BELLEFONTAINE NEIGHBORS, Mo. -- QuikTrip Corp.'s new commissary conceptas reported in CSP Daily News in Augustwill be a major step toward a new foodservice identity. And QuikTrip plans to build a $21 million bakery in Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo., that will supply fresh-made products for its franchises nationwide, reported The Suburban Journals.
The facility will be called the QT Kitchen. It will be located on a 12-acre site near a QuikTrip franchise, one of the criteria QuikTrip had for the facility, said the report.
In 2002, [image-nocss] the chain took an in-depth look at the convenience store industry and made a company-altering decision to transform into more of a fresh-food destination instead of a brief stop for a fill-up and cup of coffee. QuikTrip developed the QT Kitchens concept and hired a chef to create the lunch menu and dream up new offerings.
Bellefontaine Neighbors Mayor Marty Rudloff made the announcement at Thursday's board of alderman meeting, calling it the "largest industrial and commercial venture in the city's history, according to the report.
"We were looking for a city with a enough land," Alan Renner, real estate manager for the St. Louis Division of Tulsa, Okla.-based QuikTrip, told the newspaper. "We've also had a good relationship with Bellefontaine Neighbors for a long time."
QuikTrip may employ more than 100 people at the kitchen facility and warehouse, added a St. Louis Post Dispatch report. A plan application will be made soon, and there is an opening goal of mid-2008, according to a letter to the city from QuikTrip cited by the paper.
Click here to read CSP Daily News' earlier story on QT Kitchens.
Meanwhille, the Tulsa Metro Chamber elected Chet Cadieux, chairman, CEO and president of QuikTrip, as the 2007 chairman of the board of directors at its annual meeting on January 11, reported The Greater Tulsa Reporter Newspapers.
Cadieux succeeds Steve Turnbo, chairman of Schnake Turnbo Frank Inc.
More than 1,100 area business leaders, local officials and citizens were in attendance when the Chamber formally inaugurated Cadieux. The meeting was presented by Oklahoma State University-Tulsa and hosted by the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel & Convention Center.
In addition to serving as the chairman of QuikTrip's board, Cadieux currently serves as a director on the boards of Sheetz Inc., Altoona, Pa., the Bank of Oklahoma, the Tulsa Community Foundation and the Executive Advisory Board of the College of Business Administration at the University of Tulsa. He has also served as past board member of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).
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