Let’s talk about Buc-ee’s

Anyone who has heard me speak at events about the retail industry will know that I love to show a picture of Herr Doctor Victor von Frankenstein in his lab … with the line ‘It’s Alive!!’. Retail is getting a bad rap these days … but good retail is alive and kicking. Pay attention, look beyond the obvious and you can still find companies innovating and succeeding spectacularly.

Let’s talk about Buc-ee’s.

What is it? Great question. I guess I can only describe it as a gas station/ motorway services on steroids … but there’s really nothing quite like it. There are around 50-something stores across the South-West and South-East of the US. Think - over 200 gas pumps(!), the cleanest bathrooms you’ve ever seen and friendly, cheerful staff. Great food, lots of quirky, general merchandise + walls and walls of nut brittle and beef jerky. All in stores that I that would estimate are taking hundreds of millions of dollars each.

Take a look at this sign. Are you shocked? This is in every single store. Total transparency on pay. Including the general manager. Two things (at least) strike me:

It’s pretty good pay - well above minimum - and with good benefits. Maybe that’s enabling them to hire great talent that is so cheerful and helpful?
At a time when people all over the world seem to feel they have permission to look down on the folks who work in shops … just maybe those people will have a little more respect when they see that managers are well paid (package north of a quarter of a million dolllars) and running seriously big businesses.

This is a retail business that is daring to do things differently and seems to be doing incredibly well! Bravo to all at Buc-ee’s - very impressive.