Texas-based gas station and travel center chain Buc-ees is steering its ambitious national expansion toward conservative, business-friendly states, with its chief executive making clear he prefers communities that value free enterprise and traditional, family-oriented culture.
At the August 17 opening of a new Buc-ees in Benton, Arkansas, CEO and co-founder Arch Beaver Aplin III framed the companys growth strategy as a deliberate embrace of red-state America, according to The Post Millennial. We have a lot of opportunities. We're growing. We're building in a lot of places, but when you find a conservative, business-friendly state with a phenomenal workforce, it makes a difference, Aplin told the crowd, underscoring the advantages of low-regulation environments and pro-growth leadership.
Aplin was blunt about the companys reluctance to battle hostile bureaucracies and anti-business sentiment in more progressive jurisdictions. I'm starting to realize life's too short to try to build in places that people don't appreciate what you're bringing versus a place like this, where people do appreciate what you're building, he said in remarks captured in a video shared by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
He stressed that Buc-ees model is rooted in conservative principles that flourish when government at every level respects enterprise and families. The companys conservative, business-friendly, family-oriented concept, he said, works so much better if it trickles down from the very leadership in local, state, and national government, adding, What we found when we got here into Benton was a business-friendly town, they said lets roll up our sleeves and lets go get a Buc-ees built.
The Benton grand opening drew Governor Sanders, Senator Tom Cotton, and throngs of loyal customers, some of whom camped overnight and waited hours to be first through the doors. Their enthusiasm highlighted how a brand built on unapologetically traditional values can thrive when communities and elected officials welcome investment instead of regulating it to death.
Buc-ees now operates 58 locations nationwide and is planning a major build-out through 2031, with its first stores in Louisiana, Kansas, and Wisconsin expected by 2027 and additional sites slated for Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and South Carolina. Known for its massive travel centers featuring hundreds of gas pumps, expansive parking lots, branded merchandise, and signature offerings like brisket and Beaver Nuggets, the chains trajectory suggests that states prioritizing limited government and a strong work ethic will continue to reap the economic rewards of its expansion.
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