2 teeth, 1 hat, 57 locations. Buc-ee’s Travel Center’s goofy toothy beaver mascot beckons consumers in from the highway with its promise of friendly service and squeaky clean restrooms.
The Buc-ee’s experience starts well before walking in the front doors. Buc-ee’s billboards are incessantly sprinkled for miles before the stop with quippy headlines like “Only 262 miles to Buc-ee’s, you can hold it.” and “My overbite is sexy”. Upon pulling into the parking lot, consumers are greeted with their choice of no less than 100 gas pumps. The Buc-ee’s convenience store is roughly the size of your local mega grocery. The smell of fresh brisket wafts out of the double automatic doors as you’re greeted with beaver branded tchotchkes ranging from folding stadium chairs to string bikinis. Grab a signature kolache from their in-house bakery and peruse through endless options of jerky and novelty candy. Consumers leave giddy with their haul of snacks and Buc-ee’s merch.
From start to finish, Buc-ee’s capitalizes on the heart of the road trip experience. Travelers are looking forward to creating new memories at their destination and Buc-ee’s meets them on the way with loveable kitsch. Long drives interrupted with Jeff Foxworthy-esque low-brow humor is received with open arms. Diets are abandoned for the affordable gluttonous moment of a chopped brisket sandwich paired with Beaver Nuggets and a 52 oz fountain drink. All of these fleeting moments are memorialized months later by the beaver ornament hanging on the Christmas tree. THAT is the staying power of the Buc-ee’s brand.