Meet Joseph Bickham | Part Owner, CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joseph Bickham and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joseph, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Fuel City was founded in 1995 by Dallas entrepreneur John Benda. His background was in retail and food service. The vision was to create an elevated one-of-a-kind experience that drew customers from near and far. It is hard work starting a business and it takes a lot of risk, but it can be very rewarding if things go well.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Nothing good comes easy, fine things are hard things. Success is not an act, it is a habit. Success comes when you do the right things over and over and over. Of course so does failure. At Fuel City we try a lot of different things, creative approaches on service, food offerings and of course design-build. There are aspects to our operations that customers will never see but they experience their positive results. I believe it is either arrogance, ignorance or both to look in the mirror when you find success. Instead we look at our network of staff members. One thing I have found to be true and useful in business is to set goals and appropriate expectations. Goals are never met if they are not set. Expectations help drive goal generation and help to quantify outcomes/results. We overcome challenges by pushing forward with solution-oriented tenacity. We try never to focus and end on problems, we do not simply blame and explain away unacceptable outcomes. We are grateful for failures, because if analyzed correctly they get us closer to successes.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would take them on the tour de Fuel City. Start at Dallas (where it all began) and then to Mesquite, Haltom City, Saginaw, Cedar Hill, Friendlys off Harry Hines and then out toward Wylie to show them our new construction project. I might be blamed for being bias–and maybe I am.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First off, John Benda the founder of Fuel City should receive most of the accolades. Shout out to his bravery, creativity and his dedication to establishing a unique successful business. As the current CEO my success is attributable to many different people, events and what you might call luck or providence. Most brick and mortar retail businesses are essentially just that…bricks and mortar. The people within the organization are the real pillars that generate value and thus success. We have an incredible leadership team at Fuel City, and leadership comes in many different forms. We believe that all our staff members are leaders, no idea is too small to contribute to the whole and no individual is too new to add value. Our uncompromising dedication to our staff creates the results, because if we take care of our people, they are empowered and fueled to take care of the customers. Its a win-win-win cycle.

Website: www.FuelCity.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearefuelcity/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WeAreFuelCity/

Youtube: https://youtu.be/lflKCmtkrwA