposals.

Our limited liability company agreement, or our LLC agreement, and bylaws contain provisions that prohibit any shareholder from owning more than 9.8% and 5%, respectively, of the number or value of any class or series of our outstanding shares. The 9.8% ownership limitation in our LLC agreement is consistent with our contractual obligations with HPT to not take actions that may conflict with HPT's status as a REIT under the Code. The 5% ownership limitation in our bylaws is intended to help us preserve the tax treatment of our tax credit carryforwards, net operating losses and other tax benefits. We also believe these provisions promote good orderly governance. However, these provisions may also inhibit acquisitions of a significant stake in us and may deter, delay or prevent a change in control of us or unsolicited acquisition proposals that a shareholder may consider favorable.

Additionally, other provisions contained in our LLC agreement and bylaws may also inhibit acquisitions of a significant stake in us and deter, delay or prevent a change in control of us or unsolicited acquisition proposals that a shareholder may consider favorable, including, for example, provisions relating to:


•	the division of our Directors into three classes, with the term of one class expiring each year;


•	the authority of our Board of Directors, and not our shareholders, to adopt, amend or repeal our bylaws and to fill vacancies on the Board of Directors;

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•	limitations on the ability of shareholders to cause a special meeting of shareholders to be held and a prohibition on shareholders acting by written consent unless the consent is a unanimous consent of all our shareholders entitled to vote on the matter;


•	required qualifications for an individual to serve as a Director and a requirement that certain of our Directors be "Managing Directors" and other Directors be "Independent Directors," as defined in the governing documents;


•	the power of our Board of Directors, without shareholders' approval, to authorize and issue additional shares of any class or type on terms that it determines;


•	limitations on the ability of our shareholders to propose nominees for election as Directors and propose other business to be considered at a meeting of shareholders;


•	a requirement that an individual Director may only be removed for cause and then only by unanimous vote of the other Directors; and a 75% shareholders' vote and cause requirements for removal of our entire Board of Directors;


•	a 75% shareholders' vote requirement for shareholder nominations and other proposals that are not approved by our Board of Directors;

•

our election to be governed by Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which would prohibit us from engaging in a business combination with an interested shareholder, generally a person that together with its affiliates owns or within the last three years has owned 15% of our voting shares, for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested shareholder, unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner;


•	requirements that shareholders comply with regulatory requirements (including Illinois, Louisiana, Montana and Nevada gaming and Indiana insurance licensing requirements) affecting us which could effectively limit share ownership of us, including in some cases, to 5% of our outstanding shares; and


•	requirements that any person nominated to be a Director comply with any clearance and pre-clearance requirements of state gaming or insurance licensing laws applicable to our business.

In addition, the HPT Leases, our business management agreement with RMR and our credit agreement for our $200.0 million secured revolving credit facility, or our Credit Facility, each provide that our rights and benefits under those agreements may be terminated in the event that anyone acquires more than 9.8% of our shares or we experience some other change in control, as defined in those agreements, without the consent of HPT, RMR or the lenders under our Credit Facility, respectively, and that pursuant to our shareholders agreement with respect to AIC, AIC and the other shareholders of AIC may have rights to acquire our interests in AIC if such an acquisition occurs or if we experience some other change in control. In addition, our obligation to repay deferred rent then outstanding under our amended leases with HPT may be accelerated if, among other things, a Director not nominated or appointed by the then members of our Board of Directors is elected to our Board of Directors or if our shareholders adopt a proposal (other than a precatory proposal) not recommended for adoption by the then members of our Board of Directors. For these reasons, among others, our shareholders may be unable to realize a change in control premium for securities they own of us or otherwise effect a change of our policies or a change of our control.

The licenses, permits and related approvals for our operations may restrict ownership of us, or prevent or delay any change in control of us.

We have travel center locations in Illinois, Louisiana, Montana and Nevada which include gaming operations. As a result, we and our subsidiaries involved in these operations are subject to gaming regulations in those states. Under state gaming regulations, which can vary by jurisdiction:


•	shareholders whose ownership of our securities exceeds certain thresholds may be required to report their holdings to and to be licensed, found suitable or approved by the relevant state gaming authorities;


•	persons seeking to acquire control over us or over the operation of our gaming licenses are subject to prior investigation by and approval from the relevant gaming authorities;


•	persons who wish to serve as one of our Directors or officers may be required to be approved, found suitable and in some cases licensed, by the relevant state gaming authorities; and


•	the relevant state gaming authorities may limit our involvement with or ownership of securities by persons they determine to be unsuitable.

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As an owner of AIC, we are licensed and approved as an insurance holding company; and any shareholder who owns or controls 10% or more of our securities or anyone who wishes to solicit proxies for election of, or to serve as, one of our Directors or for another proposal of business not approved by our Board of Directors may be required to receive pre-clearance from the relevant insurance regulators.

The gaming and insurance regulations to which we are subject may discourage or prevent investors from nominating persons to serve as our Directors, from purchasing our securities, from attempting to acquire control of us or otherwise implementing changes that they consider beneficial.

Our rights and the rights of our shareholders to take action against our Directors, officers, HPT and RMR are limited.

Our LLC agreement eliminates the personal liability of each of our Directors to us and our shareholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as our Director, except for a breach of the Director's duty of loyalty to us or our shareholders as modified by our LLC agreement, for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involved intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, or for any transaction from which the Director derived an improper personal benefit. Our LLC agreement also provides that our Directors and officers, HPT, RMR, and the respective trustees, directors and officers of HPT and RMR shall not be liable for monetary damages to us or our shareholders for losses sustained or liabilities incurred as a result of any act or omission by any of them unless there has been a final, nonappealable judgment entered by a court determining that such person or entity acted in bad faith or engaged in fraud, willful misconduct or, in the case of a criminal matter, acted with knowledge that his, her or its conduct was unlawful.

Our LLC agreement also generally requires us to indemnify, to the fullest extent permitted by law, our present and former Directors and officers, HPT, RMR, and the respective directors and officers of HPT and RMR for losses they may incur arising from claims or actions in which any of them may be involved in connection with any act or omission by such person or entity in good faith on behalf of or with respect to us. We also have similar obligations to our Directors and officers under individual indemnification agreements with such persons. In addition, we may be obligated to pay or reimburse the expenses incurred by our present and former Directors and officers, HPT, RMR, and the respective directors and officers of HPT and RMR without requiring a preliminary determination of their ultimate entitlement to indemnification. As a result, we and our shareholders may have more limited rights against our present and former Directors and officers, HPT, RMR, and the respective directors, trustees and officers of HPT and RMR than might otherwise exist absent the provisions in our LLC agreement and our indemnification agreements or that might exist with other companies, which could limit our shareholders' recourse in the event of actions not in our shareholders' best interest.

Shareholder litigation against us or our Directors, officers, manager, other agents or employees may be referred to mandatory arbitration proceedings, which follow different procedures than in-court litigation and may be more restrictive to shareholders asserting claims than in-court litigation.

Our shareholders agree, by virtue of becoming shareholders, that they are bound by our governing documents, including the arbitration provisions of our bylaws and charter, as they may be amended from time to time. Our governing documents provide that certain actions by one or more of our shareholders against us or any of our Directors, officers, manager, other agents or employees, other than any request for a declaratory judgment or similar action regarding the meaning, interpretation or validity of any provision of our governing documents, will be referred to mandatory, binding and final arbitration proceedings if we, or any other party to such dispute, including any of our Directors, officers, manager, other agents or employees, unilaterally so demands. As a result, we and our shareholders would not be able to pursue litigation in state or federal court against us or our Directors, officers, manager, other agents or employees, including, for example, claims alleging violations of federal securities laws or breach of fiduciary duties, if we or any of our Directors, officers, manager, other agents or employees, against whom the claim is made unilaterally demands the matter be resolved by arbitration. Instead, our shareholders would be required to pursue such claims through binding and final arbitration.

