Yup and if you lived in Brazoria County from 1990-2005 you'd know plenty of stories about the whole family! cocaine, swinging parties with recently graduated middle Eastern high school soccer boys, and steroids dealt from the gym they owned.

They are rich people and great gas station owners but the people asking for them to be put on some kind of pedestal over it is ridiculous.

Did you like working at Bucees?

dogowner said:

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Yup and if you lived in Brazoria County from 1990-2005 you'd know plenty of stories about the whole family! cocaine, swinging parties with recently graduated middle Eastern high school soccer boys, and steroids dealt from the gym they owned.

They are rich people and great gas station owners but the people asking for them to be put on some kind of pedestal over it is ridiculous.

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Pedestal? By saying their business model was very smart and extremely effective and profitable?

Stick to dogs (homage to your username) as your business acumen is lacking.

dogowner said:

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Yup and if you lived in Brazoria County from 1990-2005 you'd know plenty of stories about the whole family! cocaine, swinging parties with recently graduated middle Eastern high school soccer boys, and steroids dealt from the gym they owned.

They are rich people and great gas station owners but the people asking for them to be put on some kind of pedestal over it is ridiculous.

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Yeah, guess it's a good thing I didn't live in Brazoria County in that time frame. Was last there the summer after my A&M freshman year in 1986.

But this is a similar thing that I might say about Ron Paul from the years that I did live in Brazoria County, roughly 1977 - 1985, from folks who definitely held an opinion about Paul.

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The one in Warner Robbins is horrifically busy for its size (at least when I went there). Just be aware it's gonna be packed.

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Yeah, we've been there a couple of times. To your point, it's quite busy. Kinda funny, the first time my step-daughter and her husband stopped at a Buc-ee's it was at Warner Robbins. They were on a tight time window but shopped there for over an hour.

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but the people asking for them to be put on some kind of pedestal over it is ridiculous.

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May I suggest you read this?

Kit

I hold no one over a pedestal. That said, I'm fascinated by some of the rags to riches business stories from the Great State of Texas. Sadly, personal lives may not follow the same parallel. I honestly don't know where you are coming from.

Booma94 said:

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AlexNguyen said:

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I've never seen videos of people fighting inside a Buccee's, nor rampant theft or general nuisance/harassing behavior. Maybe it's because Buccee's are only in the south thus far.

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Luling on a Saturday afternoon is likely the closest you'll get to seeing that.

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Or try the one in Waller on a Prairie View Football game day. What some folks are wearing or not wearing is a show as well on those days.

Tree Hugger said:

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For damn near $9 for just the sandwich, it's mediocre at best. It would be a good sandwich if it was $3.

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$9 is "cheap" for a brisket sandwich these days. Their brisket is far from the best I have ever had, but it is superior to just about any other "gas station" brisket sandwich you will ever find.

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Exactly. It's the only non-BBQ place I'm willing to get one. It's considerably better than any sandwich place that tries to do a brisket sandwich.

It's not about perfection, it's about convenience when you're dropping in for something quick on the road.

samurai_science said:

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They have the worst chop beef sandwiches, buyer be warned.

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Nah, the bbq is pretty average but decent and fresh. I'd rate it below Rudys but not terrible. They have a gazillion options to eat though and a it's still well above the bar for a gas station but if you are comparing it to Snows or Franklins then it isn't remotely in the same category. It's all about the variety at Buccees and nothing is bad but people can find their thing. The key is you have a place that everyone likes even if not everyone loves everything, everyone can find something to eat there that they like.

Personally I rarely get the BBQ but it's ok, more likely I'll grab a sausage wrap or a chicken sandwich. Love all the snacks though, the variety from healthy to sugar bombs is unmatched. The only thing I don't get is why they don't have a gourmet coffee bar but it must have some logistics issue as that would print money there too.

dogowner said:

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Yup and if you lived in Brazoria County from 1990-2005 you'd know plenty of stories about the whole family! cocaine, swinging parties with recently graduated middle Eastern high school soccer boys, and steroids dealt from the gym they owned.

