CORPORATE SPOTLIGHT KWIK TRIP INC.
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Midwestern household name, Kwik Trip Inc. became a corporate sponsor of the TLW for the first time in 2020, the same year as its 55th anniversary. “We are honored and excited to be a sponsor of the TLW, and did so to provide support to an industry that invests significantly in the communities it serves, while generating a broad economic impact in the form of jobs, tax base and charitable contributions,” says David Ring, community relations manager for Kwik Trip. Ring says that Kwik Trip as a whole shares some legislative priorities with the TLW, and looks forward to utilizing the TLW’s legislative tools and resources to address public policy issues affecting both organizations at the local and state levels of government. The well-known Kwik Trip brand was founded in 1965 with its first store in Eau Claire. The family-owned business, now run by the second and third generations of the Don and LaVonne Zietlow family, owns and operates over 720 convenience stores, employs over 27,000 co-workers, and serves 8.5 million guests per week in 350 communities located in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Ring says the Zietlow family is generous and caring, sharing 40% of Kwik Trip’s pretax profits with all co-workers through annual bonuses. The company’s corporate support center, production, distribution, transportation, food safety laboratory and health center facilities are all located in La Crosse.
and community more effectively than anyone else by treating our customers, co-workers and suppliers as we, personally, would like to be treated and to make a difference in someone’s life.” It is very similar to the TLW’s. “Both organizations focus on providing excellent customer service, giving back and serving others, and investing in its organization’s and community’s greatest asset — its people,” Ring says. And Kwik Trip is growing. On July 29, 2020, the company announced that it would acquire the assets of Stop-N-Go stores, a family-owned, Madison-based company that operates 36 convenience stores in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Ring says the company plans to retain the Stop-N-Go brand for many stores, although some larger stores will be remodeled and rebranded as Kwik Trip. The acquisition is scheduled to close by mid-December 2020. In addition, Kwik Trip will be hiring more than 3,000 people for either full- or part-time employment as a result of the expansion of its fresh-food options and the Stop-N-Go stores acquisition. “Kwik Trip extends its sincere thanks to the TLW, its 5,000 members and 70 local leagues throughout Wisconsin for the critical economic role they play in the communities they serve, the excellent and lifesaving SafeRide Program, and the $16 million the TLW and its members donated to over 12,000 Wisconsin charities in 2019,” Ring says. “The TLW and its members are true servant leaders, game-changers and difference-makers!” TLW KWIK TRIP INC.
La Crosse, Wisconsin kwiktrip.com
“By owning and operating our own dairy, bakery, kitchens, distribution center and transportation fleet, Kwik Trip is able to produce, transport, stock and sell 80% of its own products,” Ring explains. He says this process is called vertical integration, and allows the company to generate cost savings and efficiencies, while also providing daily deliveries of fresh products to the stores. “We source the ingredients for our company-made products from local and regional farms and suppliers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. We are a company whose ‘culture of caring’ for its co-workers, guests and communities is what defines and differentiates us,” he adds. Kwik Trip’s mission statement is: “To serve our customers www.tlw.org
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020
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On Premise
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