The Brand That Kickstarted Buc-Ee's Beef Jerky Success

Buc-ee's has built a reputation on its rows and rows of fuel pumps, oddly spotless bathrooms, and aisles of Beaver-branded snacks and knick-knacks. Of course, outside of the buck-toothed convenience behemoth's famous Buc-ee's Beaver Nuggets, nothing has garnered as much attention as its beef jerky. Today, there's an entire "world-famous" wall of over a dozen flavors of beef jerky and a deli counter dedicated to the mini meat snack with a crazed cult following. Long before there was a beefy empire that stretched across the South, a family-owned Texas smokehouse was quietly helping the Texas-based chain become a destination for snacks.

New Braunfels Smokehouse, a meat production facility near San Antonio, was one of Buc-ee's first meat and jerky suppliers. The smokehouse's third-generation co-owner, Hale Snyder, was introduced to the Alpin family, the Buc-ee's owners, through a mutual college friend while attending the University of Texas. Snyder, whose grandparents started the business in 1945, showcased the smokehouse's products, and a partnership was formed. New Braunfels Smokehouse became the chain's exclusive meat and jerky supplier. Before that, Buc-ee's sold only sandwiches, doughnuts, breakfast tacos, and standard convenience snacks. Snyder's facility provided a variety of jerky, along with smoked tenderloin and sausages, that turned this fledgling convenience store into a mega roadside phenomenon.

While New Braunfels Smokehouse is no longer the sole meat provider because of Buc-ee's massive expansion, it remains one of its legacy suppliers. Meat lovers can still find the company's peppered jerky and sweet spicy jerky at the chain, along with its sausages, tenderloins, and smoked cheeses. New Braunfels Smokehouse has been making its meats the same way since it was founded in the '40s. All the beef jerky is hand-trimmed, peppered, and then slow-smoked over East Texas hickory sawdust for up to six hours.

Beyond New Braunfels Smokehouse offerings, Buc-ee's sells a diverse selection of jerky on its wall, including cherry maple, ghost pepper, and Bohemian Garlic, the store's top seller. Not to worry if you can't decide, because you can sample any of the jerky flavors to your heart's content. A four-ounce bag of beef jerky costs around $14.85. And, if you're craving a salty, beefy snack in the middle of the night, or need a pick-me-up on your road trip at 2 a.m, you can grab beef jerky from Buc-ee's counter, which is open 24 hours a day.