Prasek’s Family Smokehouse, which operates two locations in Sealy, Texas, and El Campo, Texas, isn’t your average convenience store chain.

This smokehouse not only provides traditional c-store products, but it also offers a home-inspired interior, daily lunch specials, a robust bakery offering and a variety of fresh, frozen and smoked meat options.

Like most c-stores, Prasek’s offers convenient fuel pumps, snacks, dispensed beverages and coffee. However, the smokehouse also gives customers the option to shop online and provides other retailers, including 7-Eleven, H-E-B and Road Ranger, with wholesale meat products.

“Even though we fit into the c-store category, we don’t position ourselves as a c-store. We position ourselves as a smokehouse and a stop along the highway where people can come in and dine while offering all the c-store items,” said Duane Korenek, general operations manager for Prasek’s Family Smokehouse. “We also produce our own smoked meat products and sell them in our retail outlets and across the country as well.”

“We are a destination to truly stop and relax. We want people to come in and feel like they’re at home and feel like family,” added Lannah Stoner, marketing manager for Prasek’s. “We like to say we are a destination for meat lovers, bakery enthusiasts, tourists and locals. Overall, the feel of our stores is what really sets us apart from other c-stores.”

Prasek’s Story

Prasek’s Family Smokehouse started off as a small-town grocery store in Hillje, Texas, owned by Mike and Betty Jo Prasek in 1974. Over the years, the grocery store evolved into the smokehouse it is today, with the first Prasek’s opening in 1981. As the company grew, so did the generations of family members involved in the family business.

Mike and Betty Jo went on to have three children who currently help run the business. Mike Prasek Jr. is in charge of product management, Michelle Korenek, Stoner’s mother, is in charge of accounting, and Troy Prasek is responsible for general operations.

“Pretty much all of the family members involved in the company joined as kids. However, I have been a part of the company for 30 years,” said Korenek.

Even though Stoner didn’t get involved in the family business until November of 2022, she was always around as a kid given that her grandparents founded the smokehouse and both her parents and in-laws worked there.

“As far as generations go, we are tapping into the third generation of family members working here, which is my sister and I,” Stoner said.

Home-Inspired Store Design

Prasek’s goal is for all its customers to feel like family and be able to relax while visiting the smokehouse. Prasek’s Western home-inspired interior and exterior are what really set it apart from other c-stores and keep customers returning.

“I would describe the outside of our locations to be a dressy Western style, while the interior of the locations is very homey feeling, warm and comfortable, and just a place to stop and relax,” said Korenek. “The interior also has warm tones and color schemes, along with many wood and stone finishes.”

Despite the El Campo and Sealy, Texas, locations offering a comfortable home environment, the two sites provide customers with slightly different features.

“The retail space at our El Campo location is about 19,000 square feet, while our retail space in Sealy is about 42,000 square feet,” said Korenek. “Each location also offers different brands of gas, including Shell and Exxon.”

To make the interior of both locations feel even more like home, both smokehouses offer aspects found in some homes for customers to enjoy and look at while shopping or sitting down to rest.

“Both locations offer fish aquariums, with one being 1,200 gallons and the other being 3,000 gallons, which are pretty big for aquariums,” said Korenek. “The idea behind them is to give our locations the homey feel we pride ourselves on.”

Sweets and Meats

Prasek’s offers its customers a variety of different smoked and fresh meat options to choose from. Whether they are cooked on-site or pre-seasoned for customers to take home and cook, Prasek’s meat offerings are made fresh every day.

“Our fresh meat line is served at our Big H Grill, which comes from our mascot name, where the H stands for Hillje, in reference to where we are stationed. Also, in Big H Grill, we offer daily lunch specials, gourmet sandwiches and classic sandwiches,” said Stoner. “We also provide convenient meat items as well. We have cases and freezers of meat we prepare and season so customers can grab it to take home and cook.”

The smokehouse also offers a variety of barbecue meat, including brisket, ribs, chicken and smoked turkey. With those barbecue items, customers can choose from a number of country-style sides like corn, green beans, pasta salad and butter potatoes. Prasek’s even offers gourmet cheeses and 27 different kinds of jerky.

Aside from its fresh and smoked meat options, Prasek’s provides its customers with numerous baked good options to choose from. However, its No. 1 seller is its kolache.

“Since we have a dense population of German and Czech heritage, we offer different flavors of kolache, including fruit- and cheese-filled ones,” said Korenek. “We also offer freshly made pigs in a blanket, cinnamon rolls, breakfast sandwiches, biscuits, pies and strudels.”

C-Store Staples

While Prasek’s focuses on providing smoked meat, fresh meat, barbecue and baked goods, consumers can still purchase grab-and-go items found in most c-stores.

“We do not offer bean-to-cup coffee machines, but we do offer coffee that is brewed fresh every day,” said Stoner. “We also have the option to make cappuccino, along with other coffee flavors, fountain drinks and ICEE.”

“One of the things we like to brag about our coffee program is we buy it from a local roaster in Houston. Our coffee beans are roasted so fresh that most of the time when it comes in a box, they are still warm,” added Korenek.

Stoner also mentioned that Prasek’s is known for its sweet tea, which currently has its own billboard.

“We even have a selection of wine to choose from, along with our standard c-store beverages, including beer, water and other bottled drinks,” she said.

In terms of takeout, Prasek’s gives customers the option to order ahead and pick up inside the smokehouse.

“We like to tell people there is no order too big. If you need 200 cinnamon rolls from the bakery made fresh, just give us a couple of days’ notice, and we can take care of that order,” said Stoner.

Brand Expansion

Prasek’s is constantly looking for ways to improve its locations and brand, whether it’s potentially adding a loyalty program or eventually building new sites. Nonetheless, the main aspect Prasek’s is focusing on moving forward is expanding its brand so others can enjoy all of the fresh products it has to offer.

“Right now, we are in a brand awareness growth mode,” said Korenek. “We are distributing our products to over 1,000 different locations throughout Texas, Florida and the Midwest. We want to eventually offer our products in other states.”

Korenek also mentioned the possibility of opening smaller locations in urban areas in the years to come.

“Since both of our locations right now are in rural areas, we hope to eventually open Prasek’s smokehouses in more urban areas,” he said. “We just want to capitalize on what we have and what we know in a more urban setting.”