DALLAS – Fuel City owner John Benda is expanding his convenience retail operation into the Fort Worth area, a “$10 million project that will include 30 fueling stations — 24 for gas, 6 for diesel — an 8,000-square-foot store, a state-of-the-art car wash, a deli and the ever-popular 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week taco stand,” writes the Star Telegram.
Benda secured a contract for 8.5 acres of land to build his dream store: a ranch/convenience store/gas station complete with longhorns, donkeys and other livestock, near downtown Fort Worth. He will continue selling the crowd-favorite tacos, along with fried pies. He hopes to have the new site up and running by next summer.
“It’s more than just selling gas and selling tacos, it’s about fun and making the place look good,” said Benda. His vision is for customers to stop by, fill up their tank, grab something to eat and get their car washed. “I want to make a good customer experience,” he told the news source.
“When people drive by I want them to go, ‘Wow! That’s a cool place!’ Even when they don’t go in,” he said.
Benda says his stores typically sit on multiple acres to accommodate the attractions. A Fuel City in Lufkin sits on 11 acres, while a new store being built in Mesquite sits on nearly 17 acres. His first store in Dallas is on 7.5 acres, which he calls the “ranch in downtown Dallas.”
Fuel City stores are western-themed with a circular cooler for six-packs of soft drinks and beer, as well as a massive tiled tub for singles on ice. Clerks wear t-shirts with slogans like “I love the sale of tacos in the morning,” and “Say no to drugs. Say yes to tacos.”
But nobody can overlook Benda’s “menagerie of domestic and exotic animals walking around the pens out back of some if his stores,” writes the news source. At the Dallas Fuel City location, four longhorns, four donkeys, a zebra named Zorro and a camel named Hercules roam the site, and the Mesquite store will have livestock as well.
“These are the luckiest animals in Texas. We feed them the best food,” Benda said, adding, “We never send them to slaughter, we let them live out their lives. I’m their nurse and their hospital.”
At the upcoming Fort Worth Fuel City store, Benda plans to sell the same tacos that have earned him a loyal following in Dallas. The news source notes that in 2006, Texas Monthly rated Fuel City’s tacos the best, particularly the picadillo — a double-layer, small-corn tortilla stuffed with ground beef and bits of potato seasoned with garlic and black pepper.
Benda says karaoke on Friday and Saturday nights at his Dallas store are so popular that he hires off-duty Dallas cops to direct traffic. “It’s a lot of fun. People come and it gets crowded and people sit around and visit,” he said. “People just love to eat.”
While he’s not sure he can recreate all of the fun his Dallas store has to offer at his newer locations, Benda isn’t afraid to try. “If you build, I think they will come,” he said.