TULSA, Okla. — QuikTrip is no stranger to CSP Intouch Insights Mystery Shop. The Tulsa, Okla.-based chain of 850 c-stores topped the shop results in 2019 (there was a pause in 2020 due to the pandemic).
What made the company one of the top contenders this year is its employees, corporate communications manager Aisha Jefferson-Smith says.
“Our employees, they’re the core of our company. They set us apart from any other c-stores,” Jefferson-Smith says. “We typically sell the same products [as other c-stores]. Our employees, they make the difference.”
While QuikTrip has had labor struggles this year like everyone else, many of its employees stuck around and strove to provide the best customer service.
“They’ve gone above and beyond to ensure we didn’t have to close our doors,” Jefferson-Smith says.
Part of this is due to the hiring and training processes, both of which are very intense, she says. Through the process, a potential hire can easily find out whether QuikTrip is a good fit for him or her.
Jefferson-Smith, who has worked with the company for nearly a decade, recalled her first day of working the front lines. She wondered if she could keep up as her trainer was running in circles around the store.
“It’s displayed in front of you the first day of training. You choose the job,” she says.
For companies who take care of their employees, not even a pandemic can stop them from excelling, Jefferson-Smith says. “Invest in your people, because if not for them, we have no business in the c-store industry at all,” she says.