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Our governing documents provide that such arbitration proceedings would be conducted in accordance with the procedures of the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association, as modified in our governing documents. These procedures may provide materially more limited rights to our shareholders than litigation in a federal or state court. For example, arbitration in accordance with these procedures does not include the opportunity for a jury trial, document discovery is limited, arbitration hearings generally are not open to the public, there are no witness depositions in advance of arbitration hearings and arbitrators may have different qualifications or experiences than judges. In addition, although our governing documents’ arbitration provisions contemplate that arbitration may be brought in a representative capacity or on behalf of a class of our shareholders, the rules governing such representation or class arbitration may be different from, and less favorable to shareholders than, the rules governing representative or class action litigation in courts. Our governing documents also generally provide that each party to such an arbitration is required to bear its own costs in the arbitration, including attorneys’ fees, and that the arbitrators may not render an award that includes shifting of such costs or, in a derivative or class proceeding, award any portion of our award to any shareholder or such shareholder’s attorneys. The arbitration provisions of our governing documents may discourage our shareholders from bringing, and attorneys from agreeing to represent our shareholders wishing to bring, litigation against us or our Directors, officers, manager, other agents or employees. Our agreements with HPT and RMR LLC have similar arbitration provisions to those in our governing documents.

We believe that the arbitration provisions in our governing documents are enforceable under both state and federal law, including with respect to federal securities laws claims. We are a limited liability company, formed under the Delaware Limited Liability Act, or the LLC Act. Section 18-1101(b) of the LLC Act expressly provides that it is the policy of the LLC Act to give the maximum effect to the principle of freedom of contract and to the enforceability of limited liability company agreements and, in accordance with this principle, Delaware courts have held that the basic approach of the LLC Act is to provide broad discretion in drafting the limited liability company agreements and have previously upheld arbitration provisions in the limited liability company agreements. The United States Supreme Court has also repeatedly upheld agreements to arbitrate other federal statutory claims, including those that implicate important federal policies. However, some academics, legal practitioners and others are of the view that mandatory arbitration provisions in public company governing documents are not enforceable with respect to federal securities laws claims, including the Delaware Chancery Court with respect to Delaware corporations. It is possible that the arbitration provisions of our governing documents may ultimately be determined to be unenforceable.

By agreeing to the arbitration provisions of our governing documents, our shareholders will not be deemed to have waived compliance by us with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

We may experience losses from our business dealings with AIC.

We, HPT, and five other companies to which RMR provides management services each own 14.3% of AIC, and we have invested approximately $6.1 million in AIC. We and those other AIC shareholders participate in a combined insurance program arranged and insured or reinsured in part by AIC and we periodically consider the possibilities for expanding our relationship with AIC to other types of insurance. Our principal reason for investing in AIC and for purchasing insurance in these programs is to seek to improve our financial results by obtaining improved insurance coverages at lower costs than may be otherwise available to us or by participating in any profits which we may realize as an owner of AIC. While we believe we have in the past benefitted from these arrangements, these beneficial financial results may not occur in the future, and we may need to invest additional capital in order to continue to pursue these results. AIC's business involves the risks typical of an insurance business, including the risk that it may not operate profitably. Accordingly, financial benefits from our business dealings with AIC may not be achieved in the future, and we may experience losses from these dealings.

Risks Related to Our Securities

Our shares have experienced significant price and trading volume volatility and may continue to do so.

Since we became a publicly traded company in January 2007, our shares have experienced significant share price and trading volatility, which may continue. The market price of our common shares has fluctuated and could fluctuate significantly in the future in response to various factors and events, including, but not limited to, the risks set out in this Annual Report, as well as:


•	the liquidity of the market for our common shares;


•	our historic policy to not pay cash dividends;


•	changes in our operating results;


•	issuances of additional common shares and sales of our common shares by holders of large blocks of our common shares, such as HPT, RMR or our Directors or officers;

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•	a lack of analyst coverage, changes in analysts' expectations and unfavorable research reports; and


•	general economic and industry trends and conditions.

In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a company's securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. This litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management's attention and resources.

Recently, global and U.S. financial markets have experienced heightened volatility, including as a result of uncertainty regarding actual and potential shifts in U.S. and foreign, trade, economic and other policies, and, more recently, concerns over increasing interest rates (particularly short-term rates), uncertainty regarding the short- and long-term effects of tax reform in the U.S. and uncertainty regarding trade policies and tariffs implemented by the Administration. This volatility and uncertainty could have a significant impact on the markets for our common shares and our Senior Notes (as defined below), the markets in which we operate and a material adverse impact on our business prospects and financial condition.

Investors may not benefit financially from investing in our Senior Notes.

The indenture under which the 2028 Senior Notes, the 2029 Senior Notes, and the 2030 Senior Notes, which we refer to collectively as the Senior Notes, were issued contains no financial covenants or other provisions that would afford the holders of the Senior Notes any substantial protection in the event we participate in a material transaction. In addition, the indenture does not limit the amount of indebtedness we may incur or our ability to pay dividends, make distributions or repurchase our common shares. Additionally, investors in our Senior Notes may be adversely affected as a result of the following:


•	the Senior Notes are unsecured and effectively subordinated to all of our existing and future secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness;


•	an active trading market for the Senior Notes may not be maintained or be liquid;


•	we depend upon our subsidiaries for cash flow to service our debt, and the Senior Notes are structurally subordinated to the payment of the indebtedness, lease and other liabilities and any preferred equity of our subsidiaries;


•	the Senior Notes are not rated;


•	redemption may adversely affect noteholders' return on the Senior Notes; and


•	an increase in market interest rates and other factors could result in a decrease in the value of the Senior Notes.

Our Credit Facility imposes restrictive covenants on us, and a default under the agreements relating to our Credit Facility or under our indenture governing our Senior Notes could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

Our Credit Facility requires us and our subsidiaries, among other obligations, to maintain a specified financial ratio under certain circumstances and to satisfy certain financial tests. In addition, our Credit Facility restricts, among other things, our ability to incur debt and liens, make certain investments and pay dividends and other distributions including, under certain circumstances, payments on the Senior Notes. Under certain circumstances, we are required to seek permission from the lenders under our Credit Facility to engage in specified corporate actions.

Various risks, uncertainties and events beyond our control could affect our ability to comply with these covenants. Failure to comply with these covenants (or similar covenants contained in future financing agreements) could result in a default under our Credit Facility, indenture and other agreements containing cross default provisions, which, if not cured or waived, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. A default could permit lenders or holders to accelerate the maturity of the debt under these agreements and to foreclose upon any collateral securing the debt and to terminate any commitments to lend. Under these circumstances, we might not have sufficient funds or other resources to satisfy all of our obligations, including our obligations under the Senior Notes. In addition, a default under our Credit Facility or indenture would also constitute a default under the HPT Leases due to cross default provisions in the HPT Leases. Further, the limitations imposed by financing agreements on our ability to incur additional debt and to take other actions might significantly impair our ability to obtain other financing. If our indebtedness were to be accelerated, our assets may not be sufficient to repay such indebtedness in full. In such circumstances, we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation and, as a result, investors could lose their investment in our securities.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

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Item 2. Properties

The table below summarizes by state information as of December 31, 2018, regarding branding and ownership of the properties we operate and excludes properties operated by franchisees. Information for the locations our franchisees operate is included under the heading "Relationships with Franchisees" in Item 1 of this Annual Report.



	Brand Affiliation:					Ownership of Sites by:
	TA⁽¹⁾	Petro	QSL	Others⁽²⁾	Total	TA⁽¹⁾	HPT⁽³⁾	Joint Venture	Others⁽⁴⁾
Alabama	3	3	—	—	6	2	4	—	—
Arizona	5	2	—	—	7	—	7	—	—
Arkansas	2	2	—	—	4	—	4	—	—
California	9	4	—	1	14	—	11	3	—
Colorado	6	1	—	1	8	5	3	—	—
Connecticut	3	—	—	—	3	—	3	—	—
Florida	6	1	—	—	7	—	7	—	—
Georgia	7	3	—	—	10	2	8	—	—
Idaho	1	—	—	—	1	—	1	—	—
Illinois	7	3	—	—	10	—	10	—	—
Indiana	7	6	1	—	14	3	11	—	—
Iowa	2	—	—	—	2	1	1	—	—
Kansas	1	1	—	—	2	1	1	—	—
Kentucky	2	2	—	—	4	1	3	—	—
Louisiana	4	3	—	—	7	—	7	—	—
Maryland	3	—	—	—	3	—	3	—	—
Michigan	6	—	—	—	6	1	5	—	—
Minnesota	1	—	—	—	1	—	1	—	—
Mississippi	1	1	—	—	2	—	1	—	1
Missouri	4	1	—	—	5	—	5	—	—
Montana	2	—	—	—	2	2	—	—	—
Nebraska	2	1	—	—	3	—	3	—	—
Nevada	3	3	—	—	6	1	5	—	—
New Hampshire	1	—	—	—	1	—	1	—	—
New Jersey	3	1	—	—	4	—	4	—	—
New Mexico	5	2	—	—	7	—	6	—	1
New York	5	1	—	—	6	—	6	—	—
North Carolina	3	1	—	—	4	1	3	—	—
North Dakota	1	—	—	—	1	1	—	—	—
Ohio	10	4	7	1	22	3	14	—	5
Oklahoma	3	1	—	—	4	—	4	—	—
Oregon	2	1	—	—	3	—	3	—	—
Pennsylvania	8	2	4	—	14	4	9	—	1
Rhode Island	1	—	—	—	1	1	—	—	—
South Carolina	4	2	—	—	6	2	4	—	—
Tennessee	7	2	—	—	9	1	8	—	—
Texas	14	8	—	—	22	4	18	—	—
Utah	2	—	—	—	2	—	2	—	—
Virginia	3	—	1	—	4	—	3	—	1
Washington	1	1	—	—	2	—	2	—	—
West Virginia	2	—	1	—	3	—	2	—	1
Wisconsin	2	1	—	—	3	1	2	—	—
Wyoming	3	1	—	—	4	—	4	—	—
Ontario, Canada	1	—	—	—	1	1	—	—	—
Total	168	65	14	3	250	38	199	3	10


