Seven Costanza said:

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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.

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Chopped or sliced?

It isnt great bbq but ive never had "bad" bbq there either. I'm just thankful they have tortilla wrapped sausage. That's the go to road food, just dont squirt grease on yourself and youre golden... plus it is nearly impossible for them to screw up

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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Why do people keep saying this?
You probably think Costco loses money on gas since they ALWAYS have the cheapest gas.
Simply not true. They all make good money on gas (~30cpg).
Just like inside, Volume = better supply price. Buc-ee's is also unbranded fuel. Bulk allocations + storage terminals = lower wholesale fuel cost.

WestAustinAg 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 feel sorry for the people who think they need to look down upon the people and the food found in an Aggie-owned national chain of mega gas station that serves travelers on the way to somewhere else.

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100%

This isn't about being 'the best bbq on the planet'...and its pretty damn good in my opinion.

The first things I teach my sales guys is "MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM" and "Keep them engaged". If you do that for a customer, and you treat them with respect, you will automatically spend more time with them and you won't have to win them with cheap prices or concede a bunch of crap to get them to buy.

Bucees does exactly that and then adds a couple of winning hallmarks like clean bathrooms and clean pumps to the mix. Everything else is literally about easy and convenient. The side shopping and selection helps people 'stay longer', and they will buy...all kinds of stuff.

It's what everyone travelling wants. It's what I want when I'm on the road. I want to get gas. I want to buy a decent bite of food. I want to take a whizz without having to text my wife "if I don't text you in 60 seconds, call the police". If I can do that in one stop, that's perfect.

Cooter00 said:

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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"

---

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.

---

Why do people keep saying this?
You probably think Costco loses money on gas since they ALWAYS have the cheapest gas.
Simply not true. They all make good money on gas (~30cpg).
Just like inside, Volume = better supply price. Buc-ee's is also unbranded fuel. Bulk allocations + storage terminals = lower wholesale fuel cost.

---

80 to120 pumps. That's a lot of product. Even with a very skinny margin not losing a ton of money, break even at worst. BUT they can still afford to lose a bit on gas sales because the store has a high enough mark up to offset. Aleays a balancing on pricing.

This complete rehash of Buc-ee's business strategy is old news, and surely I can't be the only one who sees the irony in an AI video put out by a channel called "Old Money Luxury" which claims to be "A channel all about "old money", luxury, and the life of aristocrats" doing a video on a SE Texas gas station chain.

I wonder if there is a way to track the stats on secondary engagement on AI slop videos since it has generated a four page thread on this forum.

This video isn't even a podcast. If the aging population can be tricked by such simple engagement farming, it just goes to show the dangers of AI in the general population who absolutely will lap this garbage content up.

This thread was presented as if it was some earth shattering revelation. However, I concede it may have marginal value to lay people who do not do their own research and view sloptainment as actual information.

But yeah, more crappy sugar products and other terrible snacks and food because it has a cartoon beaver on it!

Feel better dork?

And you think everything that is history is AI generated. LOL.

samurai_science said:

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

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Large numbers of their customers are tourists who have never tried one.

They are WAY better than some of the **** they eat normally...

UTExan said:

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They got the location and well paid employees part perfectly.

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The point here is that they are hiring from a different pool of applicants.

Your average convenience store is just trying to find employees to check out a few customers and you can do that with close to min wage employees.

Buccees is looking for employees who help provide an experience. That's why they pay more. They're not looking for low-skilled minimum-wage employees.

To me their quality, cleanliness, and great employees remind me of Costco and Chick-fil-A. I'm betting that combo of attributes has a pretty good success rate.

BaileyAg 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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I can remember road trips in 70's/80's where the gas station bathrooms looked like murder scenes.
A great way to start indeed

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Back in the 70s, an Aggie family drove up I-35 from San Antonio to Fort Worth to visit family.

It took them 3 days.

When they got to Fort Worth, their family asked why it took so long.

They replied that they kept seeing signs reading "Clean Bathrooms," so they stopped and did it...


I know, you thought the 3 days part was a joke about the construction on I-35...but, truth is, that could ALSO be the answer.

Ag_of_08 said:

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The pay is the only reason that vaguely works. Don't pay that well, and you'll never have a decent employee, just a carousel of crap.

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As I said, they have a different business model that hires from a different pool of candidates...

7-11 hires minimum wage employees...that's all they need and it essentially works.

Buc-ees pays a lot more, but also immediately screens out the people that would be hired at 7-11...

Muddyfeet said:

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Silent For Too Long said:

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That, and the pay, helps them ensure a much higher level of employee.

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Who would have thought? If your business is struggling to hire quality people pull this gem from the Buc-ee's bible.

