MSU grad finds purpose, passion at roadside empire
Richard Barkley says he was born with the hospitality gene.
Watching his calm presence amid the opening-day chaos at the Pass Christian Buc-ee’s—the first Mississippi location—it’s clear how right he is. Barkley can’t help but serve: giving customers directions, checking on employees and offering passersby a taste of his favorite treat—salted caramel fudge.
A 1993 Mississippi State marketing graduate, he said he felt right at home back in the Magnolia State, surrounded by others who share his knack for Southern charm. It’s a quality, he says runs deep in both his alma mater and his company.
“We’re in the heart of the Hospitality State,” Barkley said in the Pass Christian Buc-ee’s warehouse. “When it comes right down to it, Buc-ee’s is hospitality. We just fund it through brisket sandwiches, beaver nuggets and T-shirts.”
For the uninitiated, Buc-ee’s isn’t a pit stop. It’s the destination. It’s not a gas station; it’s a state of mind. But before the beaver-themed cultural phenomenon took the nation by storm, Barkley’s family couldn’t understand why he would quit his job in IT, uproot his family from Tupelo and move to Texas for a gas station.
“They thought I was crazy, but now? My mother-in-law tells everyone she sees that I work here,” he said.
Barkley serves as one of the beaver empire’s regional directors of operations. In that position, he is tasked with a vital role that has millions of people walking through the automatic doors and smelling fresh barbecue. He protects the brand, which spans 54 locations and is still growing. In doing so, he attends every store’s opening day and ensures that each and every action goes according to plan.
“I put the right people in the right place, so we don’t hurt the brand,” he explained. “We focus on safety. We make sure everything is clean, everything is stocked, and we execute our policies and procedures. We’re not doing anything special. We are just doing customer service really, really well. That’s what makes Buc-ee’s, Buc-ee’s.”
That kind of leadership has carried Barkley through more than a decade of opening days, long drives across country and thousands of tiny operational decisions that add up to a customer experience people don’t just remember but actively seek out.
As chaotic and packed as opening days can be, his calm presence is at the epicenter, embracing fans as they rush through the doors.
“It’s magic,” he said. “Everybody has a thrill they chase, and this one’s mine. There’s nothing else like it.”
Buc-ee’s proves even a pit stop can be a happy place. Known for its spotless bathrooms, aisles of Beaver Nuggets and brisket sandwiches worth the drive, the Texas-born chain has turned the everyday fill-up into a true road trip experience.
A beaver and a bell
It was a single phone call, with a huge opportunity, that led Barkley to move his family from Tupelo to Texas.
“It was a chance to help implement new software at a Buc-ee’s Travel Center,” he said. “It was their first big one with 120 gas pumps. It wasn’t the Buc-ee’s people know now, but I could see what it was becoming and I just really wanted to be a part of it.”
It’s easy, he said, to give your career to a brand that takes care of you.
That care was most evident in 2020 when he was diagnosed with throat cancer. Barkley said he never worried about his place in the company because Buc-ee’s gave him everything back and then some.
“They gave me the time I needed, no questions asked,” he said. “They supported me through everything. When I was cancer-free, I didn’t just ring a bell, I rang my cowbell.”
Hospitality business
Barkley said doing the right thing and taking care of people is at the core of the Buc-ee’s brand.
“I’m blessed to be a part of this organization,” he said. “We have owners who not only care about the employees but other people, too. Before we opened our store in Katy, Texas, Hurricane Harvey hit and really devastated Texas. We opened our store for the National Guard and first responders because it was the right thing to do.”
For Barkley, that’s how you build a business, and that mindset of taking care of others was fostered on Mississippi State’s campus—his first and only choice for a college education.
“I don’t think I even knew there was another school I could go to,” Barkley said with a laugh. “I was going to go to Mississippi State from the start.”
From standing in the halls of McCool to now standing at the center of something uniquely American—a roadside revolution fueled by clean bathrooms, friendly faces and a beaver mascot that somehow became iconic—Barkley can now reflect on the life choices that have led him to where he is.
He confidently says while standing amid the high-octane world of beaver-branded brisket that he’s not just grateful for where he is—he couldn’t see himself anywhere else.
“People think it’s luck,” he said. “And maybe part of it is. But I always tell people: You have to do two things to get lucky—work hard and work smart. If you do those, then maybe, just maybe, you get lucky. But you can’t get lucky without doing those two things first.”
By Mary Pollitz, Photos by Grace Cockrell