⁽¹⁾	Includes four TA Express branded locations.


⁽²⁾	Includes restaurant brands other than QSL and one Goodyear authorized retread facility we own in Ohio.


⁽³⁾	Includes 20 properties we acquired from HPT in January 2019 that we leased from HPT as of December 31, 2018. These 20 properties are located in 15 states.


⁽⁴⁾	Includes properties leased from, or managed for, parties other than HPT.

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Item 3. Legal Proceedings

The disclosure under the heading "Legal Proceedings" in Note 15 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 15 of this Annual Report is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

PART II

Item 5. Market for Our Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market Information. Our common shares are traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the symbol "TA."

Holders. As of February 21, 2019, there were 728 shareholders of record of our common shares.

Dividends. We have never paid or declared any cash dividends on our common shares. At present, we intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to fund the operations and growth of our business. Furthermore, our Credit Facility restricts our payment of cash dividends on our common shares, unless certain requirements under the Credit Facility are met, including that excess availability, as defined, is not less than 20% after any such payment, and our rent deferral agreement with HPT prohibits us from paying any dividends while any deferred rent remains unpaid. Our future decisions concerning the payment of dividends on our common shares will depend upon our results of operations, financial condition and capital expenditure plans, as well as other factors as our Board of Directors, in its discretion, may consider relevant, and the extent to which the declaration or payment of dividends may be limited by agreements we have entered or cause us to lose the benefits of certain of our agreements.

Stock Issuable Under Equity Compensation Plans. The equity compensation plan information set forth in Item 12 of this Annual Report is incorporated by reference herein.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities. There were no sales of our unregistered securities by us during the fourth quarter of 2018.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities. The following table provides information about our purchases of our equity securities during the quarter ended December 31, 2018:



Calendar Month	Number of Shares Purchased⁽¹⁾	Average Price Paid per Share		Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs	Maximum Approximate Dollar Value of Shares That May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs
December 2018	171,314	$	4.51	—	$	—
Total	171,314	$	4.51	—	$	—


⁽¹⁾	During 2018, all common share purchases were made to satisfy share award recipients' tax withholding and payment obligations in connection with the vesting of awards of common shares, which were repurchased by us based on their fair market value on the repurchase dates.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data

Not applicable.

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Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included in Item 15 of this Annual Report. Amounts are in thousands of dollars, shares or gallons unless indicated otherwise. Unless the context indicates otherwise, references to our restaurants refer to our standalone restaurants and not the restaurants located at our travel centers.

Company Overview

As of December 31, 2018, we operated or franchised 258 travel centers and 43 standalone restaurants. Our customers include trucking fleets and their drivers, independent truck drivers, highway and local motorists and casual diners. We also collect rents, royalties and other fees from our tenants and franchisees.

On September 1, 2018, we entered into an agreement to sell 225 convenience stores, one standalone restaurant and certain related assets, or the convenience stores business. On December 5, 2018, we completed this sale for an aggregate sale price of $330,609, resulting in net proceeds of $319,853 after transaction related costs. Upon our decision to sell the convenience stores business and classification of the related assets and related liabilities as held for sale, we determined that the carrying value of the convenience stores business exceeded the agreed purchase price less costs to sell, resulting in a goodwill impairment charge of $17,840 and a loss on disposal of $79,623 that included transaction related costs of $9,650. As a result of our entering this agreement, the results of the convenience stores business are presented as discontinued operations for all periods presented in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive (loss) income. Additionally, the assets and liabilities of the convenience stores business as of December 31, 2017, are presented as discontinued operations in our consolidated balance sheet. See Note 4 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report for more information about our discontinued operations.

In January 2019, we acquired from HPT 20 travel centers we previously leased from HPT for $308,200 and amended our existing leases with HPT such that: (i) the 20 purchased travel centers were removed from the applicable leases and our annual minimum rent was reduced by $43,148; (ii) the term of each of the five leases was extended by three years; (iii) the amount of deferred rent obligation to be paid to HPT was reduced from $150,000 to $70,458 and we agreed to pay that amount in 16 equal quarterly installments beginning April 1, 2019; and (iv) commencing with the year ended December 31, 2020, we will be obligated to pay to HPT an additional amount of percentage rent equal to one-half percent (0.5%) of the excess of the annual nonfuel revenues at leased sites over the nonfuel revenues for each respective site for the year ending December 31, 2019. These lease amendments are further described in Note 9 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report.

Executive Summary

Our revenues and income are subject to material changes as a result of market prices and the availability of diesel fuel and gasoline. These factors are subject to the worldwide petroleum products supply chain, which historically has experienced price and supply volatility as a result of, among other things, severe weather, terrorism, political crises, military actions and variations in demand that are often the result of changes in the macroeconomic environment. Also, concerted efforts by major oil producing countries and cartels to influence oil supply may impact prices.

Over the past few years there have been significant changes in the cost of fuel. During the year ended December 31, 2018, fuel prices trended steadily upward during the first half of 2018, but trended steadily downward during the second half of 2018, ending at a lower price than at the start of the year. The average fuel price was 30.5% above the average fuel price during the year ended December 31, 2017. During the year ended December 31, 2017, fuel prices did not materially change during the first half of 2017, but trended steadily upward during the second half of 2017, ending at a higher price than at the start of the year. We generally are able to pass changes in our cost for fuel products to our customers, but typically with a delay, such that during periods of rising fuel commodity prices, fuel gross margin per gallon tends to be lower than it otherwise may have been and during periods of falling fuel commodity prices, fuel gross margin per gallon tends to be higher than it otherwise may have been. Increases in the prices we pay for fuel can have negative effects on our sales and profitability and increase our working capital requirements.

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Due to the volatility of our fuel costs and our methods of pricing fuel to our customers, we believe that fuel revenues are not a reliable metric for analyzing our results of operations from period to period. As a result solely of changes in fuel prices, our fuel revenues may materially increase or decrease, in both absolute amounts and on a percentage basis, without a comparable change in fuel sales volumes or in fuel gross margin. We therefore consider fuel sales volumes, fuel gross margin and nonfuel revenues to be better measures of our performance.

We believe that demand for fuel by trucking companies and motorists for a constant level of miles driven will continue to decline over time because of technological innovations that improve fuel efficiency of motor vehicle engines, other fuel conservation practices and alternative fuels. We believe these factors, combined with competitive pressures, were contributors to the slight decreases in the level of fuel sales volumes we realized on a same site basis for 2018 as compared to 2017. Although fuel sales volume declined on a same site basis, the decrease was offset by increases from recently acquired locations and a development property that opened in 2017.

Although, as of the date of this report, the U.S. government has not yet retroactively reinstated the biodiesel blenders' tax credit for 2018, we believe the U.S. government may do so within the first or second quarter of 2019. Retroactive reinstatement of the tax credit provides us with the right to refunds of amounts paid to suppliers or the federal government in connection with biodiesel purchases during 2018 that totaled approximately $35,000. If the biodiesel blenders’ tax credit is reinstated, we will recognize the refund in fuel cost of goods sold in the period the U.S. government adopts the tax credit reinstatement. Although we believe reinstatement is likely, we cannot be certain that the U.S. government will choose to do so.

