TULSA, Okla. -- Thousands of rolls and donuts will be rolling into the Kansas City-area QuikTrip convenience stores with the official opening of its new bakery. Under the name of QT Kitchens, the bakery will initially produce donuts, muffins, rolls and cookies each day, which will be delivered fresh daily to the 74 QuikTrip stores in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
The new 100,000 square-foot facility is located in Belton, Mo. A fleet of refrigerated trucks will ensure every store has fresh pastry waiting for customers every morning. The bakery will [image-nocss] create a boost for the Kansas City economy. We were able to create 100 new jobs with the opening of our QT Kitchens facility, said Chet Cadieux, president and CEO of QuikTrip Corp.
The bakery has been in the planning stages for the past two years. Ron Tillman, QuikTrip's corporate baker, has 25 years experience in the industry and brings a wealth of knowledge to the venture. After months of fine tuning the bakery operations and installing state-of-the-art bakery equipment, Tillman and his crew are producing a variety of 24 items that are available at every Kansas City-area QuikTrip store. I am proud of the new items we have created, he said. We are producing the best pastries I have been associated with in my career.
The QT Kitchens bakery operation in Tulsa [Okla.] was the testing ground for the program. The decision to build and operate the QT Kitchens in the Kansas City market was a logical step, said Tim Heuback, Kansas City division manager. QT Kitchens produces more donuts and rolls than any other bakery in the Tulsa area, and we believe the same will hold true for Kansas City.
The bakery will eventually provide pastry products for QuikTrip stores in the St. Louis, Wichita, Omaha and Des Moines markets.
Tulsa-based QuikTrip is a privately owned gasoline/c-store retailer with 483 stores in nine states.
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