A large majority of truck drivers use a payment method known as truck "fuel cards," which allowscards" 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. Also, we have a joint venture with Love's Travel Stops and Country Stores, Inc., or Love's, in which we both own a 50% interest in QuikQ LLC, or QuikQ, an independent full-service fuel payment solutions provider, which is currently used by a limited number of our trucking customers. 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. We generallylocations 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 and convenience stores.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.

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.

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.

We have five leases with Hospitality Properties Trust, or HPT;SVC, four leases for an aggregate of 159 properties,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 SVC Leases.

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

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

See Note 79 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report for more information about the terms of the HPTSVC Leases and related amounts.

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

In addition to franchise, royalty and advertising fees, we also collect rent from franchisees who lease their travel centers from us. At December 31, 2017,2019, there were fourtwo such leased franchiseefranchised travel centers. Two of the fourThese franchisees exercised their final renewal term options and renewed their lease agreements during 2017; the terms of these two lease agreements expire in June 2022. The remaining two franchisees did not exercise their final renewal term options and, therefore, the related lease agreements expired during 2017. One of these franchisees has filed, and the other has indicated an intent to file, requests for a preliminary injunction preventing their eviction from the lease premises until such time as a court can determine whether we breached the terms of the leases by proposing rent increases for the final renewal term. As this matter proceeds through the courts, these two franchisees currently are operating under the terms of the expired lease agreements.

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

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 HPTSVC Leases, we generally have agreed to indemnify HPTSVC for any environmental liabilities related to properties that we lease from HPTSVC 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 entered into certain other arrangements in which we have agreed to indemnify Shell and its affiliates from certainthird parties for environmental liabilities incurred with respect toand expenses resulting from our travel centers where Shell has installed natural gas fueling lanes.operations.

For further information about these and other environmental and climate change matters, see the disclosure under the heading "Environmental Contingencies" in Note 1315 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report. In addition, for more information about these environmental and weather events and climate change matters and about the risks which may arise as a result, see elsewhere in this Annual Report, including "Warning Concerning Forward LookingForward-Looking Statements," Item 1A,1A. "Risk Factors," and Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis - Environmental and Climate Change Matters."

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.

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 shareholderstockholders 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.

Our sales volumes arevolume is 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 real estate rent expense and certain other costs do not vary seasonally.

We own the "Petro Stopping Centers," "Minit Mart"Center" and "Quaker Steak & Lube" names and related trademarks and various trade names used in our business including RoadSquad®, RoadSquad OnSite®TechOn-Site®, 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,America®," Country Pride® and certain other trademarks, which are owned by HPT,SVC, during the termsterm of each of the four TA Leases.Lease. We also license certain trademarks used in the operation of certain of our restaurants and convenience stores.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.

Our internet website addresses are www.ta-petro.com www.minitmart.com and www.thelube.com. Copies of our governance guidelines, our 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,Inc., Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458.02458-1634. 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 shareholdersstockholders 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, onthrough the "Investors" section of 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. Any material we file with, or furnish to, the SEC is also maintained on the SEC website (www.sec.gov). 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 c/o Secretary, TravelCenters of America LLC,Inc., Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458-1634 or by email at secretary@ta-petro.com. Our website address isaddresses are included several times in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as a textual reference only and thereferences only. The information on or accessible through our websitewebsites is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report or other documents we file with, or furnish to, the SEC. We intend to use our websites as means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Those disclosures will be included on Form 10-K.our website at www.ta-petro.com in the "Investors" section. Accordingly, investors should monitor our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts.

Our business faces many risks. If any of the events or circumstances described in the following risksrisk 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 LookingForward-Looking Statements" before deciding whether to invest in our securities.

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 use of alternative fuels, 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.

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,"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.

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 have an adverse effect onsignificantly harm our results of operations and financial condition.

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. We believe that, during 2019, 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.

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 may have 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,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.

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.

Our indebtedness and rent obligations are substantial. The terms of our leases with HPTSVC 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 HPTSVC and the interest payable on our indebtednesssenior notes do not decline proportionately or at all.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,SVC 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.

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, loweringlower maximum driving speeds and employingemploy 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.sales volume. 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.

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 and WEX collectively account for more than 80% 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.

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.

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 business depend upon our ability to raise additional capital at reasonable costs to invest in our locations and to fund acquisitions and investments that we believe are important to expand our business and maintain our competitiveness.competitiveness and to raise such capital at costs that are less than our returns on that capital. All of our travel centers and many of our convenience stores 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 HPTSVC purchase future renovations, improvements and equipment at the properties that we lease from HPT, HPTSVC, SVC is not obligated to purchase any amounts and such purchases only relate to improvements to facilities leasedwe lease from HPT by usSVC and not to facilities that we have acquired and own or lease from others or to general business improvements, such as improvements to our information technology networks and systems, or 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 reasonably pricedcapital 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.

Our business is subject to laws relating to the protection of the environment. The travel centers and convenience storeslocations 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,SVC, we generally have agreed to indemnify HPTSVC from environmental liabilities it may incur arising at any of the properties we lease from HPT.SVC. 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.

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 volumesvolume 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.

We rely on IT systems, including the internet and cloud-based infrastructures, 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.transactions, as well as certain franchisee services and functions. We purchase some of the IT systems we use from vendors on whom our IT systems materially depend.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;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 processed and 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.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 creditpayment 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 havedo not adoptedadopt these new technologies to support chip and signature credit and charge cards by the deadlinedeadlines set by the creditbanks and payment card companies, those companies may not pay us for fraudulent transactions occurring at our locations with those companies' cards.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.

The Trump administrationAdministration 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 entering into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, imposing tariffs on certain goods imported into the United States. Any changesStates, engaging in a "trade war" with the People's Republic of China and imposing, or threatening to impose, punitive trade measures on other nations. 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 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 under development.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.

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 quickQSRs, 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 convenience store 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.

Under our leases with HPT,SVC, without the consent of HPT,SVC, 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 HPTSVC is located. Additionally, under our leases with HPT,SVC, we have granted HPTSVC 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.

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 may be adversely affected.obligations.