By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff
Date: 09/13/2000
Forty-four years after restaurants first opened on the Massachusetts Turnpike, the authority has chosen a new company to serve the food: McDonald's. But that doesn't mean that golden arches will stand above all the Turnpike rest areas.
McDonald's Corp. has proposed that a variety of food outlets it either owns or has corporate ties with - from Boston Market chicken to Papa Gino's pizza and Ben & Jerry's ice cream - serve Turnpike rest stops.
At its meeting yesterday, the board of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority voted to negotiate a 20-year contract with McDonald's for all new buildings and restaurants, plus possible installation of convenience stores and dry cleaners.
Robert Ruzzo, who has handled the Turnpike's real estate dealings and who is leaving the authority to work for the Massachusetts Housing Finance Authority, said the McDonald's deal and plans for a new service-station operator will guarantee the Turnpike at least $14 million a year, double its current revenue.
The Howard Johnson's Corp., which later became Host Marriott, has run the Turnpike rest stop food concessions since 1956. Over the last year, the Turnpike put its 11 food-service locations up for bid for the first time since then.
Operation of gas and service stations was offered to new companies for the first time in 10 years.
Tosco Corp., which supplies several brands of fuel, will run the service stations and also may install convenience stores. Turnpike officials said that Exxon would likely be the brand offered, and they said prices will be more competitive with non-Turnpike gas stations than they have been in the past.
McDonald's-related restaurants and Exxon gas stations are expected to be installed at current rest stops over the next five years. Full-service food stops will be added on the eastbound side of the Turnpike in Blandford and the westbound side in Lee.