Baking & Snack - February 2020 - 39

OPERATIONS
Kwik Trip

Kwik Trip's vertically integrated bakery operation means business in the c-store game.
by Joanie Spencer
In the upper Midwest, work ethic
can often be defined by the climate. They don't let a few inches
- or even a few feet - of snow
slow them down. "Last winter,
we got down to about negative
44," said Eric Fonstad, director of
operations for the bread and bun
bakery at La Crosse, WI-based
Kwik Trip. He joked, "We like it
when it gets that cold because 40
below will kill off all the germs."
Here, challenges simply carve
the pathway toward success.
That's the Wisconsin mindset, and
it's ever apparent at Kwik Trip,
the region's largest convenience
store operator and one of the most
vertically integrated in the industry. This family-owned retailer
not only operates more than 700
stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota
and Iowa, but it also completely
controls its own bakery, dairy,
kitchens and distribution, including a 500-truck fleet. "Every
store gets a delivery every day,"
Mr. Fonstad said.
Just nine years after an overhaul on its former bakery plant,
Kwik Trip started up production on three new lines - one
for bread and two for buns - in
a brand new 200,000-sq-ft facility
that features state-of-the art technology including a new continuous mixer, record-setting bread
makeup and a fully automated
gantry system in its warehouse,
just to name a few. It's a testament
not only to overall c-store growth
but also to the foresight and in-

novation from a half-century-old Thanks to the speed
company and the can-do attitude and consistency of
continuous mixing, Kwik
of its workforce.
Trip has increased its
bun production with
C-store's vertical trajectory
fewer shifts.
Much of Kwik Trip's success can be Sosland Publishing Co.
attributed to two factors: vertical integration and the rise of the c-store.
It's no secret that consumer eating habits are changing thanks to the
mobile lifestyles of young consumers raised on life hacks and instant
gratification. Trends like the "snackification" of American eating habits
helped evolve these outlets from gas
stations to grab-and-go options to
the one-stop shops they are today.
In fact, a recent article from CNN
Business cited data from the National
Association of Convenience Stores
that indicated c-stores have increased sales by 30% in the past
decade with a 28% increase of store
openings since the turn of the century. The article included Kwik Trip
as one of the top c-store chains in the
country in part for its foodservice
offerings such as sandwiches and
take-home dinners.
Kwik Trip's status as a c-store
innovator should come as no
surprise because the company has
always been an early adopter: Kwik
Trip began in Eau Claire, WI, in 1965
when, according to CNN Business,
there were only 5,000 c-stores in
the entire country. (Today, there are
more than 150,000.)
Keeping with that innovative
attitude, Kwik Trip got into vertical
integration in the early 1980s, first
with its dairy operation, and then

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