Strasburger Enterprises, Inc.
From a 19th Century Saloon, a thriving Meat Market, a chain of independent Grocery Stores, Convenience Stores, a dynamic International Conglomerate of retail-related Services, to our current operations in Real Estate, Banking, Agri Business, and Travel.
It all started in the late 1800's when Henry Strasburger arrived from Germany and opened the Palace Saloon in the new, booming railroad town that became Temple, Tx. He operated his saloon until Prohibition shut him down to which his vision changed to opening and operating a successful Meat Market in the same location.
Henry's son Roy later enacted his vision and converted the Meat Market into the Strasburger Grocery Store, the first of what would become a chain of five locations. In 1958, there were two locations still remaining, and Roy's son Tommy along with his wife Shirley purchased them and then implemented their vision opening 11 supermarkets between Dallas and Austin over the next decade.
In 1967, the vision changed with the collaboration between food and fuel sales and the new retail format, the convenience store, forming. Tommy purchased his first small C-Store chain Minit Mart stores in Austin then soon added Milky Way stores in Waco. By the end of the 70's Strasburger was running Zippy Food Stores and Pay-Less Gas locations all along Interstate 35 between San Antonio and Dallas. Ranking Strasburger as one of the leaders in the Convenience Store Industry.
Next was growth, Strasburger added another company Fuel Distributors, Inc. selling wholesale fuel to independent operators representing a number of Oil Brands including Citgo, Diamond Shamrock, Shell, Mobil, and Chevron. This growth led to the parent company Strasburger Enterprises, Inc. being formed in 1979. Complementing business operation expansion Strasburger added Megatravel, a full service travel agency, to its list of companies in 1981. Soon after Quix Systems, Inc. a long term C-Store licensing program was added to the list of companies. Cambridge Myers was formed as a consulting and research group. Also, PetroTech a company for C-Store related construction, maintenance, repair, sales, and service for fuel related equipment such as pumps, dispensers, tanks, and canopies was added to meet the demands of growth. Convenience Management Services, Inc. (CMSI) was founded to provide retail site mangement to clients. Later Fidelity Bank of Texas was added as a Strasburger entity when two banks were purchased and merged in Waco and Robinson.
In 1986, after realizing the U.S. Convenience Store Industry was becoming saturated, the vison became to develop new markets and Strasburger opened its first C-Store in Australia. A new concept for the country, and this retail format quickly grew into Australia's chain of Quix Food Stores. International success grew with joint ventures with Mobil Oil Australia converting gas sites to Convenience Stores. Out of this the new subsidiary Quix Systems, Inc. mentioned earlier was born.
The next big venture was with Shell Oil U.K. where Strasburger converted 800 shell sites in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to Convenience Stores averaging one site per day. Strasburger also managed the marketing function for Shell's entire network at the time totaling 1600 sites including developing the prototype design for Shell that is used today. Other multinational oil companies sought our services and we expanded operations into Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, Africa, as well as Central and South America.
Since its founding Strasburger Enterprises, Inc. has provided business resources and solutions to scores of company's around the world. At its peak Strasburger was involved in the ownership, licensing, marketing, or operation of approximately 6000 retail sites in over 25 countries. Our consulting and research subsidiary Cambridge Myers conducted market studies, business analysis, evaluation of real estate, management information systems, and distribution logistics. The group also provided feasibility studies, customer behavior research, network planning services, infrastructure analysis, consumer surveys, efficiency studies, and food service setup. Large retail companies in 50 countries utilized this resource often combined with our Quix Systems, Inc. to improve their operations, sales, and profits.
Our international vision returned home where our focus became site management for clients and company owned operations. For decades we owned and operated a sizable chain of convenience stores in the Central Texas area primarily branded under the name Quix. We ended our direct role in the C-Store industry starting in 2012 when we sold our company owned C-Store operation and then later our Site Management operation Convenience Management Services, Inc . Today, our focus remains on our subsidiary companies in our current operating industries.