Buc-ee's Opens 58th U.S. Travel Center in Arkansas, Adding 200 Jobs

Q: What exact hourly wage is Buc-ee's hiding behind its vague promise of paying well above minimum wage at the massive new Arkansas location?

Buc-ee’s has not publicly disclosed the exact starting hourly wage for the new Benton, Arkansas, store. What is known is that the company said starting pay would be “well above minimum wage.” In Arkansas, the state minimum wage is $11 an hour, so that phrase suggests a figure meaningfully above that baseline. Separate reporting and Buc-ee’s pay charts circulated in national coverage show entry-level “associate” roles at Buc-ee’s generally listed around $20 to $25 an hour, with cashiers, stockers, warehouse and maintenance jobs often starting at about $20 an hour. That makes roughly $20 an hour the strongest evidence-based estimate for many hourly jobs at the Arkansas location, but it remains an inference, not a confirmed Benton-specific wage. Buc-ee’s itself did not release a store-by-store pay scale in the opening announcement, so any exact number beyond that would be speculation. In short, the company is not known to be “hiding” a publicly documented Arkansas wage; it simply has not announced one. Based on Buc-ee’s broader published and reported pay ranges, Benton’s starting hourly pay likely begins around $20 an hour for many frontline roles.

3 articles · Updated · USA TODAY · Aug 17

Buc-ee's opened its first Arkansas location in Benton on Aug. 17, marking the chain's 58th U.S. site and extending its push beyond Texas.
The 74,000-square-foot travel center will bring more than 200 jobs to the city and includes 120 fueling stations, according to the company.
That expansion has accelerated this year with first Buc-ee's locations already opened in Ohio and Arizona, following Virginia in 2025 and Colorado in 2024.
By the end of 2027, Buc-ee's expects inaugural sites in Louisiana, Kansas and Wisconsin, with additional openings planned through 2031 in states including Florida, Arkansas, Kentucky and South Carolina.
The growth comes as Buc-ee's also faces scrutiny over trademark lawsuits, including a case against Ohio's Beaver's Mini Mart that Gov. Mike DeWine called "ridiculous."

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What exact hourly wage is Buc-ee's hiding behind its vague promise of paying well above minimum wage at the massive new Arkansas location?