Kwik Trip

Family-owned Kwik Trip, La Crosse, Wisconsin, was named the nation's best gas station brand for the third straight year in a USA Today readers' choice survey in 2022. It's one of the biggest independently held convenience-store chains in the country, employing more than 32,000. It serves customers in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin under the banners Kwik Trip, Kwik Star, Kwik Spirits, Stop-N-Go, Tobacco Outlet Plus and Tobacco Outlet Plus Grocery. Later in 2023 it will enter South Dakota, opening four Kwik Star locations in the Sioux Falls area.

Kwik Trip, which owned and operated 847 stores as of Jan. 1, 2023, produces more than 80% of the products sold in its stores, supplied by its own bakery, commissary, dairy and distribution center.

Kwik Trip/Kwik Star earned a 2023 Renewable Fuels Marketing Award from the Iowa Department of Agriculture at the start of 2023. The awards recognize fuel marketers that have gone above and beyond in their efforts to promote and sell renewable fuels.

Kwik Trip CEO and President Donald Zietlow retired from the chain at the end of 2022. He led the c-store chain for 22 years and worked there for 52 years. He was replaced by second-generation owner Scott Zietlow, Donald's son.

For benchmarking purposes, store counts are as of Jan. 1, 2023.