Convenience-store retailerQuikTrip is taking the field with the Kansas City Royals baseball team with a new multi-year partnership. As the official jersey patch partner, Royals players will wear the red QuikTrip logo on all uniforms in spring training as well as during the regular season starting Friday.
Photograph courtesy of Kansas City Royals
"This unique partnership with QuikTrip allows us to combine our off-field efforts with our on-field presence to help our community and increase literacy rates throughout the region," Royals Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial and Community Impact Officer Sarah Tourville said in announcing the partnership.
The “first-of-its-kind partnership” aims to improve youth literacy in the Kansas City area with the launch of “Hit the Books,” a program focused on improving literacy rates across the Kansas City community, including a commitment to Kansas City Public Schools as well as a donation for every Royals hit this season and other initiatives.
When the Oklahoma-based convenience-store chain expanded outside of Oklahoma, “QuikTrip’s first stop was Kansas City back in the 1960s,” said QuikTrip Community Relations Manager Lauren Sherry. “We have been a proud member of the Kansas City community for decades, and we are excited to partner with the Royals to generate meaningful, long-lasting impact on the communities where our employees and customers live and grow."
This partnership is aimed at “meeting an urgent Kansas City need” the Royals said. According to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education only 21% of third graders in the city’s public school district and charter schools are reading on grade level.
Also trying to move the needle on youth literacy, since its founding in 1958, QuikTrip invests net 5% of profits back into the communities it serves, with a historic focus on serving at-risk youth and education partners.
“We are eager to see the impact of this unique partnership,” Sherry added.
- QuikTrip is No. 10 on CSP’s 2023 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count.
This isn’t the first time QuikTrip has teamed up with a professional sports team. Last year, the convenience store chain partnered with Atlanta Hawks.
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