Kwik Trip on Tuesday opened its second distribution center, in DeForest, Wisconsin, about 10 miles north of the state capitol in Madison.
The 280,000-square-foot facility sits on a 150-acre parcel of land Kwik Trip bought in 2024, said the La Crosse, Wisconsin-based company.
Kwik Trip broke ground on the new center on July 10, 2024. The center will service 350 Kwik Trip stores and will include freezer, cooler and dry good space as well as four conditioning rooms for banana ripening, CSP previously reported.
The new location will reduce the cost of distribution for stores in the southern part of Kwik Trip’s geographic footprint, the company said. Kwik Trip produces more than 80% of the products sold in its stores, supplied by its own bakery, commissary, dairy and its other distribution center in La Crosse, which until now was the sole distribution center for all stores.
In addition to the distribution center, the Kwik Trip campus in DeForest also includes a truck wash, maintenance facility and onsite health clinic for its employees.
Scott Zietlow, CEO and president of Kwik Trip, said last year, “With our consistent growth in the number of stores, it is important for us to find the most efficient way to provide our stores with the many products they need. Our new distribution center is an exciting development for Kwik Trip.”
Kwik Trip will be able to save on transportation costs and more efficiently serve its stores in southeastern Wisconsin, Kwik Trip said last year. “More importantly, we will be adding 400 jobs with the completion of the distribution center and are eager for its completion,” Kwik Trip spokesperson Ben Leibl told CSP at the time.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday included the DeForest Pep and Marching Band and University of Wisconsin-Madison mascot Bucky Badger, according to WMTV.
Kwik Trip operates in Wisconsin, Minnesota and northern Michigan under the Kwik Trip name, and in Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota and South Dakota under the Kwik Star banner. Kwik Trip was recently named the best gas station brand in the United States for the fifth year in a row, according to the 2024 USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. The family-owned company has about 850 locations and is one of the biggest independently held c-store chains in the country.
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