In the beginning of Arch H. “Beaver” Aplin III’s journey to building a beloved chain of seriously big travel centers, there was just one gas pump.
Growing up, Aplin ’80 loved spending time at his grandfather’s general store in Harrisonburg, Louisiana, when visiting from his family home in Lake Jackson, Texas. “It was a typical old-fashioned mercantile,” recalled Aplin with a smile. “They would occasionally let me pump gas for a customer at the one little gas pump.”
Though size and scale have changed dramatically, Aplin has retained that small-town hospitality experience at Buc-ee’s travel centers, which today sprawl across nine states, some featuring more than 100 fuel pumps and 75,000 square feet of retail space. Like his grandfather, he wants every customer to feel welcome, cared for and valued. “Exceed customer expectations” is how the Buc-ee’s mantra puts it.
Widely respected for his stores’ commitment to customer service, Buc-ee’s founder Arch “Beaver” Aplin III ’80 is now helping establish Texas A&M University as a leader in hospitality education.
Now, Aplin is channeling that philosophy into one of his most ambitious projects yet. His $60 million gift to Texas A&M University will create the Aplin Center, a pioneering facility designed to position the university as a national leader in hospitality education. More than just another academic building, the center, which broke ground last fall and is scheduled to open in winter 2028, represents a living laboratory where students will master the art of exceeding expectations in an industry that generates nearly $78 billion in economic activity across the state and employs 879,000 Texans.
The Making of an Entrepreneur
When he was choosing a college to attend, Aplin decided on Texas A&M because of the College of Architecture’s construction science program, a major that seemed relevant to his father’s homebuilding company. Despite being known today for his retail and hospitality expertise, his training proved crucial.
“Someone has to design and build the stores,” he explained. “I did the design in its entirety and the construction of the first few.”
Several influences converged to spark his “crazy idea” at age 22 to open his first convenience store. His grandfather’s store provided early exposure to retail. During college, he had worked installing refrigeration and shelving in convenience stores. He also knew Don Wasek, his current business partner, who had a convenience store in Brazoria, Texas, called Don’s Quick Stop.
“I come from a long line of people who are driven to do their own thing,” Aplin added.
The business plan, if it could be called that, was refreshingly simple. “I built the first store at a four-way stop sign, the closest intersection to my home where I grew up. I mean, I didn’t branch out very far. That was the extent of my market research.”
The naming of the store and the now-famous logo came about almost as casually. “I had a Labrador retriever named Buck, and my nickname is Beaver. After a little thinking, I decided to call it Buc-ee’s, and I made the logo a beaver with the baseball cap flipped up.”
Customer-favorite Buc-ee’s stores are located across nine states and combine convenience, fuel and food with a distinctly Texas theme.
That first store, which opened July 28, 1982, and still operates today, was “quite unique”: 3,000 square feet when most convenience stores were 2,400, with a beautiful Texas rough cedar interior that was “warm and cozy.” But it was just the beginning.
Evolution of Excellence
The transformation from small convenience stores to destination travel centers happened gradually. Each new store grew larger and more sophisticated. The second store doubled in size to 6,000 square feet and won design awards in the convenience store industry. But the real breakthrough came in 2003 when Buc-ee’s opened a store in Luling, Texas, on Interstate 10.
“The idea of a travel center had been rumbling around in my head for quite some time,” Aplin recalled. The concept launched in Luling combined convenience, fuel and food with a distinctly Texas theme. “We’re Texas, so if we’re going to do food, it’s got to be jerky and barbecue.”
At 17,000 square feet, the Luling store was bigger than anything he’d done before. “It was another giant leap,” he said.
The emphasis on clean restrooms — now a Buc-ee’s signature — evolved from personal experience. “When I traveled with my kids and went into a Texaco station or a McDonald’s, the restroom facilities lacked a lot,” reported Aplin, now a father to five and a grandfather to one. “Then a light bulb went off. I said, ‘You know what? This matters.’”
That revelation became foundational to the brand: “I never had any idea that we would become known for clean restrooms. That wasn’t a business model or marketing plan. It just made sense.”
The Aggie Connection
The Texas A&M culture profoundly shaped Aplin’s approach to business and life. “If you spend any time at Texas A&M, it starts rubbing off on you,” he said. “If you spend enough time there, it makes you a better person.”