They are rich people and great gas station owners but the people asking for them to be put on some kind of pedestal over it is ridiculous.

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I'm guessing you didn't get invited to the parties....

TREX01 said:

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The "gas stations don't make money on gas narrative is old and obsolete"

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In Buc-ee's its 100% true. The Buc-ee's in Wharton loses about 10,000 a month on gas because it undercuts the Murphy's.

jt2hunt said:

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Did you like working at Bucees?

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I did.

aggiehawg said:

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Twenty-two minute podcast on the history of Buc-ees and their success without going public nor selling one share of equity. Customer satisfaction, the number of times a consumer needs to see a brand before a purchasing decision is made the first time (billboard related) and superior customer service to bring them back over and over.

Well paid employees deliver better service which brings customers back and justifies paying those employees more. Minimal marketing besides billboards, yet a business worth billions has been built up.

Many of the methods Buc-ees has employed to grow like that seem pretty obvious yet time and time again other chains devolve away from their original vision and go downhill from there. Going public and cashing in or selling to a holding company that is run by hedge fund types has ruined many a former profitable brand,

So for anyone unfamiliar with how Buc-ees was created and structured, this is full of information that could easily be applied in other retail settings.

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Very well stated, and absolutely accurate. In some business models and industries, being a non-public company can have many advantages.

Nike otoh is an example of a company and industry where capex and the long financing float were huge challenges. Nike was very likely saved from eventual bankruptcy by going public. The offering and stock ownership model was structured to enable Knight to continue to control his running of the company. The book "Shoe Dog" is a quick and easy read on Phil Knight and the financing challenges his business faced. One of the best parts of the book is the story of how a Japanese bank and banker literally saved Nike.

Silent For Too Long said:

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TREX01 said:

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The "gas stations don't make money on gas narrative is old and obsolete"

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In Buc-ee's its 100% true. The Buc-ee's in Wharton loses about 10,000 a month on gas because it undercuts the Murphy's.

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Really common since gas prices are so competitive between stations for the same commodity.

When my first husband and I were in the grocery business, the loss leaders were done to get customers in the store.

Great video. Thanks for sharing!

Glad you liked it.

Hardcore Greg said:

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schmellba99 said:

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Hardcore Greg said:

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Capt. Augustus McCrae said:

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Gigem314 said:

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samurai_science said:

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They have the worst chop beef sandwiches, buyer be warned.

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Uh, no. They have one of the best chop beef sandwiches for a non-BBQ place that I've ever had. Easy lunch on the go when in a pinch.

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For damn near $9 for just the sandwich, it's mediocre at best. It would be a good sandwich if it was $3.

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Less than $8 at my local HEB True Texas BBQ.

Which happens to serve some of the best moist brisket I have ever had btw. Bridgeland location at least...can't speak for other locations.

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Last time I had one at HEB, it was good, but the sandwich was way smaller than Bucees. Plus, I'm not really looking to go out of my way on a road trip to HEB for food either.

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I've honestly never had it at HEB because the brisket, pulled pork and BBQ chicken is so damn good. But agreed...and at least Bucees has big portions. I actually love the Bucees pulled pork and chopped brisket sandwiches (w/ side of homemade potato chips) and am not sure what people are complaining about.

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Some folks are just going to complain because they feel the need to be contrarian or try to prove that they are in a much higher plane of awareness than the rest of us are. And there are plenty that just want to dog on Bucees simply because.

The nickname came from the fact that he had/has big front teeth and when he was growing up there was a toothpaste that had Bucky the Beaver as their mascot and his mom (I think) started calling him Bucky and the nickname stuck.

Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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dogowner said:

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Yup and if you lived in Brazoria County from 1990-2005 you'd know plenty of stories about the whole family! cocaine, swinging parties with recently graduated middle Eastern high school soccer boys, and steroids dealt from the gym they owned.