For 2018 we had a loss before income taxes and discontinued operations of $4,347 as compared to $60,348 for 2017. The $56,001 improvement was primarily due to the following factors:


•	a $50,737 increase in site level gross margin in excess of site level operating expenses, which included a $23,251 benefit from the federal biodiesel tax credit that was retroactively reinstated for 2017 and recognized in February 2018; and


•	a $9,632 reduction in selling, general and administrative expenses, primarily attributable to reimbursed litigation costs collected in 2018.

Our benefit for income taxes decreased by $78,676 from 2017 to 2018 as a result of a $58,602 benefit recognized in September 2017 in connection with the resolution of a previously uncertain tax position, as well as from the reduction in the statutory federal income tax rate from 35% to 21% effective in 2018 and a higher pretax loss from continuing operations experienced in 2017 than in 2018.

Factors Affecting Comparability

Acquired and Developed Sites

We believe that travel centers we acquire or develop generally require a three year period after they open under our operation, and any related renovations are completed, to reach our expected stabilized financial results.

During 2018, we acquired three travel centers, one from a franchisee who owned the site and two from franchisees who previously leased the sites from us, for a total investment (including the planned costs of initial improvements) of $21,890. These three sites were operated by us for a partial year in 2018, and generated site level gross margin in excess of site level operating expenses of $1,290 since their acquisitions. Prior to acquiring these travel centers, we collected rent and royalties from these franchisees totaling $2,179 and $2,617 during the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

During 2017, we acquired operation of two travel centers, one from a franchisee who owned the site and one from a franchisee who previously leased the site from us, and developed one travel center for a total aggregate investment (including the cost of initial improvements) of $48,197. The newly developed travel center was built on land we owned and subsequently sold by us to, and leased back from, HPT for an increase in our annual minimum rent of $2,346. These three sites generated site level gross margin in excess of site level operating expenses, excluding the rent to HPT, of $4,390 during the year ended December 31, 2018. Prior to acquiring the two travel centers from franchisees, we collected rent and royalties from these franchisees totaling $873 and $1,621 during the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

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During 2016, we developed three travel centers for a total investment of $65,804. These three travel centers were built on land we owned and subsequently sold by us to, and leased back from, HPT for an increase in our annual minimum rent of $4,975. These three sites generated site level gross margin in excess of site level operating expenses, excluding the rent to HPT, of $7,258 during the year ended December 31, 2018.

Results of Operations

As part of this discussion and analysis of our operating results, we refer to increases and decreases in results on a same site basis. We include a location in the same site comparisons only if we continuously operated it since the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented, except we do not include locations we operate that are owned by an unconsolidated joint venture in which we own a noncontrolling interest. Same site data also excludes revenues and expenses at locations not operated by us, such as rent and royalties from franchisees and corporate level selling, general, and administrative expenses, as well as the revenues and expenses associated with our discontinued operations. We do not exclude locations from the same site comparisons as a result of capital improvements to the site or changes in the services offered.

Consolidated Financial Results

The following table presents changes in our operating results for the year ended December 31, 2018, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2017.



	Year Ended December 31,
	2018			2017			Change
Revenues:
Fuel	$	4,395,731		$	3,557,537		23.6	%
Nonfuel	1,819,563			1,741,339			4.5	%
Rent and royalties from franchisees	16,143			18,021			(10.4	)%
Total revenues	6,231,437			5,316,897			17.2	%

Gross margin:
Fuel	320,027			280,926			13.9	%
Nonfuel	1,108,314			1,052,737			5.3	%
Rent and royalties from franchisees	16,143			18,021			(10.4	)%
Total gross margin	1,444,484			1,351,684			6.9	%

Operating expenses:
Site level operating	914,730			872,667			4.8	%
Selling, general and administrative	136,383			146,015			(6.6	)%
Real estate rent	283,476			274,850			3.1	%
Depreciation and amortization	83,179			89,379			(6.9	)%
Total operating expenses	1,417,768			1,382,911			2.5	%

Income (loss) from operations	26,716			(31,227		)	185.6	%

Interest expense, net	29,003			30,016			(3.4	)%
Other expense (income), net	2,060			(895		)	330.2	%
Loss before income taxes and discontinued operations	(4,347		)	(60,348		)	92.8	%
Benefit for income taxes	1,574			80,250			(98.0	)%
(Loss) income from continuing operations	(2,773		)	19,902			(113.9	)%
Loss from discontinued operations, net of taxes	(117,631		)	(10,619		)	NM
Net (loss) income	(120,404		)	9,283			NM
Less: net income for noncontrolling interests	149			132			12.9	%
Net (loss) income attributable to common shareholders	$	(120,553	)	$	9,151		NM

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The following table presents our same site operating results for the year ended December 31, 2018, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2017.



	Year Ended December 31,
	2018			2017			Change
Number of same site company operated locations	235			235			—

Diesel sales volume (gallons)	1,569,582			1,573,325			(0.2)	%
Gasoline sales volume (gallons)	280,143			285,172			(1.8)	%
Total fuel sales volume (gallons)	1,849,725			1,858,497			(0.5)	%

Fuel revenues	$	4,259,100		$	3,474,219		22.6	%
Fuel gross margin	313,879			278,671			12.6	%
Fuel gross margin per gallon	$	0.170		$	0.150		13.3	%

Nonfuel revenues	$	1,777,799		$	1,716,655		3.6	%
Nonfuel gross margin	1,082,255			1,036,231			4.4	%
Nonfuel gross margin percentage	60.9		%	60.4		%	50	pts

Total gross margin	$	1,396,134		$	1,314,902		6.2	%
Site level operating expenses	887,840			855,730			3.8	%
Site level operating expenses as a percentage of nonfuel revenues	49.9		%	49.8		%	10	pts
Site level gross margin in excess of site level operating expenses	$	508,294		$	459,172		10.7	%

Year ended December 31, 2018, as compared to year ended December 31, 2017

Fuel Revenues. Fuel revenues for 2018 increased by $838,194, or 23.6%, as compared to 2017. The table below presents the factors causing the changes in total fuel sales volumes and revenues between periods.



	Gallons Sold		Fuel Revenues
Results for the year ended December 31, 2017	1,900,465		$	3,557,537
Increase due to petroleum products price changes			819,200
Decrease due to same site volume changes	(8,772	)	(19,946		)
Increase due to locations opened	16,757		40,808
Decrease due to locations closed	(1,948	)	(3,607		)
Increase in wholesale fuel sales volume	883		1,739
Net change from prior year period	6,920		838,194
Results for the year ended December 31, 2018	1,907,385		$	4,395,731

The increase in fuel revenues for 2018 as compared to 2017 was primarily due to an increase in market prices for fuel and the small net increase in fuel sales volumes.

Nonfuel Revenues. Nonfuel revenues for 2018 increased by $78,224, or 4.5%, as compared to 2017, primarily as a result of a $61,144 increase on a same site basis and sales at new sites. The increase on a same site basis was primarily due to the positive impact of certain of our marketing initiatives with respect to our commercial tire dealer, roadside assistance, mobile maintenance, truck parking and DEF programs.

Rent and Royalties from Franchisees Revenues. Rent and royalties from franchisees revenues for 2018 decreased by $1,878, or 10.4%, as compared to 2017 primarily as a result of our acquisition of one franchisee owned travel center during 2017 and two company owned and franchisee operated travel centers during 2018, as well as from the termination of eight franchise owned and operated standalone restaurant sites during 2017 and 2018. Partially offsetting these reductions was an 11.3% increase in franchise royalties from sites that were franchises for all of 2018 and 2017.

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Fuel Gross Margin. Fuel gross margin for 2018 increased by $39,101, or 13.9%, as compared to 2017, primarily as a result of the $23,251 benefit recognized in the first quarter of 2018 in connection with the February 2018 reinstatement for 2017 of the federal biodiesel tax credit, an increase in fuel sales volumes and a more favorable purchasing environment in 2018 than in 2017.

Nonfuel Gross Margin. Nonfuel gross margin for 2018 increased by $55,577, or 5.3%, as compared to 2017, due to the increase in nonfuel revenues and an increase in the nonfuel gross margin percentage. Nonfuel gross margin percentage was 60.9% and 60.5% for 2018 and 2017, respectively. Nonfuel gross margin percentage for 2018 increased as compared to 2017 primarily due to a change in the mix of products and services sold, particularly the increased truck service sales.

