‘We are never going to be a Buc-ee’s,’ but cult burrito stop to expand in North Texas

Bud Kennedy
·3 min read
38

West Texas’ ultimate gas-station delicacy is bringing burrito heaven to Fort Worth.

Nine new Allsup’s convenience stores are open or planned just outside Fort Worth, along with eight east of Dallas in a flash-fried expansion for the now-Fort Worth-based chain.

In a world of megastores, Allsup’s is the anti-Buc-ee’s.

Allsup’s is opening normal-sized stores, not giant travel centers. But Allsup’s is opening one about one every three weeks, in mid-size cities across Texas.

New stores so far near Fort Worth include Keene and Alvarado in Johnson County, both on U.S. 67, and Granbury in Hood County.

“We’re not going into Dallas-Fort Worth — we’re going to go around it,” chief executive Tom Trkla of Allsup’s parent chain, Yesway, and Massachusetts-based owner Brookwood Financial.

In other words, Fort Worth will be wrapped in burritos.

Allsup’s fried burritos and “chimis” (chimichangas) are a West Texas staple.
Allsup’s fried burritos and “chimis” (chimichangas) are a West Texas staple.

Allsup’s cult-favorite fried burritos and “chimi” chimichangas are the most legendary convenience-store food north of those Czech Stop kolaches.

Texas Tech students and West Texans eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night, pack them in backpacks for later and carry an emergency burrito in the glove compartment for long drives.

They are not delicate. They are fried fistfuls of beef or chicken and bean or creamy Hatch green chile, larger than an egg roll but still a perfect size to hold in one hand while driving, typing a text message, riding the back 40 or roping a calf.

The way the story goes, the Allsup’s burrito story began 50 years ago in Clovis, New Mexico, when a clerk decided to try frying the flour burritos like doughnuts.

Or that’s the story. Shredded-beef and chicken chimichangas have been popular in Arizona and Sonora since the 1960s, and the California-based Jack in the Box chain sold an identical Jack Burrito in the mid-1970s.

But nobody has made them as famous as Allsup’s, now known for burritos, salsa and more at more than 400 stores across the west and central U.S.

Trkla said the beef-and-bean original is the No. 1 seller and his favorite. The shredded chicken “chimi” is No. 2. But Trkla would pick the creamy Hatch chile burrito next.

An Allsup’s convenience store is pictured in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
An Allsup’s convenience store is pictured in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

The Yesway chain bought Allsup’s, originally a New Mexico chain, in 2019 and has added more than 100 new stores.

Although the hype surrounds Buc-ee’s, based in Lake Jackson, the genuine competition across Texas is between Allsup’s and the new merger of 7-Eleven/Stripes/Laredo Taco Co. stores.

Four convenience chains are known for “destination food,” Trkla said: Allsup’s, 7-Eleven/Laredo Taco, Pennsylvania-based Wawa for hoagies and Iowa-based Casey’s, known for pizza and also expanding into cities north of Dallas-Fort Worth.

“We are never going to be a Buc-ee’s,” Trkla said. Allsup’s wants to be the reliable small-town store, the “big fish in a small pond,” he said.

Allsup’s also has added more stories in Denton, including an “express” storefront without gas pumps near the University of North Texas.

The nearest Allsup’s stores right now are at 1590 Northwest Parkway (Texas 199), Reno; and 952 Farm Road 156 South, Justin.

New stores include locations at U.S. 67 and Sunflower Lane, Alvarado; U.S. 67 and South Old Betsy Road, Keene; and 2101 U.S. 377 West, Granbury.