I Have Been to a Buc-ee’s and They Will Never Come to Connecticut

There are only a few buzz-worthy products in all of the USA that we can't get in Connecticut, but on a recent cross-country trip I was able to experience Buc-ee's. I'd love to tell you that it's something that we don't need, but believe the hype, Buc-ee's is wild.

Over our Christmas break, my wife and I decided to drive to Oklahoma City. It's around 1,400 miles each way, and somewhere in Ohio you see the first billboard for Buc-ee's. Buc-ee's is a rapidly expanding chain of gas station/country stores, the company is based in Texas, but over the past few years they've expanded into 9 states across the Southern US. As of today, there are 35 Buc-ee's locations in Texas, 4 in Alabama, 2 locations each in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and one location each in South Carolina, Colorado, and Missouri. I stopped at the Buc-ee's in Springfield, Missouri.

The store is huge, with thousands of products for sale, and over 100 gas pumps and charging stations around the perimeter. The heart of each Buc-ee's is the to-go food stations, offering road fare like pulled pork and brisket sandwiches, tacos, burritos, and a literal wall of beverages. T-shirts, magnets, travel tools, and Stanley Quenchers were everywhere you looked too.

I bought a brisket sandwich for $13; it was filled with almost a pound of meat, it was slathered in their sweet BBQ sauce. HooDoo Brown and Hindsight BBQ have nothing to worry about, it was adequate, but too simple for my enjoyment. What I did enjoy was the Buc-ee's Beaver Nuggets, I got a bag of the original flavored, but there are quite a few varieties. How do they taste? Like supersized corn pops. The texture is very much like a Cheetos Puffs with a crunchy kettle/caramel corn coating. I housed half a bag before I realized that I needed to stop.

My prediction? Just like we will never get a Waffle House, we will never see a Buc-ee's in New England. There is not enough room available off of our major highways for one of their builds.