The new stores are spread out from Tulsa to Wichita and Phoenix [image-nocss] to St. Louis, including four sites in Tucson, a market the company entered for the first time earlier this year.
"We think the opportunity [in Tucson] is for us to get in, carve out a niche and secure a pretty good market share for us," Thornbrugh said in August. "It's just a natural fit."
With commissaries now up and running in Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, Kansas City and Tulsa, QT has set a strong groundwork for new-store growth throughout its current markets and beyond. "Right now, every store is more than adequately covered," Thornbrugh said.
For the newest store in Dallas, and most new sites, that means fresh deli sandwiches, fruit cups and salads, as well as bakery good items, fresh doughnuts, cookies and muffins.
"Every store has QT kitchens product delivered to it on a daily basis, and that [site in Dallas], hopefully as far as I can tell, who knows, it's only been opened like five hours, hopefully it will be well received," Thornbrugh said. "That store is no different than any others in regards to our emphasis on fresh food."
And yes, one aspect driving the 51-year-old, Tulsa, Okla.-based company's growth spurtit now owns and operates 536 stores, compared to 500 stores in October 2008is the economy.
"[Company president and CEO Chet Cadieux] has said numerous times, a recession is a terrible thing to waste," Thornbrugh said. "And what he meant by that was that there's no question when there is a recession that land costs are cheaper, materials that you purchase are cheaper, be that for construction of a new store or whatever, and we've hopefully been pretty sound in our decisions and we're able to take advantage of some of those scenarios."
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