Wanda Hoggarth, owner of Action Propane Inc. in Leander, said she knows exactly how much she is worth, and she will gladly tell that to companies interested in buying her business.

"I tell them, 'When you get $10 million, you can come back,'" Wanda said. "And they leave."

In 1984, the propane entrepreneur started Action Propane with her late husband, Murray, whose name was featured on the animated sitcom "King of the Hill." The show occasionally cited Murray in his real-life role as president of the Texas Propane Gas Association. Writers from another program also offered to put Action Propane on national television, Wanda said.

"I told them they didn't have enough to write about me," Wanda said.

Instead she believes her place is in the Action Propane shop with 15 employees who are like family to her, she said.

Months before Action Propane opened in September 1984, the Hoggarths worked in the propane business. Working in Burnet, Wanda kept getting calls from customers needing propane in the booming Leander area.

"I said, 'There's got to be a problem down there,'" Wanda said.

That April, Murray and Wanda moved to a building on US 183.

"We came down here, bought this property and opened it up, and we made our first year's projection in three months," Wanda said. "It took off like a rocket and has not slowed down."

At the time, Action Propane was competing with nine other gas companies, she said.

"We weren't even in the phone books," she said. "I came down here and treated people like they should be treated, and offered service. [Other propane providers] just wanted to run by and put in $100 [worth] of gas and just keep trucking."

Action Propane also began installing tanks for custom homebuilders. In 1985, the shop added gas and charcoal grills. Later, at one insistent customer's request, Wanda began ordering the ceramic Big Green Egg grills and accessories.

"They're real popular," Wanda said. "At Christmastime, we had them sitting out in the warehouse waiting for people to pick [them] up on Christmas Eve.

"We stay stocked for barbecuing as much in the rest of the year as we do [in the] summer," she said.

Even through the homebuilding downturn that started in 2008, Action's propane service drivers stayed busy in Leander and the greater Austin area including Cedar Park, Jonestown, Lago Vista and Horseshoe Bay. Many of the shop's customers are south of RM 620 or between US 183 and I-35, Wanda said.

"We're on all the phones," she said. "At the counter when it's cold weather, there's always people standing in line waiting to be waited on."

But Wanda said she will never open another store location.

"I wouldn't get anybody to run it right," she said. "When [customers] call, it's, 'I want to talk to Wanda,' because I've been here forever."

Action Propane Inc., 2601 S. US 183, Leander, 512-259-1196, www.actionpropaneinc.net, Hours: Mon.–Fri. 8 a.m.–6 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m.–4 p.m.