Stephanie Stuckey and the American Road Trip
Stephanie Stuckey is officially UNSTUCK.
Although I’m guessing that when the road she has found herself on gets incredibly hard, she—for a brief second—wonders why she did what she did. And just like that, she reaches back to days with her grandfather, W.S Stuckey, and it all becomes clear. As the creator of the “first roadside retail chain,” her grandfather erected a pecan stand—the original Stuckey’s— beside an Eastman, Georgia, road in 1935, selling his crop of pecans to make a living for his family. As a product of the depression, he knew pecans was a great start, but they wouldn’t be enough to pull in the profits he wanted. He asked his wife for help, and she, along with her sisters, went to the kitchen and started making pralines. Having never made candy before, Bigmama and Bigdaddy (as Stephanie affectionally called them) took a chance and started an empire with pecans, sugar, and hard work.
I feel like I’m coming into my own. I’m learning about business, marketing, branding and things that I didn’t think I was good at. I’m actually pretty good at it. And then, you bring on people who are good at it, and work with them and collaborate. It’s been an exciting journey.
📷 Stephanie Stuckey
The empire grew and saw its heyday in the 1960s and ‘70s. It was the iconic pecan log roll - covered with crushed pecans and filled with a gooey nougat - that most travelers remember grabbing when they stopped at Stuckey’s. Its teal roof and yellow logo was a calling-card to road trippers. Inside, travelers could find good food, yummy snacks, clean restrooms, and as many toilet bowl-shaped ash trays as they needed for their friends back home. By the time her grandfather died in 1977, the brand was fading and what most had come to know about Stuckey’s was a distant memory.
Fast forward to 2019 when Stephanie Stuckey was offered the opportunity to buy her grandfather’s brand. Most everything was gone—the production facility, the stores, the iconic brand—and what remained was six-figures in the red. With her passion fueled by investors, Stuckey’s is getting a reboot and the family legacy remains in the family.
Seeing Southern (SS): What did you think the night after you signed the papers?
Stephanie: I don’t think it had fully sunk in, what I was getting into. I still hadn’t visited the stores. I still hadn’t gone down to our distribution facility and seen what little was left. So the full reality of where the company was had not sunk in yet. Those first couple of days were full of optimism. I’m still optimistic but in a more realistic way.
SS: Why does a middle-aged woman start a new career?
Stephanie: I think middle age is the absolute perfect time to start a career because that’s when you’re really hitting your stride. It’s when you’ve started to figure things out and have confidence. And you realize what matters. I think it’s an absolute gift to have a stretch and develop those areas of you that have been neglected. These are the actually the best parts of me.
SS: What’s the craziest selfie you’ve taken thus far? (Follow Stephanie on Facebook to see her selfies and her world’s largest obsession)
Stephanie: I think all of them are when you’re 50! Every selfie is a bit of an agonizing experience, and I’ve just started putting it out there!
SS: How did you get into the world’s largest thing?
Stephanie: It’s aligned with Roadside Americana. The other thing I love about it is that you don’t see the world’s largest whatever in New York City or Boston or Los Angeles. You see it in these small towns, and it’s a way for these places, that people would normally drive by and ignore, to be noticed. I love that because I think that’s what entrepreneurs are trying to do and what Stuckey’s is trying to do and making a comeback. How do we get noticed? How do we get people to pay attention to us? It’s the bravado of saying, ‘Not only am I going to give you an attraction to pull over and visit, but I’m going to give you the world’s largest whatever.’
I love the bravado of it! I am the world’s largest. There’s the world’s largest picnic basket in some little town somewhere. The world’s largest frying skillet and the world’s largest egg. You can go visit all of these, and they’re great places. And while you’re there, you should go stop at a coffee shop or a local brewery.
SS: What’s the most important lesson your grandfather taught you?
Stephanie: “Every traveler is a friend.” This was his saying. He treated everyone with respect and like they belonged. We’re all travelers through life. So whether you’re on a road trip, which is the niche that he catered to, or just traveling through life, everyone should be treated like they’re a friend.
SS: If it wasn’t the pecan, what would it be?
Stephanie: It’s the only snack that is native to our country. Right? That’s it. It grows in Georgia more than anyplace else in the entire world. That is what my family was put on this earth to do is sell pecans. We happen to be blessed.
SS: What’s your favorite snack?
Stephanie: I like the chocolate covered gophers. It’s caramel, pecans and chocolate.
SS: Are you creating anything new?
Stephanie: We’re working on different nougat fillings for the pecan log roll. Maybe a chocolate flavored or hazelnut? Maybe a banana? We’re just thinking of different flavors.
SS: What is nougat?
Stephanie: It is a confection that has some consistency, so when it is coated with caramel, it can hold the nuts. And, it’s made with a lot of sugar! Egg white and water and a touch of salt. It’s whipped and heated, similar to divinity, only thicker.
SS: What’s your favorite road trip memory?
Stephanie: When I was 10 years old, we did a family vacation to Florida in our woody station wagon. We had no itinerary, we just drove for a week. Anytime the kids screamed, ‘let’s pull over,’ we would pull over!
SS: What do you think people are looking for in travel?
Stephanie: I think travel is associated with vacation and leisure time. That’s part of the joy of being away from your office and away from your work. I’m just going to take a break and if I see something I think is really interesting, I’m gonna pull over and check it out. I think those are the best vacations. People still enjoy a bit of that spontaneity.
SS: What’s the most challenging part of this evolution with the company?
Stephanie: Having to pivot and make Stuckey’s profitable, and how we’re rebranding the company because we are known as a roadside retail brand. My grandfather built this chain of over 350 stores across the country, and sadly, most of these stores are gone. There’s only a handful of them that remain, and we don’t own them. And as much as I would love to revive those stores, I don’t have the money for it, and I don’t have the backing or capacity to own and operate stores. It happens to a lot of brands; you lose your mojo. I want to defy the odds and say, ‘We can get our mojo back.’ And we’re moving this brand forward in a way that’s respectful of the past.
We had to pivot. We’re now making delicious pecan snack and candies, and the fun thing, is that we can still be all about the road trip. We’re creating new memories.
Read Stephanie Stuckey’s complete story in her new book, Unstuck.
