Kwik Trip Eyes Growth with 2,000 New Jobs

LA CROSSE, Wis. -- In what may be a sign that the economy is beginning to turn the corner, Kwik Trip expects to add approximately 2,000 jobs over the next three years. Of that number, about 400 are slated for its local support facilities.

According to The La Crosse Tribune, chief executive officer and president Don Zietlow said Kwik Trip needs to hire more employees because of the expansion of its support facilities and its planned store growth. Currently the c-store company counts about 9,574 employees in three states -- Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa -- across its 372 c-stores and 38 Tobacco Outlet stores. Included in the overall figure are 1,314 employees at the support center.

On average, Kwik Trip opens between 15 and 20 stores a year, one of the latest being in River Falls, Wis., as CSNews Online reported in October. The new store, the company’s second in River Falls, has a soft-touch car wash; a walk-in, refrigerated beer cave; and an exclusive diesel gas bay especially for processing semi-truck drivers.

As for its support facilities, Kwik Trip recently completed an 80,000-square-foot addition that doubled the size of its bakery; the company will also renovate and install new equipment at the bakery over the next 12 to 18 months, The La Crosse Tribune reported. Furthermore, construction is expected to begin next fall on a new ice cream plant capable of producing three times the amount of ice cream Kwik Trip’s current plant turns out. The new facility should be operational by spring 2012. In addition, expansions at the company’s dairy and warehouse operations in La Crosse are on the drawing board for 2011 and 2012.