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It depends what your business model is...

Paying higher wages at 7-11 doesn't work. They don't care if they churn employees. Their business doesn't really depend on great service.

As a kid I was obsessed with Stuckeys on family road trips. I'm sure the kids of today are completely obsessed with Buc-EES.

From the company website for employee dress code.

https://buc-ees.com/careers/

What is the dress code?
Store employees must wear tan/khaki/black pants and a clean, professional, solid red shirt with a collar. In cooler weather, employees may also wear a red sweater or coat.

Store employees are not allowed to wear:
visible tattoos
body piercing
tongue posts
unnatural colored hair
open toe shoes
torn or faded clothing

TxAggieBand85 said:

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From the company website for employee dress code.

https://buc-ees.com/careers/

What is the dress code?
Store employees must wear tan/khaki/black pants and a clean, professional, solid red shirt with a collar. In cooler weather, employees may also wear a red sweater or coat.

Store employees are not allowed to wear:
visible tattoos
body piercing
tongue posts
unnatural colored hair
open toe shoes
torn or faded clothing

---

Oh my God! It's like those Nazis at Barbers Hill ISD are training their students to work at Bucc-ees. Especially their hair policy. Mr Aplin should watch for lawsuits for violating civil rights…

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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Yeah I thought I was on drugs when I read SS's post but glad someone beat me to it. They've got pretty solid chopped beef, sliced brisket, & sliced turkey sandwiches for not being a BBQ joint. Their turkey jerky is absolutely phenomenal…..I have never made a Bucees stop without grabbing some of their turkey jerky

Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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Is Buc-ee's BBQ sandwiches the best that can be had generally? Nope. Not even close. But it's a gas station convenience store. In my experience, their food is of better quality than one might get at a highway convenience store. My latest stop was in Madisonville coming back from North Texas; the wife needed a pit stop and my gut was telling me to feed it. That BBQ sandwich hit the spot.

I love the fact that this guy went to the same high school that I did in Lake Jackson (Brazoswood), although a few years ahead of me. I've heard that the name has no connection to the school, but the fact that Brazoswood's nickname is "Bucs" make me think that at some level, that no connection thing is horse manure.

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I'm from Lake Jackson too and Aplin's younger brother was in my class at Brazoswood. The founder of Buc-ees as a kid was given the nickname "Beaver" and that is where the Beaver mascot comes from and hence the name Buc-ees. I have no idea why he got that nickname, I presume maybe he had buck teeth as a kid.

Personally I avoid the places because they are typically just too crowded and I am usually wanting to get in and get out quickly if I need to make a stop.

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"

---

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.

---

This is the one we always stop in. We've been driving back and forth between Corpus and Houston for about 3 years to go to MD Anderson for my GF's skin cancer (it's a weird kind).

We plan our trips so that no matter what we stop here.

I'm one of the ********s who gets gas and goes inside while that's happening. But, it's a pee/**** stop, then get a drink and food stop. We're not shopping...well, usually. Sometimes the GF DOES want to look around.

Super secret Buc-ees BBQ that you gotta pick up from the back door

They almost lost me at "Texas AANDM graduate" but I will stick with it

Quote:

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I'm one of the ********s who gets gas and goes inside while that's happening.

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my dad has become so crotchety that he won't go to Buc-ee's because they don't police people leaving their car at the pump. He's officially grandpa Simpson age.


My only complaint about Buc-ee's is they don't have roller dogs. Add those, and it's roadside Xanadu

valvemonkey91 said:

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TxAggieBand85 said:

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From the company website for employee dress code.

https://buc-ees.com/careers/

What is the dress code?
Store employees must wear tan/khaki/black pants and a clean, professional, solid red shirt with a collar. In cooler weather, employees may also wear a red sweater or coat.

Store employees are not allowed to wear:
visible tattoos
body piercing
tongue posts
unnatural colored hair
open toe shoes
torn or faded clothing

---

Oh my God! It's like those Nazis at Barbers Hill ISD are training their students to work at Bucc-ees. Especially their hair policy. Mr Aplin should watch for lawsuits for violating civil rights…

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Snoot rings must fall in the body piercing category. Oh the discrimination...

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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Find a pain point (gas station restrooms are horrid) and offer a really good solution and hyper focus on delivering that to your customers.

TxAggieBand85 said:

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From the company website for employee dress code.

https://buc-ees.com/careers/

What is the dress code?
Store employees must wear tan/khaki/black pants and a clean, professional, solid red shirt with a collar. In cooler weather, employees may also wear a red sweater or coat.

Store employees are not allowed to wear:
visible tattoos
body piercing
tongue posts
unnatural colored hair
open toe shoes
torn or faded clothing

---

God bless Buc-ee's!