Site Level Operating Expenses. Site level operating expenses for 2018 increased by $42,063, or 4.8%, as compared to 2017, primarily due to increased costs to support the increase in nonfuel sales at same sites and new sites. For same sites, site level operating expenses increased $32,110, or 3.8 %. Site level operating expenses as a percentage of nonfuel revenues on a same site basis for 2018 increased slightly to 49.9% from 49.8% in 2017.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses for 2018 decreased by $9,632, or 6.6%, as compared to 2017. This decrease was primarily attributable to $9,967 of net reimbursed litigation costs collected from Comdata during 2018 as compared to litigation expense of $9,706 incurred in 2017, partially offset by a $2,082 increase in expenses related to executive retirement agreements. The remaining $7,959, or 5.5%, increase resulted primarily from higher compensation expense, primarily as a result of salary increases and increased headcount, and legal fees expense.

Real Estate Rent Expense. Real estate rent expense for 2018 increased by $8,626, or 3.1%, as compared to 2017. The increase in real estate rent expense was primarily a result of the sale of improvements at leased sites since the beginning of 2017 and our sale to, and lease back from, HPT of one development property in May 2017.

Depreciation and Amortization Expense. Depreciation and amortization expense for 2018 decreased by $6,200, or 6.9%, as compared to 2017. This decrease primarily resulted from $6,773 of write offs of certain assets recognized during 2017, partially offset by the growth since 2017 in our amount of depreciable assets as the result of the locations we acquired and other capital investments we completed (and did not subsequently sell to HPT).

Benefit for Income Taxes. We had an income tax benefit of $1,574 and $80,250 for 2018 and 2017, respectively. The decrease in the income tax benefit was primarily due to a $58,602 income tax benefit recognized in 2017 as a result of the resolution of certain previously uncertain tax positions and the related recognition of the affected deferred tax assets and reversal of the related accrued liability. The decrease was also due to a lower effective tax rate as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted in December 2017, which reduced the federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, and as a result of a higher pretax loss from continuing operations experienced in 2017 than in 2018. See Note 11 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report for more information about our income taxes.

Loss from Discontinued Operations, Net of Taxes. The loss from discontinued operations, net of taxes for 2018 was $107,012 larger than 2017, primarily as a result of the $79,623 loss on disposal and $69,340 of goodwill impairment charges recognized in 2018. See Note 1 and Note 4 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report for more information about the goodwill impairment charges and our discontinued operations, respectively.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our principal liquidity requirements are to meet our operating and financing costs and to fund our capital expenditures, acquisitions and working capital requirements. Our principal sources of liquidity to meet these requirements are our:


•	cash balance;


•	operating cash flow;


•	our revolving Credit Facility with a current maximum availability of $200,000 subject to limits based on our qualified collateral;


•	sales to HPT of improvements we make to the sites we lease from HPT;


•	potential issuances of new debt and equity securities; and


•	potential financing or selling of unencumbered real estate that we own.

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We believe that the primary risks we currently face with respect to our operating cash flow are:


•	continuing decreased demand for our fuel products resulting from regulatory and market efforts for improved engine fuel efficiency, fuel conservation and alternative fuels and technologies;


•	decreased demand for our products and services that we may experience as a result of competition or otherwise;


•	the fixed nature of a significant portion of our expenses, which may restrict our ability to realize a sufficient reduction in our expenses to offset a reduction in our revenues;


•	the costs and funding that may be required to execute our growth initiatives;


•	the possible inability of acquired or developed properties to generate the stabilized financial results we expected at the time of acquisition or development;


•	increasing labor cost inflation;


•	increasing market interest rates that may increase our cost of capital;


•	the risk of an economic slowdown or recession in the U.S. economy; and


•	the negative impacts on our gross margins and working capital requirements if there were a return to the higher level of prices for petroleum products we experienced in prior years or due to increases in the cost of our fuel or nonfuel products resulting from inflation generally.

Our business requires substantial amounts of working capital, including cash liquidity, and our working capital requirements can be especially large because of the volatility of fuel prices. Our growth strategy of selectively acquiring additional properties and businesses and developing new sites requires us to expend substantial capital for any such properties, businesses or developments. In addition, our properties are high traffic sites with many customers and large trucks entering and exiting our properties daily, requiring us to expend capital to maintain, repair and improve our properties. Although we had net cash provided by operating activities of continuing operations of $73,258 in 2018, we cannot be sure that we will maintain sufficient amounts of cash, that we will generate future profits or positive cash flows or that we will be able to obtain additional financing, if and when it becomes necessary or desirable to pursue business opportunities.

Proceeds from Sale of Convenience Stores Business

In December 2018, we sold our convenience stores business for an aggregate sales price of $330,609. This sale generated net cash proceeds of approximately $319,853.

Lease Amendments and Travel Center Purchases

In January 2019, we acquired from HPT 20 travel centers we previously leased from HPT for $308,200 and amended the HPT Leases, providing for, among other things, a $43,148 reduction in our annual minimum rent payments and payment of 16 equal quarterly installments of deferred rent that aggregate to $70,458 to fully satisfy and discharge our previous $150,000 deferred rent obligation. These lease amendments are further described in Note 9 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report.

Revolving Credit Facility

We have a Credit Facility with a group of commercial banks that matures on December 19, 2019. Under the Credit Facility, a maximum of $200,000 may be drawn, repaid and redrawn until maturity. The availability of this maximum amount is subject to limits based on qualified collateral. Subject to available collateral and lender participation, the maximum amount of this Credit Facility may be increased to $300,000. The Credit Facility may be used for general business purposes and allows for the issuance of letters of credit. Generally, no principal payments are due until maturity. Under the terms of the Credit Facility, interest is payable on outstanding borrowings at a rate based on, at our option, LIBOR or a base rate, plus a premium (which premium is subject to adjustment based upon facility availability, utilization and other matters). At December 31, 2018, based on our qualified collateral, a total of $100,236 was available to us for loans and letters of credit under the Credit Facility. At December 31, 2018, there were no loans outstanding under the Credit Facility but we had outstanding $14,813 of letters of credit issued under that facility, which reduced the amount available for borrowing under the Credit Facility, leaving $85,423 available for our use as of that date. We intend to renew or replace the Credit Facility prior to December 2019, but do not know whether or at what maximum amount we will be able to do so.

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Senior Notes

On October 5, 2015, we issued in an underwritten public offering $100,000 aggregate principal amount of our 8.00% Senior Notes due on October 15, 2030, or the 2030 Senior Notes. The 2030 Senior Notes require that we pay interest at 8.00% per annum, payable quarterly in arrears on January 15, April 15, July 15 and October 15 of each year, and no principal payments are required prior to maturity on October 15, 2030. The 2030 Senior Notes are callable by us at par plus accrued interest, if any, and without penalty at any time.

On December 16, 2014, we issued in an underwritten public offering $120,000 aggregate principal amount of our 8.00% Senior Notes due on December 15, 2029, or the 2029 Senior Notes. The 2029 Senior Notes require that we pay interest at 8.00% per annum, payable quarterly in arrears on February 28, May 31, August 31 and November 30 of each year, and no principal payments are required prior to maturity on December 15, 2029. The 2029 Senior Notes are callable by us at par plus accrued interest, if any, and without penalty at any time.

On January 15, 2013, we issued in an underwritten public offering $110,000 aggregate principal amount of our 8.25% Senior Notes due on January 15, 2028, or the 2028 Senior Notes. The 2028 Senior Notes require that we pay interest at 8.25% per annum, payable quarterly in arrears on January 15, April 15, July 15 and October 15 of each year, and no principal payments are required prior to maturity on January 15, 2028. The 2028 Senior Notes are callable by us at par plus accrued interest, if any, and without penalty at any time.

We refer to the 2030 Senior Notes, 2029 Senior Notes and 2028 Senior Notes collectively as our Senior Notes, which are our senior unsecured obligations. The total annual cash payments for interest expense on the current outstanding aggregate principal amount under our Senior Notes are $26,675.

The indenture governing our Senior Notes does not limit the amount of indebtedness we may incur. We may issue additional debt from time to time.

See Note 8 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report for more information about our Credit Facility or our Senior Notes.

Sources and Uses of Cash

Cash Flows from Operating Activities of Continuing Operations

During the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, we had net cash inflows from operating activities of continuing operations of $73,258 and $14,313, respectively. The $58,945 increase was due to improved operating results from continuing operations for 2018 as compared to 2017 and lower working capital requirements.

