Friday, Oct. 10, 2008

Myakka now has cheaper gas and 'Bad to the Bone' chicken

Bobby Smith couldn't have picked a worse time to run out of gas.

It just so happened that as little as two weeks ago the lone gas station in Myakka was in for an overhaul.

"Twenty-three years of owning the store and I never ran out of gas," Smith said.

Turns out that Smith, owner of Myakka Fried Chicken Bad to the Bone Fuel Stop, wasn't the only one to miss the convenience of having a place to fill up in the small town. The newly remodeled store, popular for its fried chicken, now offers an added perk: cheaper gas.

After investing $5.25 million for new tanks and lines, Smith switched to buying his fuel independently, which allows him to sell fuel five to 10 cents cheaper.

Customers are glad to see the place up and running again. Some say it was such an inconvenience to buy fuel in town that people put off doing things like mowing the grass.

"We were lost without it when he was shut down. A lot of people stayed home more for sure," said resident Sue Adkins.

But people go to the station for more than just fuel, she said.

"The food's great here. Chicken is a lot of the reason why people come here," she said.

Talk of chicken is also the way the station came up with a name. Instead of Kentucky Fried Chicken's slogan, "finger lick'n good," they opted to go with "bad to the bone" as catchy phrase to identify with the store, Smith said.

For Jean Salvas, who works at Harrison Ranch in Parrish, the station is a good pit stop for food during the day because he can get in and out quickly.

"It's convenient for me to stop in, especially if I have my dogs with me," he said.

Future plans for the store call for expanding its food items to include pizza, a full deli, and ice cream, likely to come from a local supplier. Already a hangout for Myakka residents, the store now has new picnic tables outside the station with a deck and TVs to come.

Smith, though, doesn't take it for granted that he has the only gas station in Myakka. Since he became owner in 1985, there were only three stations between Myakka City and old U.S. 301. Now, there's about 23 other stores in that same distance, motivating him to keep prices competitive.

A town with " a little bit of everything but not a whole lot of anything," Myakka is a place that Smith wants to be.

"We've seen a lot of businesses come and go," he said. "We're not going anywhere."