SpreadsheetAg 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.

---

Find a pain point (gas station restrooms are horrid) and offer a really good solution and hyper focus on delivering that to your customers.

---

As in the video, a few years back they partnered with Mercedes, I believe, to put in EV chargers. Thirty minute charging time. Captive audience, sell more.

That has long been retail management mantra, especially grocery or convenience stores. The longer people are in the store, the more they buy. Even when in the checkout lines, that is where the impulse items are located. Also, change the product placement from time to time so instead customers running in to get a few items, going right to them, they need to search a little and buy more things as a result.

But to me, the most amazing part of it all is how they did it with their financing and insistence on retaining complete control and ownership. No franchising, no cross platforming of their branded merch, virtually no advertising besides billboards, no IPOs, no private equity investors.

Quite unusual over the last 60 or so years.

BMX Bandit said:

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Quote:

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I'm one of the ********s who gets gas and goes inside while that's happening.

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my dad has become so crotchety that he won't go to Buc-ee's because they don't police people leaving their car at the pump. He's officially grandpa Simpson age.


My only complaint about Buc-ee's is they don't have roller dogs. Add those, and it's roadside Xanadu

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I do like a good roller dog. But, QT has these roller buffalo sauce chicken breaded sticks that are the tits. I would buy the **** out of them at Buc-ees!

SpreadsheetAg 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.

---

Find a pain point (gas station restrooms are horrid) and offer a really good solution and hyper focus on delivering that to your customers.

---

The typical way for entrepreneurs to differentiate themselves is always to identify a gap and then develop their business around filling that gap.


Except for places like Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, etc. They are disrupters. They introduced products that people didn't even know they needed.


I'd put Buc-ees in the disrupter category.

Yes, there was the gap of clean bathrooms on long drives. And they filled that gap in spades.

But, the REST of the model is disruptive. They pretty much invented the concept of a convenience store/gas station as a DESTINATION.

TxAggieBand85 said:

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From the company website for employee dress code.

https://buc-ees.com/careers/

What is the dress code?
Store employees must wear tan/khaki/black pants and a clean, professional, solid red shirt with a collar. In cooler weather, employees may also wear a red sweater or coat.

Store employees are not allowed to wear:
visible tattoos
body piercing
tongue posts
unnatural colored hair
open toe shoes
torn or faded clothing

---

I enjoy not seeing purple haired septum ring wearing employees in there.

Cooter00 said:

---

Silent For Too Long said:

---

TREX01 said:

---

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

---

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.

---

Why do people keep saying this?
You probably think Costco loses money on gas since they ALWAYS have the cheapest gas.
Simply not true. They all make good money on gas (~30cpg).
Just like inside, Volume = better supply price. Buc-ee's is also unbranded fuel. Bulk allocations + storage terminals = lower wholesale fuel cost.

---

I say because I know the actual data behind it.

Mega Lops said:

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This complete rehash of Buc-ee's business strategy is old news, and surely I can't be the only one who sees the irony in an AI video put out by a channel called "Old Money Luxury" which claims to be "A channel all about "old money", luxury, and the life of aristocrats" doing a video on a SE Texas gas station chain.

I wonder if there is a way to track the stats on secondary engagement on AI slop videos since it has generated a four page thread on this forum.

This video isn't even a podcast. If the aging population can be tricked by such simple engagement farming, it just goes to show the dangers of AI in the general population who absolutely will lap this garbage content up.

This thread was presented as if it was some earth shattering revelation. However, I concede it may have marginal value to lay people who do not do their own research and view sloptainment as actual information.

But yeah, more crappy sugar products and other terrible snacks and food because it has a cartoon beaver on it!

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Where in to doll did the beaver touch you?

What an insane rant over an extremely successful business.

Mega Lops said:

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This complete rehash of Buc-ee's business strategy is old news, and surely I can't be the only one who sees the irony in an AI video put out by a channel called "Old Money Luxury" which claims to be "A channel all about "old money", luxury, and the life of aristocrats" doing a video on a SE Texas gas station chain.

I wonder if there is a way to track the stats on secondary engagement on AI slop videos since it has generated a four page thread on this forum.

This video isn't even a podcast. If the aging population can be tricked by such simple engagement farming, it just goes to show the dangers of AI in the general population who absolutely will lap this garbage content up.

This thread was presented as if it was some earth shattering revelation. However, I concede it may have marginal value to lay people who do not do their own research and view sloptainment as actual information.

But yeah, more crappy sugar products and other terrible snacks and food because it has a cartoon beaver on it!

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I bet you're fun at parties.

At this point I would hand the government over to a power-share between Buc-ee's, Costco, and In-n-Out.