Cash Flows from Investing Activities of Continuing Operations

During the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, we had net cash inflows and outflows from investing activities of continuing operations of $208,203 and $40,539, respectively. The $248,742 increase primarily resulted from the net cash proceeds of $310,496 received from the sale of our convenience stores business. We also invested less in business acquisition activity in 2018, invested more in capital expenditures and received less proceeds from asset sales to HPT in 2018 as compared to 2017. During the year ended December 31, 2018, we invested $10,482 for the acquisition of a travel center from one of our franchisees and invested $144,781 for other capital improvements to our properties. During the year ended December 31, 2018, we received $55,829 of proceeds from the sale to HPT of improvements to properties we lease from HPT compared to $109,374 received during the year ended December 31, 2017.

Our capital expenditure plan for 2019 contemplates aggregate gross investments of approximately $100,745, but this amount may be increased or decreased, possibly substantially, depending upon the opportunities we are presented, and specific circumstances that we face, including business and competitive demands, during 2019. Some of the investments we plan to make during 2019 may be improvements at leased sites of the type we typically have sold to HPT for an increase in rent; we plan to reduce the level of such sales to HPT during 2019 in order to limit the related rent increases but, similar to our capital expenditure plan for 2019 generally, the amounts we actually sell to HPT may differ substantially from our current plan. HPT is not obligated to purchase any improvements that we may request it to buy.

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Cash Flows from Financing Activities

During the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, we had net cash outflows and inflows from financing activities of $2,402 and $841, respectively. The increase in net cash used in financing activities of $3,243 primarily resulted from lower proceeds from sale leaseback transactions with HPT.

See Note 3 and Note 9 to our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report for more information about our acquisitions and transactions with HPT, respectively.

Off Balance Sheet Arrangements

As of December 31, 2018, we had no off balance sheet arrangements that have had or are reasonably likely to have a current or future material effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources.

Related Party Transactions

Relationships with HPT, RMR and AIC

We have relationships and historical and continuing transactions with HPT, RMR, and its managing member, The RMR Group Inc., AIC, other companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services and others affiliated with them, including other companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services and some of which have trustees, directors or officers who are also our Directors or officers. For example:


•	HPT is our former parent company, our principal landlord and our largest shareholder, owning as of December 31, 2018, 3,420, or approximately 8.5%, of our outstanding common shares, and RMR provides management services to both us and HPT;


•	RMR, which is controlled by Adam. D. Portnoy, one of our Managing Directors, assists us with various aspects of our business pursuant to a business management agreement and until July 31, 2017, provided building management services at our headquarters office building pursuant to a property management agreement;


•	RMR employs our Chief Executive Officer, who is also one of our Managing Directors; our President and Chief Operating Officer; our Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; our Executive Vice President and General Counsel; and our other Managing Director;


•	As of December 31, 2018, RMR owned 1,493, or approximately 3.7%, of our common shares; and


•	As of December 31, 2018, we, HPT and five other companies to which RMR provides management services each owned 14.3% of AIC, which arranges and insures or reinsures in part a combined property insurance program for us and its six other shareholders.

For further information about these and other such relationships and related party transactions, see Notes 9, 13 and 14 to the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report and the section captioned "Business - Our Leases with HPT" above in Part I, Item 1 of this Annual Report, which are incorporated herein by reference, our other filings with the SEC and our definitive Proxy Statement for our 2019 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018. For further information about the risks that may arise as a result of these and other related party transactions and relationships, see elsewhere in this Annual Report, including "Warning Concerning Forward Looking Statements" and Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors". Copies of certain of our agreements with these related parties, including our leases, related amendments and transaction agreements with HPT, our business management agreement with RMR, certain other agreements with HPT and our shareholders agreement with AIC and its shareholders, are available as exhibits to our public filings with the SEC and accessible at the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. We may engage in additional transactions with related parties, including HPT and businesses to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services.

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Critical Accounting Policies

The preparation of our financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles requires us to make reasonable estimates and assumptions that may involve the exercise of significant judgment. For any estimate or assumption used, there may be other reasonable estimates or assumptions that may have been used. However, based on the available facts and circumstances inherent in the estimates and assumptions reflected in our consolidated financial statements, management believes it is unlikely that applying other reasonable estimates and assumptions would have caused materially different amounts to have been reported. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

Impairment of Long Lived Assets. We review definite lived assets for indicators of impairment during each reporting period. We recognize impairment charges when (i) the carrying value of a long lived asset or asset group to be held and used in the business is not recoverable and exceeds its fair value and (ii) when the carrying value of a long lived asset or asset group to be disposed of exceeds the estimated fair value of the asset less the estimated cost to sell the asset. Our estimates of fair value are based on our estimates of likely market participant assumptions. Key assumptions include our current expectations for projected fuel sales volumes, nonfuel revenues, fuel and nonfuel gross margins, site level operating expenses and real estate rent expense. If the business climate deteriorates, our actual results may not be consistent with these assumptions and estimates. The discount rate is used to measure the present value of the projected future cash flows and is set at a rate we believe is likely to be used by a market participant using a weighted average cost of capital method that considers market and industry data as well as our specific risk factors. The weighted average cost of capital is our estimate of the overall after tax rate of return required by equity and debt holders of a business enterprise. We use a number of assumptions and methods in preparing valuations underlying impairment tests, including estimates of future cash flows and discount rates and in some instances we may obtain third party appraisals. We perform our impairment analysis for substantially all of our property and equipment at the individual site level because that is the lowest level of asset and liability groupings for which the cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. During 2018, we did not record any impairment charges related to our long lived assets. Applying significantly different assumptions or valuation methods could result in different results than we obtained.

Impairment of Definite Lived Intangible Assets. We assess intangible assets with definite lives for impairment annually or whenever events or changes in circumstances warrant a revision to the remaining period of amortization. Definite lived intangible assets primarily include our agreements with franchisees. For 2018, definite lived intangible assets were assessed using a qualitative analysis that was performed by assessing certain trends and factors, including actual sales, collection of royalties from franchisees and any changes in the manner in which the assets were used that could impact the values of the assets. During 2018, we did not record any impairment charges related to our definite lived intangible assets.

Impairment of Indefinite Lived Intangible Assets and Goodwill. We assess intangible assets with indefinite lives for impairment annually or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying amount may not be recoverable using either a quantitative or qualitative analysis. Indefinite lived intangible assets consisted of trademarks and their fair value was determined using a relief from royalty method. For 2018, indefinite lived intangible assets were assessed using a qualitative analysis that was performed by assessing certain trends and factors, including actual sales and operating profit margins, discount rates, industry data and other relevant qualitative factors. These trends and factors were compared to, and based on, the assumptions used in the most recent quantitative assessment. During 2018, we did not record any impairment charges related to our indefinite lived intangible assets.

We evaluate goodwill for impairment at the reporting unit level as of July 31, or more frequently if the circumstances warrant. We have two reporting units, which include our travel centers business and our QSL business as of December 31, 2018. With respect to goodwill, if we conclude that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value, we perform a goodwill impairment test to measure the amount of impairment to be recognized, if any.

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During the second quarter of 2018, prior to classifying our convenience stores business as held for sale and as a discontinued operation, we determined that the decline in site level gross margin in excess of site level operating expenses for our convenience stores business for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018, as compared to the three and six months ended June 30, 2017, in conjunction with the fact that the operating results for the convenience stores business failed to meet our forecasted results was an indicator of impairment of the goodwill in our convenience stores reporting unit. Accordingly, we performed an impairment assessment of the goodwill in the convenience stores reporting unit as of May 31, 2018, using a quantitative analysis under which the fair value of the convenience stores reporting unit was estimated using both an income approach and a market approach. Based on this assessment, during the second quarter of 2018, we recorded an impairment charge of $51,500, which is presented in loss from discontinued operations, net of taxes in our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive (loss) income. Further, as a result of our convenience stores business being classified as held for sale and presented as a discontinued operation, we recognized a goodwill impairment charge of $17,840 in the convenience stores reporting unit as of September 1, 2018. See Note 4 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report for more information about our discontinued operations.

Goodwill impairment testing for the travel center and QSL reporting units for 2018 was performed using a qualitative analysis which included evaluating financial trends and industry and market conditions and assessing the reasonableness of the assumptions used in the most recent quantitative analysis, including comparing actual results to the projections used in the quantitative analysis. Based on our analyses, we concluded that as of July 31, 2018, our goodwill in those reporting units was not impaired.

