Buc-ee’s – A Jumbo Slice of 21st Century Americana

If you visit the South these days, you’ll inevitably see billboards for Buc-ee’s featuring a toothy beaver selling brisket, beef jerky, and gas. I never considered going near the place until a friend told me that Buc-ee’s brisket sandwich is amazing. Then, my nephew came back from a trip to visit a friend in Georgia, who immediately took him to neighboring Alabama to have lunch at Buc-ee’s. Lunch. At a gas station. Hmmm.

Intrigued, I made my first-ever stop at Buc-ee’s last year on a road trip from Connecticut to Florida and back. Stepping into the brightly lit store and making my way through the meandering crowd, I was a bit overstimulated, but also impressed. It turns out that purely by chance I had picked Buc-ee’s biggest and newest (at the time) store to visit: Located in Sevierville, Tennessee, hometown of Dolly Parton, it appeared to be the size of a small Costco.

My first destination was the ladies’ room, which was large and even a bit swanky, comprised of a long hallway adorned with artwork leading into a well-lit room, with sinks in the middle and private stalls with doors. Living up to its reputation as having the cleanest restrooms on America’s highways (Buc-ee’s actually won an award for that in 2012), attendants were ubiquitous and everything was sparkling clean.

Skeptical but curious about the food, I next made my way to the food counter and bought a chopped brisket sandwich (as opposed to a sliced brisket sandwich) for about $9 and was immediately enamored: The beef was warm, tender, and moist, the tangy barbeque sauce was delicious, and the hamburger bun was soft and fresh. It was a perfect highway stop.

Buc-ee’s is arguably the hottest convenience store/gas station chain spreading across the U.S., with over 100 million annual visitors and 48 stores and counting, most of them located in the South. The company posts billboards miles from most stores — on Interstate Route 95 heading north I started seeing them about 50 miles before I hit their store in Daytona Beach, Florida. (I also visited a Buc-ee’s in South Carolina.) The chain seems to be taking a page from the playbook of Pedro’s South of the Border, a cheesy rest stop (they call it a “highway oasis”) that has been around for over 70 years and posts dozens of billboards along Interstate 95 as you near the border between the Carolinas. It’s impossible to overlook the gigantic “Pedro” and gorilla statues at South of the Border; likewise, it’s hard to miss the bright yellow Buc-ee’s signs from the highway.

Founded in 1982 by Arch Aplin III, the chain’s moniker is a combination of the founder’s dog’s name (Buck) and his childhood nickname (Beaver). Aplin started with a single store near Lake Jackson, Texas, where its headquarters is now located. Since then, he’s opened more stores in Texas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Missouri, and Tennessee, and is now moving north. The newest store had its grand opening this past March in Johnstown, Colorado, near Denver. Another store is under construction in Mississippi, and “We are actively looking all over the country to develop more sites,” reports Jeff Nadalo, general counsel and spokesperson for Buc-ee’s.

Along the way, Buc-ee’s has become more than just a rest stop: A combination of a destination and an experience, it is a genuine new article of Americana with a hungry and loyal following like my nephew’s friend, who makes frequent trips to the store. Yes, there are other large gas station chains in the U.S. – Kwik Trip, QuikTrip, Maverik, Sheetz, Wawa, and Cumberland Farms, for instance – but none of these stores generates the excitement of Buc-ee’s. Perhaps that’s because everything at Buc-ee’s is Texas big: the parking lot, the number of gas pumps (including ethanol-free gas plus EV charging stations), the hours (24/7 and 365 days of the year), the restrooms, and the snack selection. Gas prices, on the other hand, tend to be low — I found them to be about 10 to 20 cents lower than surrounding stations. “We do a very strong volume of fuel sales,” explains Nadalo, “so we’re able to pass savings on to our customers.”

In the fast-food area of the store, known as the Texas Round Up station, you can find the afore-mentioned brisket, as well as pork, turkey, sausage, and chicken sandwiches. An intrinsic part of the experience is watching Buc-ee’s chefs slice freshly smoked brisket and douse it with Texas barbeque sauce, prompting them to call out “Fresh brisket on the board!” Rows of hot brisket and mixed-meat sandwiches are wrapped in paper and placed under warming lights, ready for the taking. Other stations serve up burritos and tacos, jerky, and baked items.

Nadalo says that besides the brisket, the most popular items are Buc-ee’s Beaver Nuggets — sweet-and-salty, caramel-coated corn puffs that come in a bag — as well as fresh-baked pastries, homemade fudge, and roasted nuts. But not all of the food is unhealthy — Buc-ee’s also offers fresh fruit cups and salads for those who have the dietary fortitude to resist the sandwiches.

There’s also souvenir shopping to do: Buc-ee’s merchandise includes stuffed beavers, travel mugs, shot glasses, t-shirts, swimsuits, and sundries. Check-out stations are abundant, and the employees, clad in red or black shirts adorned with the Buc-ee’s beaver logo, make an effort to be friendly and efficient.

Of course, with popularity comes pushback: Some people say Buc-ee’s is too crowded and you have to wait for gas and the restroom. Personally, I never encountered a line for the gas pumps or ladies’ rooms at the three stores I visited. I felt safe in the parking lots, and there were grassy areas on the periphery where I could walk my dog. I appreciated the respite from large trucks on the Interstate, too – 18-wheelers aren’t allowed at Buc-ee’s due to space restrictions.

While I can’t imagine I would make special trips to Buc-ee’s if one were located near my home – it started to get old for me after my third brisket sandwich in a week – I can easily see why Buc-ee’s is a fan favorite: The stores buzz with the ambience of a theme park (complete with a life-size mascot to take photos with during some store hours), the restrooms are clean and spacious, the parking lots are big, the gas is cheap, and the kitsch, food, and candy are plentiful. What road-tripping American could ask for anything more?

Nancy Monson is a freelance travel, lifestyle, and wellness writer with publications ranging from AARP The Magazine to Fodors.com, NextAvenue.org, and USA Today. She is a member of the International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Association and the Society of American Travel Writers. She is also a mixed-media artist and author of Craft to Heal: Soothing Your Soul with Sewing, Painting, and Other Pastimes.