Brisket for breakfast? Why the Buc-not? At 5:30 a.m. on opening day of the Florence Buc-ee’s, BBQ chef Randy Pauley had plenty of his award-winning meat waiting for customers.
Photo by Milton Morris
I have only ever stood in line for a store to open once, and that was when I was in high school and wanted The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a video game released on Black Friday in 1998. I waited with hundreds of other people before dawn in the parking lot of the Westgate Mall in Spartanburg, but by the time I made it into the store, the game was already gone.
So even I am surprised when I find myself, at 5 a.m. one Monday morning in May, waiting for the grand opening of a gas station off of I-95 in Florence.
Well, not just any gas station.
“Buc-ee’s is like Walmart and Disney World had a baby.”
“We love Buc-ee’s. Actually, we’ve never been, but we love the idea of it.”
“I’m from Florence, and this kind of thing just doesn’t happen. So, whenever I found out, I was like, ‘I have to go to Buc-ee’s. I have to be the first customer.’ And we are. And I’m going in, and I’m grabbing Beaver Nuggets.”
Those would be the words of Lucy Peacock, Hannah Clark and Olivia Giammona, who have joined their friend Julianna Gray as the first customers in line at the first-ever South Carolina Buc-ee’s, a 53,000-square-foot travel center that inspires the kind of fandom normally reserved for rock bands. They are all college students, all out here in matching pastel jumpers, and all giddy about what’s waiting for them inside the store.
What’s inside? The weird and the wonderful. Buc-ee’s Texas Brisket. Buc-ee’s Wall of Jerky. Buc-ee’s Beaver Nuggets. Buc-ee’s bow ties. Buc-ee’s tumblers. Buc-ee’s Prickly Pear Cactus Jams. Buc-ee’s Dill Pork Rinds. Buc-ee’s Pickled Quail Eggs. Buc-ee’s Chocolate Rocks. Buc-ee’s hunting and fishing supplies, Christmas gifts, kids’ toys, beachwear and cookbooks.
You name it, and you’re likely to see it and want to buy it, and almost all of it is emblazoned with the Buc-ee’s logo—a smiling bucktoothed beaver in a red ballcap with the brim flipped up.
“I always say, ‘If you can’t find it at Buc-ee’s, you probably don’t need it.’”
That would be John Graber, the store’s general manager who, by 5:30 a.m. on opening day, is high-fiving a line of customers that has backed up beneath the giant inflatable Buc-ee the Beaver towering over more than 100 gas pumps. The actual mascot is out here today, too, dancing and smiling his bucktoothed smile for pictures with the Buc-ee’s fans.
Or, I should say, the Buc-ee’s fanatics. Janice Crocco of Florence has never been to a Buc-ee’s, but she owns tons of Buc-ee’s memorabilia (sweatshirts, coffee mugs, T-shirts) given to her by her son who lives in Texas, and she’s second in line because she wouldn’t miss the opening of Buc-ee’s in her hometown for the world.
And then there’s third-in-line Zoë Jenkins of Andrews, who celebrated her fifth birthday party with Buc-ee’s cake and Buc-ee’s gift bags, and in her six years on this earth has been to every Buc-ee’s in Georgia, Florida and Alabama. Other fans wear old Buc-ee’s tie-dyed T-shirts and pajama pants like true Buc-ee’s groupies. Many have taken off work or school.
“Are y’all ready?” District Operations Manager Josh Smith finally cries. “What are you waiting for? Go!”
We go. Through the doors, into the bright lights, among the aromas of sugar and slow-cooked meat. The college girls beeline it for the Beaver Nuggets (think deep-fried Corn Pops) and succeed in going down into the record books as the first paying customers at the Florence Buc-ee’s. Smiling workers, all wearing red Buc-ee’s T-shirts tucked neatly into khaki pants, cheer us on: “Welcome to Buc-ee’s! Welcome to Buc-ee’s!”