Customer Loyalty Programs. We have accruals for the customer loyalty programs we offer to our travel center trucking customers and casual restaurant diners, similar to frequent shopper programs offered by other retailers. Our loyalty programs provide customers with the right to earn loyalty awards on qualifying purchases that can be used for discounts on future purchases of goods or services. We apply a relative standalone selling price approach to our outstanding loyalty awards whereby a portion of each sale attributable to the loyalty awards earned is deferred and will be recognized as revenue in the category in which the loyalty awards are redeemed upon the redemption or expiration of the loyalty awards. Significant judgment is required to determine the standalone selling price for loyalty awards. Assumptions used in determining the standalone selling price include the historic redemption rate and the use of a weighted average selling price for fuel to calculate the revenue attributable to the loyalty awards. To the extent an estimate is inaccurate, our liabilities, expenses and net income attributable to common shareholders may be understated or overstated.

Income Tax Matters. As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements, we estimate income taxes in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate. This process involves estimating actual current tax expense along with assessing temporary differences resulting from differing treatment of items for financial statement and tax reporting purposes. These temporary differences result in deferred tax assets and liabilities, which are recorded in our consolidated balance sheets. We are required to record a valuation allowance to reduce deferred tax assets if we are not able to conclude that it is more likely than not these assets will be realized. In measuring our deferred tax assets, we consider all available evidence, both positive and negative, to determine whether, based on the weight of that evidence, a valuation allowance is needed for all or a portion of the deferred tax assets. Judgment is required in considering the relative impact of negative and positive evidence. The weight given to the potential effect of negative and positive evidence is commensurate with the extent to which it can be objectively verified. We continue to maintain a valuation allowance against the deferred tax assets related to certain net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards in certain federal, state and foreign jurisdictions. To the extent our estimates and assumptions prove inaccurate we may need to recognize additional amounts of valuation allowance, which would increase our income tax expense and reduce our net income attributable to common shareholders in future periods.

Accounting for Leases. With respect to accounting for leases, each time we enter a new lease or materially modify an existing lease we evaluate its classification as either a capital lease or an operating lease. The classification of a lease as capital or operating affects whether and how the transaction is reflected in our consolidated balance sheets, as well as our recognition of rental payments as rent or interest expense. These evaluations require us to make estimates of, among other things, the remaining useful life and residual value of leased properties, appropriate discount rates and future cash flows that may be realized from the leased properties. Incorrect assumptions or estimates may result in misclassification of our leases. Other aspects of our lease accounting policies relate to the accounting for sale leaseback transactions, including the appropriate amortization of related deferred liabilities and any deferred gains or losses, and the accounting for lease incentives. Our lease accounting policies involve significant judgments based upon our experience, including judgments about current valuations, estimated useful lives and salvage or residual values. In the future we may need to revise our assessments to incorporate information which is not known at the time of our previous assessments, and such revisions could increase or decrease our depreciation expense related to properties that we lease, result in the classification of some of our leases as other than operating leases or decrease the carrying values of some of our assets.

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On January 1, 2019, we adopted Accounting Standards Update 2016-02, Leases, or ASU 2016-02. As a result, we classify leases as either finance or operating leases, and recognize a right of use asset and a lease liability for all leases with a term greater than 12 months. See Note 1 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report for more information about the impact ASU 2016-02 has on our consolidated financial statements.

Business Combinations. We account for our acquisitions of businesses as business combinations, which requires that the assets acquired and liabilities assumed be recognized at their respective fair values as of the acquisition date. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the acquisition date. We record any excess of the purchase price over the estimated fair value of the net assets as goodwill. Our accounting for business combinations involves significant judgments about valuations of assets and liabilities in the current market and the assignment of estimated useful lives. We may adjust our accounting for business combinations to reflect information that is unknown at the time of our respective acquisitions for up to one year after each purchase. Acquisition related transaction costs, such as legal fees, due diligence costs and closing costs, are not included as a component of consideration transferred in an acquisition but are expensed as incurred. The operating results of acquired businesses are reflected in our consolidated financial statements from the date of the acquisition.

Self Insurance Accruals. We are exposed to losses under insurance programs for which we pay deductibles and for which we are partially self insured up to certain stop loss amounts, including claims under our general liability, workers' compensation, motor vehicle and group health benefits policies and programs. Accruals are established under these insurance programs for both estimated losses on known claims and potential claims incurred but not asserted, based on claims histories and using actuarial methods. The most significant risk of this methodology is its dependence on claims histories, which are not always indicative of future claims. To the extent an estimate is inaccurate, our liabilities, expenses and net income attributable to common shareholders may be understated or overstated.

Contingencies. We establish or adjust environmental contingency accruals when the responsibility to remediate becomes probable and the amount of associated costs is reasonably determinable and we record legal contingency accruals when our liability becomes probable and when we can reasonably estimate the amount of our contingent loss. We also have a receivable for expected recoveries of certain of our estimated future environmental expenditures. The process of determining both our estimated future costs of environmental remediation and our estimated future recoveries of costs from insurers or others involves a high degree of management judgment based on past experiences and current and expected regulatory and insurance market conditions. The process of estimating our liability for legal matters involves a high degree of management judgment, which is based on facts and circumstances specific to each matter and our prior experiences with similar matters that may not be indicative of future results. To the extent an estimate is inaccurate, our liabilities, expenses and net income attributable to common shareholders may be understated or overstated.

Environmental and Climate Change Matters

Legislation and regulation regarding climate change, including greenhouse gas emissions, and other environmental matters and market reaction to any such legislation or regulation or to climate change concerns, may decrease the demand for our fuel products, may require us to expend significant amounts and may otherwise negatively impact our business. For instance, federal and state governmental requirements addressing emissions from trucks and other motor vehicles, such as the EPA's gasoline and diesel sulfur control requirements that limit the concentration of sulfur in motor fuel, as well as new fuel efficiency standards for medium and heavy duty commercial trucks, have caused us to add certain services and provide certain products to our customers at a cost to us that we may be unable to pass through to our customers. Also, various private initiatives and government regulations to promote fuel efficiency that raise the cost of trucking as compared to other types of freight transport, may decrease the demand for our fuel products and negatively impact our business.

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For example, in August 2016 the EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration established final regulations that will phase in more stringent greenhouse gas emission and fuel efficiency standards for medium and heavy duty trucks beginning in model year 2021 (model year 2018 for certain trailers) through model year 2027, and these regulations are estimated to reduce fuel usage between 9% and 25% (depending on vehicle category) by model year 2027. Under the Administration, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation have publicly announced that they will review and reconsider various rules relating to greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency standards for trucks and other motor vehicles, including portions of the rule discussed above, and have proposed, for example, changes to the rule's application to certain types of vehicles. It is difficult to predict what, if any, changes to the existing rule will ultimately occur as a result of the Administration's review or as a result of related legal challenges and, if changes occur, what impact those changes would have on our industry, us or our business. We may not be able to completely offset the loss of business we may suffer as a result of increasing engine efficiency and other fuel conservation efforts under this rule or as a result of other existing or future regulation or changes in customer demand.

Some observers believe severe weather activities in different parts of the country over the last few years evidence global climate change. Such severe weather that may result from climate change may have an adverse effect on individual properties we own, lease or operate, or the volume of business at our locations. We mitigate these risks by owning, leasing and operating a diversified portfolio of properties, by procuring insurance coverage we believe adequately protects us from material damages and losses and by attempting to monitor and be prepared for such events. However, there can be no assurance that our mitigation efforts will be sufficient or that storms that may occur due to future climate change or otherwise could not have a material adverse effect on our business.

For further information about these and other environmental and climate change matters, and the related risks that may arise, see the disclosure under the heading "Environmental Contingencies" in Note 15 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15 of this Annual Report, "Warning Concerning Forward Looking Statements," "Regulatory Environment - Environmental Regulation" in Part I, Item 1 and Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors."

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Not applicable.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

The information required by this item is included in Item 15 of this Annual Report.

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

None.

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As of the end of the period covered by this report, our management carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15 and Rule 15d-15 of the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at December 31, 2018.

Management Report on Assessment of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We are responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal control systems are intended to provide reasonable assurance to our management and Board of Directors regarding the preparation and fair presentation of published financial statements. All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation.

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Our management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018. In making this assessment, it used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013 Framework). Based on this assessment, our management concluded that, as of December 31, 2018, our internal control over financial reporting was effective.