They are rich people and great gas station owners but the people asking for them to be put on some kind of pedestal over it is ridiculous.

---

Yeah, guess it's a good thing I didn't live in Brazoria County in that time frame. Was last there the summer after my A&M freshman year in 1986.

But this is a similar thing that I might say about Ron Paul from the years that I did live in Brazoria County, roughly 1977 - 1985, from folks who definitely held an opinion about Paul.

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Ron was an interesting cat for sure. Proud to say I've peed in the [now filled in] pool off of 332 more than once.

Beaver isn't without fault, no doubt. Dude has some skeletons in the closet (potentially an actual one, if some stories are to be believed), but he and his partners have turned a single gas station that had 6 or 8 pumps into an empire over the course of 30 years. Hard to argue the business success.

aggie93 said:

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samurai_science said:

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They have the worst chop beef sandwiches, buyer be warned.

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Nah, the bbq is pretty average but decent and fresh. I'd rate it below Rudys but not terrible. They have a gazillion options to eat though and a it's still well above the bar for a gas station but if you are comparing it to Snows or Franklins then it isn't remotely in the same category. It's all about the variety at Buccees and nothing is bad but people can find their thing. The key is you have a place that everyone likes even if not everyone loves everything, everyone can find something to eat there that they like.

Personally I rarely get the BBQ but it's ok, more likely I'll grab a sausage wrap or a chicken sandwich. Love all the snacks though, the variety from healthy to sugar bombs is unmatched. The only thing I don't get is why they don't have a gourmet coffee bar but it must have some logistics issue as that would print money there too.

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The medium sized one in Lake Jackson off fo 332 does have a coffee bar. It's the only one that does, and I agree with you - why they don't have a full on coffee shop in the stores is beyond me.

schmellba99 said:

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The nickname came from the fact that he had/has big front teeth and when he was growing up there was a toothpaste that had Bucky the Beaver as their mascot and his mom (I think) started calling him Bucky and the nickname stuck.

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All of that might very well be true but why not Buck-ees to hone in on buck teeth? The spelling of Buc seems inspired by the high school.

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Proud to say I've peed in the [now filled in] pool off of 332 more than once.

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The indoor pool? Or the one off Center Way (I believe that was the road) that had the high dive?

A couple of years ago my son and I spend a little too much time in the field and didn't get to the grocery store in Smithville til after they closed at 9pm. We drove to the Buccees in Bastrop and spent $90 on sandwiches and everything we needed for the next couple of nights.

I know it's a cool story. But it's all I got.

I usually don't like stopping at them because of the crowds. But Im certainly impressed with their success.

Tree Hugger said:

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Quote:

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For damn near $9 for just the sandwich, it's mediocre at best. It would be a good sandwich if it was $3.

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$9 is "cheap" for a brisket sandwich these days. Their brisket is far from the best I have ever had, but it is superior to just about any other "gas station" brisket sandwich you will ever find.

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One of their Tennessee or Georgia locations had some damn fine brisket. Way better than I've had locally.

DrEvazanPhD said:

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HTownAg98 said:

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I remember their big thing when they started was clean restrooms, and plenty of them. Seems like a great way to start.

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Who knew clean bathrooms would become a license to print money

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Used to be a strategy for McDonalds and then they got away from it for years. During his opening press conference, a new CEO about a decade ago actually announced a refocus on it.

Clean restrooms = more women want to stop = more men want to stop.

HTownAg98 said:

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rgag12 said:

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Capt. Augustus McCrae said:

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Gigem314 said:

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samurai_science said:

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They have the worst chop beef sandwiches, buyer be warned.

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Uh, no. They have one of the best chop beef sandwiches for a non-BBQ place that I've ever had. Easy lunch on the go when in a pinch.

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For damn near $9 for just the sandwich, it's mediocre at best. It would be a good sandwich if it was $3.

