News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Highway 111 Cookeville Travel Center is set to open by the end of this month.
Director of Operations David McCormick said major construction is complete as contractors finish minor details.
“Hopefully by the end of the week, we will have our certificate of occupancy, so we can start bringing in merchandise and getting vendors in to set things up,” McCormick said. “Then, we can bring in our staff and start working on training. We are getting really close.”
McCormick said the tentative opening date is February 22nd. The travel center and truck stop includes a Hardee’s, Sbarro pizza, an express lunch El Tapatio location as well as a dining room.
“We’re really excited about it,” McCormick said. “If you have a family with children, we’re going to focus on you don’t have to go to two or three different places to get everybody’s food. We have an opening dining area that can seat about 70 people.”
McCormick said the location just off I-40 exit 288 towards Sparta continues to hire workers to operate the new facility. McCormick said the goal is to employee about 80 people to start. McCormick said you can apply and interview the same day on site.
“So far, we haven’t had any challenges,” McCormick said. “We’ve been having pretty good responses from the posts going out. Ricky Shelton and County Mayor Randy Porter have been very helpful putting that out. Each time, we’ve gotten a pretty good applicant response.”