All this is the brainchild of a man named Arch “Beaver” Aplin, who opened the first Buc-ee’s in 1982 with co-founder Don Wasek in Lake Jackson, Texas. The original stores were traditional-sized affairs, but everything is bigger in Texas, so Buc-ee’s just kept on growing. As of this writing, there are 54 other mega-sized travel centers in Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Florida and Tennessee. Additional locations are planned for Colorado, Mississippi and Missouri, and a second South Carolina location, near Anderson, is expected to open in 2025.
Today, I’m after the two most iconic Buc-ee’s items: their brisket and their bathrooms. I start with the brisket, the recipe of national BBQ champion Randy Pauley. He’s here today in a cowboy hat and cowboy boots with his chef’s knife sheathed to his belt-buckled jeans.
“It’s layers of flavor,” he says, describing but not divulging the secrets of his culinary creation. “It’s not just one. It’s salt, pepper, garlic, smoke, a little bit of sweet. So, it’s layer after layer after layer, and juicy. It’s gotta be juicy.”
Like almost all Buc-ee’s employees, Pauley speaks with both the polish of a company man and the enthusiasm of a company fan. But he’s not kidding. Biting into the brisket taco, I do indeed savor the layers of flavor, and then I top it off with the sweet dessert-like crunch of some Beaver Nuggets. A bona fide Buc-ee’s breakfast of champions.
Then it’s on to (and into) the bathrooms voted No. 1 in Cintas America’s Best Bathroom Contest. And let me tell you, these bathrooms live up to their reputation—spacious and impeccably clean, with stall walls that go all the way to the floor. I suddenly understand one of the Buc-ee’s T-shirt slogans: “Holding it till Buc-ee’s. If you know, you know.”
We’re No. 1!
They went into the history books as the first paying customers of the Florence Buc-ee’s. From left, Julianna Gray, Lucy Peacock, Hannah Clark and Olivia Giammona celebrated their accomplishment with the company mascot.
Photo by Milton Morris
A little before 10 a.m., the governor shows up. There is ribbon to be cut. There are speeches to be given and hands to be shook. A crowd gathers round. Buc-ee’s, after all, is big news in Florence, bringing some 300 new jobs that pay $18 to $22 an hour with benefits including paid time off and a 401(k). The employees have been training for weeks, learning the Buc-ee’s brand of hospitality.
Buc-ee’s founder Aplin himself is on hand, having arrived in Texas-style: fedora, mirrored shades, crisp blazer.
“Our people have told me that this was the best class we’ve ever had. Incredible employees,” Aplin says in his deep Texas drawl. “They’re doing a wonderful job,”
After all the pomp and ceremony, I go back inside to beat the crowds to my second helping of brisket. Brisket taco for breakfast, brisket sandwich for lunch. Why the Buc-not? Then I get some fire starter and some sunglasses cords, too, because I’d forgotten I needed these items until I saw them. Without even thinking about it, I’m on something of a Buc-ee’s shopping spree.
“Come back and see us now,” the cashier says with a happy grin, and I tell her I will.
Standing room only
On a recent Sunday afternoon visit to the mega-sized convenience store, nearly all of the 100 gas pumps were in use, the parking lot was full and happy shoppers filled the aisles of the spotlessly clean, 53,000-square-foot store.
Photo by Keith Phillips
And I do. Not even a week later, I’m back at Buc-ee’s.
For many fanatics, Buc-ee’s is a destination, but today I’m on my way across the state. I have no shortage of options for pitstops, but I hold it until Buc-ee’s. I want to see if the novelty has worn off—if the bathrooms are still as clean and the smiles are still as bright.
This time, I gas up at the pumps (easy pay, rapid flow) and try the cherry jerky (sweet, chewy) and a kolache (doughy Czech pastry). Despite the fact that there are more people inside than there were at the grand opening, I don’t see so much as a single crumb on the floor or a stain in the bathrooms.
On my way back to the highway, I see the beaver smiling at me from his high perch on the Buc-ee’s sign, as if he knows what I must now confess: I am a Buc-ee’s convert. And I will be coming back soon.
Get There
Buc-ee’s is located at 3390 N. Williston Road in Florence. That’s Exit 170 off I-95. The store and gas pumps are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year. For more information on the rapidly expanding chain of mega-sized convenience stores, visit buc-ees.com.