Can Buc-ee’s dethrone Kwik Trip?

Thing is, Buc-ee’s will have to make its Wisconsin debut before we can really start debating.

Last year, the Texas-based truck stop chain announced a plan to build a new location — its first in this part of the country — in DeForest. But amid concerns that current interstate traffic patterns can’t handle the congestion Buc-ee’s would bring, it’s unclear when construction will begin.

Let’s back up. Why do we care? Some think of Buc-ee’s as the Texas equivalent of Kwik Trip: a local favorite revered for its friendly service and ample food offerings. Others claim a visit to the gas station is on par with a cultural experience.

In truth, calling Buc-ee’s a gas station is like calling the Pacific Ocean a pond. Buc-ee’s is a Texas-sized destination, a tourist attraction in its own right, “a different breed from almost anything on the highway,” Buc-ee’s director of real estate, Stan Beard, told the Village of DeForest Planning and Zoning Commission earlier this year.

Last November our sister station, News 3 Now, took the 1,000-plus-mile trip from Wisconsin to Texas to experience Buc-ee’s firsthand. The team found “more than 120 gas pumps ... alongside the world’s largest car wash.”

Then there’s the food — slow-smoked Texas brisket sliced on-site, fresh-baked pastries and a branded, sugar-coated puffed corn treat known as Beaver Nuggets (Buc-ee’s mascot is a smiling, buck-toothed beaver) — and the extensive selection of Buc-ee’s swag available in the supermarket-sized truck stop.

Per the proposal, DeForest’s Buc-ee’s would occupy 73,000 square feet and feature more than 100 gas pumps and over 600 parking spaces.

Given the differences between the two chains and their customers — one is a behemoth rest stop popular with tourists, truckers and road trippers, the other is a neighborhood gas station aimed at local commuters seeking quick bites and staple grocery items — some argue the debate is not a debate at all.

Maybe Buc-ee’s and Kwik Trip can achieve a healthy symbiosis in the Midwest convenience store ecosystem. Maybe DeForest’s Buc-ee’s will be the first and only shot fired in the proverbial Great Gas Station Wars.

What does Kwik Trip think? Though the company’s public relations team had no official comment on the potential of a Midwest Buc-ee’s invasion, they haven’t shied away from the buzz on social media.

In March, someone posted this question on X: I’m from Minnesota. What is Buc-ee’s? Kwik Trip responded, Not a Kwik Trip. Next question.

BIG BUDDIES?

Largest Kwik Trip: Kenosha, Wisconsin, 15,000 square feet

Largest Buc-ee’s (world record for a convenience store): Sevierville, Tennessee, 74,707 square feet

Kwik Trip locations in Wisconsin: 515

Kwik Trip locations total: 876

Buc-ee’s locations in Wisconsin: almost 1

Buc-ee’s locations total: 49

Jess Miller is a freelance writer and a former editorial intern at Madison Magazine.

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