Four Everyday Infrastructure Investments

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People don’t change their habits as quickly as markets change their minds. They still buy food close to home, move along the same commuter routes, and rely on the same physical infrastructure to keep daily life running. That predictability is where real assets earn their keep.

Encore Enterprises’ newly released strategy playbook is built around that premise. As Ignite’s exclusive sponsor, Encore focuses on asset types where demand is steady and cash flow is driven by repeatable behavior. Below is a distilled look at four alternative investment sectors Encore is prioritizing for 2026, and the logic behind each.

“Some of the strongest investments don’t look good at first glance. They work because they’re necessary, not because they’re pretty.”
— Dr. Bharat Sangani, Chairman & CEO, Encore Enterprises

1. Travel Service Centers & Truck Stops

“Truck stops aren’t discretionary retail. They’re part of the physical economy, tied directly to how goods move across the country.”
— Nili Sangani, Senior VP of Operations, Encore Enterprises

This is one of the purest examples of investing in demand that doesn’t need to be “sold.” Logistics doesn’t pause because markets get choppy. Freight still moves. Drivers still comply with regulated stopping behavior. Fleet relationships still dictate predictable refueling patterns and pricing.

Encore approaches this category as a yield-oriented platform designed to target durable income to help limit volatility. These sites combine scale, repeatability, and diversified revenue streams—fuel, food, retail, and services—while the triple-net structure of the investment favors consistency over complexity.

The appeal is straightforward: it’s real-economy cash flow, connected to essential national infrastructure, expressed through long-duration contractual tenancy rather than discretionary consumer mood.

2. Gas Stations & Convenience Stores

“In a lot of these neighborhoods, the convenience store isn’t optional—it is the grocery store. It’s where people buy food, household items, and everyday essentials. That dependency drives performance.”
— Mike Nelson, President, Encore Commercial

Convenience retail doesn’t win because it’s trendy. It wins because it’s close, consistent, and embedded in daily life.

Encore’s emphasis in this sector is less about reinventing the asset and more about owning the right type of location: existing sites with proven performance, typically in infill or overlooked markets where competition is constrained—and where the store serves as a recurring essential outlet for the surrounding community.

This category also reflects a broader theme: some of the most durable cash-flow opportunities are hiding in plain sight, powered by frequency rather than fanfare.

3. Grocery-Anchored & Open-Air Retail Centers

“The asset class matters less than the lease. If the lease isn’t strong, the deal doesn’t work, no matter how attractive the headline sounds.”
— Mike Nelson, President, Encore Commercial

Grocery-anchored retail isn’t exciting—and that’s often the point.

These assets tend to function as portfolio stabilizers, supported by necessity-based tenancy, steady foot traffic, and a development environment that has become structurally constrained as new retail supply remains limited.

Encore’s approach is notably disciplined. Brand recognition alone doesn’t justify an investment. Immediate yield matters. Return thresholds matter. In this category, “institutional quality” can quickly become a liability if investors overpay for comfort and underwrite away the return.

In practice, that discipline has meant walking away from high-quality, marquee portfolios when projected returns failed to meet target levels. It reinforces a core tenet of the strategy: selectivity matters more than scale.

4. Drive-Thru Coffee Franchise

“You don’t need 2,500 square foot store to generate $2.5 million in annual sales.”
— Dale Doerhoff, President, Encore Restaurants

If the other categories are built around stability, Encore’s drive-thru coffee franchise business, 7 Brew, represents the growth edge of the same framework: small-format real estate paired with high-frequency consumer behavior.

The model is engineered for repetition through speed, convenience, and throughput. And while it sits inside the consumer economy, it behaves less like discretionary dining and more like habit-driven purchasing.

Encore’s focus here reflects a modern reality: the most valuable investment isn’t always the largest footprint, but the most efficient conversion of traffic into transactions.

Across these four sectors, the strategy is consistent: focus on the parts of the economy that still move, still transact, and still repeat, even when markets get loud. The goal isn’t to predict the next cycle. It’s to build portfolios that don’t require you to.

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