Beck Companies

The Beck family has been a part of Southwest Florida since the early 1900s, beginning in Lakeport, Glades County, on the shores of Lake Okeechobee. Derek Beck, a sixth-generation Floridian and founder of Beck Companies, credits the brand’s growth to business practices of the five generations that came before him. From its earliest days in Florida, the Beck name was closely associated with farming, commercial fishing and ranching. The family also built, owned and operated a general store in Lakeport.

Seeing the commercial potential of the general store’s location adjacent the Harney Pond Canal, they constructed a bait-and-tackle shop in the early 1980s. In 1983, Derek’s father wanted to add a gas station to the general store. But given there were few, if any, qualified builders in rural Glades County to do the job, they constructed that as well. They would go on to build a convenience store and gas station down the road in Buckingham, due to the same absence of qualified contractors. Ultimately, the Beck chain of convenience stores and fuel stations grew to six.