The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018, has been audited by RSM US LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which appears in Item 15 of this Annual Report.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

During the fourth quarter of 2018, there were no changes to our internal control over financial reporting that materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Item 9B. Other Information

None.

PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

We have a code of business conduct and ethics that applies to our Directors, officers and employees and RMR, its officers and employees and its parent's and subsidiaries directors, officers and employees. Our code of business conduct and ethics is posted on our website, www.ta-petro.com. A printed copy of our code of business conduct and ethics is also available free of charge to any person who requests a copy by writing to our Secretary, TravelCenters of America LLC, Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Newton, MA 02458-1634. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of our code of business conduct and ethics applicable to our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer and controller (or any person performing similar functions) on our website.

The remainder of the information required by Item 10 is incorporated by reference to our definitive Proxy Statement.

Item 11. Executive Compensation

The information required by Item 11 is incorporated by reference to our definitive Proxy Statement.

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

Equity Compensation Plan Information. We may grant awards of options and common shares under our TravelCenters of America LLC 2016 Equity Compensation Plan, as amended, or the Plan, from time to time to our Directors, officers, employees and other individuals who render services to us. In 2018, we awarded 876 common shares to our Directors, officers, employees and others who provided services to us. As of December 31, 2018, 1,765 common shares remained available for issuance under the Plan. The terms of awards made under the Plan are determined by the Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors at the time of the grant.

Information required by Item 12 with respect to securities authorized for issuance under equity-based compensation plans is set forth under the Equity Compensation Plan Information section in our definitive Proxy Statement and is incorporated by reference.

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Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

The information required by Item 13 is incorporated by reference to our definitive Proxy Statement.

Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services

The information required by Item 14 is incorporated by reference to our definitive Proxy Statement.

PART IV

Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules

(a) Index to Financial Statements

The following consolidated financial statements of TravelCenters of America LLC are included on the pages indicated:



TravelCenters of America LLC Audited Financial Statements	Page
Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm	F-1
Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2018 and 2017	F-3
Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive (Loss) Income for the Years Ended December 31, 2018 and 2017	F-4
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the Years Ended December 31, 2018 and 2017	F-5
Consolidated Statements of Shareholders' Equity for the Years Ended December 31, 2018 and 2017	F-6
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements	F-7

All other schedules for which provision is made in the applicable accounting regulations of the SEC are not required under the related instructions or are not applicable or the required information is shown in the consolidated financial statements or notes to the consolidated financial statements and, therefore, have been omitted.

(b) Exhibits



2.1		Asset Purchase Agreement, dated September 1, 2018, between TA Operating LLC, TravelCenters of America LLC, EG Retail (America), LLC and EG Group Limited (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 2.1 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed September 4, 2018)

3.1		Certificate of Formation of TravelCenters of America LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to our Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed on December 12, 2006, File No. 333-139272)

3.2		Composite copy of Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of TravelCenters of America LLC dated as of May 20, 2013, as amended to date (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 to our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2016, filed on November 8, 2016)

3.3		Amended and Restated Bylaws of TravelCenters of America LLC, as amended and restated on September 7, 2016 (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.3 to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, filed on February 28, 2017)

4.1		Form of Share Certificate (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, filed on February 24, 2010)

4.2		Indenture by and between TravelCenters of America LLC and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee, dated as of January 15, 2013 (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 15, 2013)

4.3		First Supplemental Indenture by and between TravelCenters of America LLC and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee, dated as of January 15, 2013 (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 15, 2013)

4.4		Second Supplemental Indenture by and between TravelCenters of America LLC and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee, dated as of December 16, 2014 (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 to our Registration Statement on Form 8-A (File No. 001-33274) filed on December 16, 2014)

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4.5		Third Supplemental Indenture by and between TravelCenters of America LLC and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee, dated as of October 5, 2015 (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A (File No. 001-33274) filed on October 5, 2015)

4.6		Form of 8.25% Senior Notes due 2028 (included in Exhibit 4.3 above)

4.7		Form of 8.00% Senior Notes due 2029 (included in Exhibit 4.4 above)

4.8		Form of 8.00% Senior Notes due 2030 (included in Exhibit 4.5 above)

10.1		Transaction Agreement, dated as of January 29, 2007, by and among Hospitality Properties Trust, HPT TA Properties Trust, HPT TA Properties LLC, TravelCenters of America LLC and The RMR Group LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006 filed on March 20, 2007)

10.2		Transaction Agreement, dated as of June 1, 2015, by and among Hospitality Properties Trust, HPT TA Properties Trust, HPT TA Properties LLC, HPT PSC Properties Trust, HPT PSC Properties LLC, TravelCenters of America LLC, TravelCenters of America Holding Company LLC, TA Leasing LLC, and TA Operating LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 5, 2015)

10.3		First Amendment to Transaction Agreement, dated as of June 22, 2016, by and among Hospitality Properties Trust, HPT TA Properties Trust, HPT TA Properties LLC, HPT PSC Properties Trust, HPT PSC Properties LLC, TravelCenters of America LLC, TravelCenters of America Holding Company LLC and TA Operating LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 22, 2016)

10.4		First Transaction Agreement by and between Hospitality Properties Trust and TravelCenters of America LLC, dated as of January 16, 2019 (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 16, 2019)

10.5		Second Transaction Agreement by and between Hospitality Properties Trust and TravelCenters of America LLC, dated as of January 16, 2019 (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 16, 2019)

10.6		Third Transaction Agreement by and between Hospitality Properties Trust and TravelCenters of America LLC, dated as of January 16, 2019 (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 16, 2019)

10.7		Deferral Agreement, dated as of August 11, 2008, among Hospitality Properties Trust, HPT TA Properties Trust, HPT TA Properties LLC, HPT PSC Properties Trust, HPT PSC Properties LLC, TravelCenters of America LLC, TA Leasing LLC and Petro Stopping Centers, L.P. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.6 to our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2008, filed on August 11, 2008)

10.8		Registration Rights Agreement, dated as of August 11, 2008, between TravelCenters of America LLC and Hospitality Properties Trust (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.7 to our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2008, filed on August 11, 2008)

10.9		Amended and Restated Business Management and Shared Services Agreement, dated as of March 12, 2015, by and between TravelCenters of America LLC and Reit Management & Research LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.14 to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, filed on March 13, 2015)

10.10		Lease Agreement, dated as of May 30, 2007, by and among HPT PSC Properties Trust and HPT PSC Properties LLC, as Landlord, and TA Operating LLC (as successor to Petro Stopping Centers, L.P.), as Tenant (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 4, 2007)

10.11		First Amendment to Lease Agreement, dated as of March 17, 2008, by and among HPT PSC Properties Trust, HPT PSC Properties LLC and TA Operating LLC (as successor to Petro Stopping Centers, L.P.) (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.5 to our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2008, filed on November 10, 2008)

10.12		Second Amendment to Lease Agreement, dated as of May 25, 2018, by and among HPT PSC Properties Trust, HPT PSC Properties LLC and TA Operating LLC (as successor to Petro Stopping Centers, L.P.) (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 to our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2018, filed on August 6, 2018)

10.13		Third Amendment to Lease Agreement, dated as of January 17, 2019, by and among HPT PSC Properties Trust, HPT PSC Properties LLC and TA Operating LLC (as successor to Petro Stopping Centers, L.P.) (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.8 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 23, 2019)

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10.14		Fourth Amendment to Lease Agreement, dated as of January 23, 2019, by and among HPT PSC Properties Trust, HPT PSC Properties LLC and TA Operating LLC (as successor to Petro Stopping Centers, L.P.) (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.9 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 23, 2019)

10.15		Amended and Restated Lease No. 1, dated as of June 9, 2015, by and among HPT TA Properties Trust, HPT TA Properties LLC and TA Operating LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 15, 2015)

10.16		Amended and Restated Lease No. 2, dated as of June 9, 2015, by and among HPT TA Properties Trust, HPT TA Properties LLC and TA Operating LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 15, 2015)

10.17		Amended and Restated Lease No. 3, dated as of June 9, 2015, by and among HPT TA Properties Trust, HPT TA Properties LLC and TA Operating LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 15, 2015)

10.18		Amended and Restated Lease No. 4, dated as of June 9, 2015, by and among HPT TA Properties Trust, HPT TA Properties LLC and TA Operating LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 15, 2015)

10.19		Amendment to Lease Agreement, dated as of June 9, 2015, by and among HPT PSC Properties Trust, HPT PSC Properties LLC and TA Operating LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.9 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 15, 2015)

10.20