The values he learned in Aggieland also inform how he treats his employees. Rather than starting with a minimum wage, “we just skip right to the livable wage,” he reported, a practice that sets Buc-ee’s apart in the retail industry. “Our employees appreciate it, and it gives them a lot of pride.”
This philosophy creates a positive cycle: “When you have happy people, the customers feed off of it, and vice versa. We believe it’s just the way to operate a business.”
With his background and proven success, Aplin was intrigued to learn that Texas A&M was considering a facility on West Campus that allowed students to practice hospitality in real life, on campus. “Hospitality is absolutely everything to me,” he recalled. “I thrive on it.”
The more he discovered about plans for the building — with its learning labs in fermentation, enology, meat science, dairy science and floral design, among other College of Agriculture and Life Sciences areas — the more excited he became. The moment of commitment in 2022 was spontaneous: “My cup was running over with joy, and I jumped out there and said, ‘I’m going to donate $50 million.’ It just came over me.” In addition to providing funds for the Aplin Center, this gift also provided endowments for an excellence fund and student scholarships in the newly named Arch H. Aplin III ’80 Department of Hospitality, Hotel Management and Tourism.
Beaver Aplin ’80 with Dr. Brian King, department head of hospitality, hotel management and tourism (left), and Dr. Manjit Yadav, department head of marketing (right). Photo by Butch Ireland.
Later, when Aplin approached Mays Business School Dean Nate Sharp about the possibility of expanding the gift to include support for Mays Business School, Aplin’s response to Sharp’s vision for national preeminence was equally immediate: “Before I knew it, I said, ‘Okay, I’ll do that too.’” The additional $10 million he committed to Mays in 2025 will support retail education through the Aplin Center and includes endowments for an excellence fund and student scholarships in the newly named Arch H. Aplin III ’80 Department of Marketing.
A Vision for Transformation
The Aplin Center represents something unprecedented in hospitality education. “I’ve seen some nice hospitality offerings in other universities,” Aplin said, “but I’ve never seen anything like what we’re building.”
The Texas timber facility — which he has had a major hand in designing — will offer “less textbook and more active learning” through immersive labs, product development spaces, and sensory and culinary kitchens that will be visible to visitors. Its location at the intersection of Wellborn Road and John Kimbrough Boulevard, a former parking lot, was crucial to Aplin. “We had to have the best location on campus,” he said. “This puts us literally in the shadow of Kyle Field.”
In addition to the learning labs, the Aplin Center will also include a restaurant or café so that students gain real-world experience in operating a food establishment, while retail spaces will provide experience in making merchandising and marketing decisions, using data to understand consumers, developing products and brands, and designing customer experiences. In the Retail Innovation Lab, students will explore emerging technologies, blending strategy and innovation to prepare for the future of commerce.
I’ve seen some nice hospitality offerings in other universities, but I’ve never seen anything like what we’re building.
Finally, the center will house the university’s new visitor center. “Think about it,” Aplin continued. “More than 100,000 high school juniors and seniors will visit campus, and one of their first experiences is walking into the visitor center inside the Aplin Center, next to Kyle Field.”
The center’s hands-on approach, combined with internships, will prepare graduates like never before. “When they get out of school, they’ll know more than I ever knew when I graduated,” said Aplin, who was named a 2025 Distinguished Alumni of Texas A&M and an Outstanding Alumnus by the College of Architecture. He added humbly: “If you looked at me in 1980, you’d say that kid would never be outstanding at anything.”
The Bigger Picture
Aplin sees the center’s impact extending far beyond Texas A&M. The hospitality industry offers tremendous opportunities for young entrepreneurs wanting to make their mark.
The center will also strengthen Texas’ position as a hospitality leader. “We have so many good Texas-based hospitality companies. But this will enlarge the Aggie sphere,” he said. “People from other states who become Aggies will return to their home state to start a business. They’ll have gotten some of that important experience that I got during my time at Texas A&M.”
As the business world becomes increasingly automated, Aplin believes what students will learn at the Aplin Center will become even more valuable: “That personal touch, which is absolutely the basis of good hospitality, will shine and will matter more and more as we become more technology driven,” he emphasized. “For the people and the companies that get the interpersonal connection right, it will pay off in aces and spades.”
For Aplin, the center represents the realization of a vision that began with a small boy pumping gas at his grandfather’s store, and he feels extremely fortunate to see it take shape.
“I’m just giddy about giving back, not only to Texas A&M, but also to the world,” he said. “Education and today’s youth have such a soft spot in my heart. It just makes sense.”
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