Buske started as a trucking company in 1923 and spent six years owned by SC Johnson
Buske was founded as a private trucking company in 1923 (About page). Buske's own site says S.C. Johnson & Son owned the company from 2009 to 2015 and brought in the standards of a Fortune 1,000 company (company summary). In 2011, during those years, Gordon Trucking bought Buske Lines along with 150 trucks and 375 trailers (FleetOwner). Then the managers bought the company from SC Johnson. Wind Point Partners says CEO Nick Heinz led that carve-out from SC Johnson in 2014 (Wind Point), while Buske's site gives the year as 2015 (company summary).
So the Buske you'd sign with today is a warehouse company, not a trucking company. It stores, packs and kits goods for food, beverage and consumer goods makers, and Wind Point says those markets are where it plans to grow (Wind Point). Online orders are one service among many (ecommerce page). The trade-offs are that prices come by quote, the company has taken on two private equity investors since 2022, and the warehouse count depends on which page you read.
- Est. price per order
- $22.13
- Days to the average US customer
- 1.5 days
- Rating
Buske runs 43 warehouses in 14 states
Buske's locations page lists 43 warehouses in 14 states and one in Windsor, Ontario (locations page). Louisville has the most, with five, followed by Houston, Tampa and St. Louis with three each. The main facilities are in Edwardsville, Illinois (Granite City page).
Much of that network was bought, not built. In September 2024, Buske bought Hydra Warehouse and Transportation, which added five warehouses and about 1.5 million square feet around Louisville and southern Indiana (Privsource). Then in June 2025 it bought Strategic Warehousing, which added three Twin Cities sites with about 225,000 square feet and a focus on candy makers (Privsource).
The numbers don't line up across sources. Wind Point counted 37 facilities and over seven million square feet in November 2025 (Wind Point), while the locations page says over 8.5 million square feet (locations page). The locations page also doesn't say which warehouses handle online orders, or which are food grade or temperature controlled.
Its guide prices orders at $3.25 to $4.50
Buske doesn't publish a rate card, which puts it with most 3PLs, since only 74 of the 292 3PLs on tryfriend.space publish prices online. But its pricing guide gives ranges it says come from its own 2026 contracts plus published benchmarks (pricing guide). For a small online brand, those ranges are $3.25 to $4.50 to pick and pack an order and $20 to $30 a month to store a pallet. The guide also walks through what it calls "a typical Buske ecommerce client profile" with 1,000 orders a month, 50 pallets, $15 a pallet for storage and $2.25 an order.
Buske is private, so its finances aren't public. Fourshore Partners invested in March 2022 (company summary), and Wind Point bought in during November 2025 with Buske's senior team keeping "a meaningful ownership stake" (Wind Point). Wind Point says the plan is more spending on technology and more acquisitions.
Nick Heinz stayed on as CEO
Nick Heinz is the CEO and stayed on after the Wind Point deal along with the rest of the senior team (Wind Point). Steve Schlecht leads marketing and sales (Buske blog). The website doesn't list the other leaders or who runs each warehouse.
Named reviews from online brands aren't public
Buske has separate Better Business Bureau profiles for several warehouses, and none of them is accredited (BBB). Fairfield has an A+, Tampa and Fort Worth have an A, and Jeffersonville has an A-. In 2025, Transport Topics ranked Buske the 42nd largest warehousing company in North America, which the website says too (Buske blog). Named reviews from online brands aren't public.
It fits food brands shipping pallets to retailers
Buske is a century-old freight company that became a large warehouse network for food and consumer goods makers. In my opinion it fits a food, beverage or household goods brand that ships pallets to retailers and wants its online orders handled by the same company. It fits less well for a small brand that wants posted prices and a warehouse built around parcel orders. On tryfriend.space its best placement is 5th, on lists like the best apparel 3PLs in Missouri.
If you're not sure it fits your orders, my 3PL finder ranks it against every other 3PL using your own numbers.