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I feel sorry for the people that apparently do not have access to at good BBQ and can't see this.

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I don't think anyone going into a modern c-store is expecting the best bbq sandwich. For sure, those type of places used to exist a long, long time ago, but even then they were a rarity. It's a decent sandwich at a not terrible price for a grab-and-go crowd.

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This. You must have reasonable expectations. I don't eat gas station brisket, but I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to be paying at least $32/lb. $9 for a BBQ sandwich is really good, even for a bad one. It's all a trade off between cost and taste which ultimately determines value. Buc-ees sandwich is a good value.

txags92 said:

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rgag12 said:

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Capt. Augustus McCrae said:

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Gigem314 said:

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samurai_science said:

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They have the worst chop beef sandwiches, buyer be warned.

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Uh, no. They have one of the best chop beef sandwiches for a non-BBQ place that I've ever had. Easy lunch on the go when in a pinch.

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For damn near $9 for just the sandwich, it's mediocre at best. It would be a good sandwich if it was $3.

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I feel sorry for the people that apparently do not have access to at good BBQ and can't see this.

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When Franklins, Barbs, and Truth open their locations along I-35 with 100 gas pumps, 50 toilet stalls, and a dozen cashiers so there is zero waiting in line at any given time, we can compare them to the Bucees sandwich. Until then, comparing gas station sandwiches to "good BBQ" that you can only get between 10am and 2pm 3 or 4 days a week and have to wait for a minimum of an hour in line to get is apples to oranges.

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Terry Blacks in Lockhart. No gas pumps and average restrooms.

schmellba99 said:

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All came about from a road trip that Beaver and his ex wife were on. They stopped at a gas station to get gas and she needed to use the restroom. Beaver took note of how disgusted she was with the restroom and developed the business strategy that turned him into a billionaire - when mamma wants to stop, you stop. And mamma will go out of her way to stop where the bathrooms are clean.

He also changed the entire model of what a gas station/convenience store is, at least here in the south - Bucees figured out that wide isles, open areas, good lighting and gas pumps that aren't hazmat spill areas are much preferred over narrow isles with poor lighting and the usual run of the mill selection of candy and beef jerky. I can't think of a single new gas station that I've been in over the last ~15 years that isn't essentially a Bucees wannabe.

Now he just needs to get back to where he was with his food quality and start hiring gas pump cops that keep buttholes from parking at a pump while they go inside for an hour.

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This. The only store I've seen that seems to try to address this annoying laziness is the Amarillo store, where there is a double row of parking slots BETWEEN the pumps and the store entrance. There is really no excuse for not pulling away the pump after filling up; you have to walk past parking spaces to get to the store.

agsalaska said:

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A couple of years ago my son and I spend a little too much time in the field and didn't get to the grocery store in Smithville til after they closed at 9pm. We drove to the Buccees in Bastrop and spent $90 on sandwiches and everything we needed for the next couple of nights.

I know it's a cool story. But it's all I got.

I usually don't like stopping at them because of the crowds. But Im certainly impressed with their success.

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Some of 'em can out-Walmart Walmart.

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Terry Blacks in Lockhart. No gas pumps and average restrooms.

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is the one in Lockhart "Blacks" and "Terry Blacks" in Austin? Falling out between the family? Lockhart is known for families in the BBQ biz having disagrements over the years.

Confused.

It is the best place to stop on a trip but their customer service on the food side sucks.

I asked them if they would sell us the BBQ sandwich without the bun since one of our kids is gluten intolerant. We'd still pay the full price as a regular sandwich. I just wanted them to put the meat in a wrapper instead of a bun. They flat out refused to do it.

Maybe I just had bad luck, but the brisket sandwich I had there was one of the worst things that I've ever eaten. And I can't even think of another meal in my life that was bad enough to be able to remember, so it's not like I'm just a food snob. It was like they had given me a rubber display brisket instead of actual food.