Back in June, Zack D. Films dropped a mini-documentary about Buc-ee's, our favorite gas station chain, via YouTube.
In a short 7:47 minutes, it covers many topics. For instance, Buc-ee's does brisket right. One of the Texas Round Up section employees interviewed stated that they serve "competition grade" meat. So, y'all know that y'all are getting the best dope out there.
Also, did y'all know that Buc-ee's co-founder Arch "Beaver" Aplin III decided to go with a beaver as the chain's mascot after one of his childhood joys, the cartoon spokesbeaver for Ipana toothpaste? This beaver was super popular in the 1950s which meant that he showed up in Saturday morning cartoons -- and even had a cameo appearance in the iconic movie Grease.
Further, the fact that "Beaver" was Alpin's childhood nickname certainly helped with the name of the chain's mascot, too. Aplin also drew inspiration from another part of his childhood to name his company and its mascot. He's beloved pooch was named Buck.
Here's another factoid. Aplin didn't want his stores to be confused with truck stops. So, he banned 18 wheeler semi trucks. This occurred around the time of the opening of the Luling, TX store. This location was bigger than most other gas stations, was near an interstate, and sold t-shirts and Beaver Nuggets. It was a big success.
After the Luling store's success, Alpin enlisted Houston ad man, Lou Congelio. Congelio is responsible for prompting the chain to adopt a cheeky advertising voice with funny billboards -- some of which are focused on the chain's immaculately clean bathrooms. Yes, the billboards inspired and encouraged people to hold it for a crazy amount of miles -- tens or even hundreds of miles -- before they got to its pristine potties.
Alpin further took the success in his home state of Texas and started to expand it throughout the southeastern United States. Now, there are stores outside of the Lone Star State with more on the way.
This mini-documentary mentions some haters, but as we've noted: Haters goin' hate. Bless their hearts. However, genius is sometimes misunderstood, and Buc-ee and his goodness are available to all.
That's where we come in. If y'all don't live near a Buc-ee's, we here at Texas Snax as resellers will try our darndest to ship y'all merch and non-perishable grub to y'all's doorstep.
1 comment
Hello, My husband Bob and I just stop our first time at Bucees in north Florida near the Golf Center and we appreciated the cleanliness and good food, however, I was disappointed that there was not an ice cream bar or anything fresh ice cream offered. I thought, surely, that I could get a milkshake, Sunday or fresh scope of ice cream but only a cooler of prepackaged cones or ice cream sandwiches available. I feel that this certainly is a niche that a wonderful store like yours should pursue. I was not the only one wandering around asking an associate where the ice cream was, only to find the disappointing cooler. Please consider this and we will be back for the brisket AND ice cream. Sincerely, Nancy Leatherd