Kwik trip smiley face

I have been shopping at Kwik Trip for nearly 2-decades and I didn't know about the hidden easter egg they have in each of their stores in MinnesotaWisconsinand Iowa until yesterday! They're called Kwik Stars in Iowa, but they're the same thing. If kwik trip smiley face don't know an "easter egg" is a hidden feature usually found in video games or movies that is included as a nod to superfans.

As an Iowa transplant, I am only one year into navigating the Midwest. Recently I was given a tip on an easter egg at a well-known gas station. As the chain expanded, it started to open locations outside of Wisconsin. The first Kwik Star was opened in Iowa in He will be succeeded by his son Scott Zietlow.

Kwik trip smiley face

If customers look hard enough, they'll find a tiny Easter egg on each bottle of milk at their local Kwik Trip. It's a small, hard to see smiley face, a reproduction of a drawing that former President and CEO Don Zietlow drew during annual meetings when he announced the company's year-end results, future goals and the amount employees would receive through the company's profit sharing program. It also appears on bottles of tea, juice and other drinks. The smiley face is a nod to Zietlow, who retired in , and to the company's employee-focused culture. But it's also an add-on that's only possible because of a business strategy Zietlow introduced more than two decades ago and continues to underpin the company's rapid growth. Known as vertical integration, it's a do-it-yourself strategy of controlling as much of the production, warehousing, distribution and sales as you can. In Kwik Trip's case, that's grown from a small bakery at the back of an early store to a production and distribution network that extends across six states from Kwik Trip's sprawling La Crosse campus. The La Crosse operation includes a dairy, a bread bakery, a sweets bakery, a commissary that makes all of the chain's hot food items and salads, warehousing and a distribution center, food safety and quality assurance labs, offices, a call center and other backroom functions. It all operates seamlessly to send custom ordered shipments six days a week to convenience stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota and Michigan. One of the benefits of doing all of that food preparation and packaging in house: the dairy operation also makes its own plastic bottles, which allowed Kwik Trip to easily add Zietlow's smiley face. So he started drawing smiley faces on stage and that kind of became his signature, his trademark, the early part of his personal brand," said Carl Rick, Kwik Trip's training manager and a third-generation owner of the business. Kwik Trip began making sandwiches for its stores in the back room of a La Crosse location in the s, and it bought a small dairy in Caledonia, Minnesota in The full embrace of vertical integration didn't really come until , said John McHugh, Kwik Trip's vice president of external relations. That's the year that Zietlow concluded the exiting model for convenience stores, based on sales of cigarettes, snacks, gasoline and household staples sold at "insult prices," wasn't a recipe for long-term success. Instead, McHugh said, Zietlow decided to focus on in-house food and drink production and cutting out the middle man as a way to overcome two traditional barriers to growing a convenience store business: cost and freshness.

Don's plan worked. WEDC Secretary Missy Hughes said that growth is all the more impressive because the company has maintained its employees-first focus and even doubled down by providing on-site child care and a health clinic in La Crosse, kwik trip smiley face.

Even if you've made many trips to a Kwik Trip or Kwik Star as they're known in Iowa due to copyright issues you probably had no idea about this tribute to their owner, Don Zietlow. It's been right under your nose the whole time! Or at least for the past few years. How does a gas station acquire fans? But there's something else, perhaps intangible, that turns customers into fans. Their group members have gotten Kwik Trip tattoos and even gotten married inside a KT. One of the reasons for the fandom is their owner, Don Zietlow.

If customers look hard enough, they'll find a tiny Easter egg on each bottle of milk at their local Kwik Trip. It's a small, hard to see smiley face, a reproduction of a drawing that former President and CEO Don Zietlow drew during annual meetings when he announced the company's year-end results, future goals and the amount employees would receive through the company's profit sharing program. It also appears on bottles of tea, juice and other drinks. The smiley face is a nod to Zietlow, who retired in , and to the company's employee-focused culture. But it's also an add-on that's only possible because of a business strategy Zietlow introduced more than two decades ago and continues to underpin the company's rapid growth. Get daily updates on the Packers during the season. Known as vertical integration, it's a do-it-yourself strategy of controlling as much of the production, warehousing, distribution and sales as you can. In Kwik Trip's case, that's grown from a small bakery at the back of an early store to a production and distribution network that extends across six states from Kwik Trip's sprawling La Crosse campus.

Kwik trip smiley face

I have been shopping at Kwik Trip for nearly 2-decades and I didn't know about the hidden easter egg they have in each of their stores in Minnesota , Wisconsin , and Iowa until yesterday! They're called Kwik Stars in Iowa, but they're the same thing. If you don't know an "easter egg" is a hidden feature usually found in video games or movies that is included as a nod to superfans. Sometimes they are inside jokes, sometimes they are used to tease a sequel, and sometimes they are used to recognize a past storyline. Kwik Trip has over stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa and a very loyal customer base, but I'm willing to bet most of those superfans don't know about what's hiding in each store. I'm at Kwik Trip practically everyday so I'd consider myself a superfan, but I never knew about the "easter egg. Now, If you ever get the chance to take the tour, you should. Kwik Trip's massive campus is super impressive and is home to one of the largest bakeries in the entire world.

Font dadhand

Kailey Foster Published: December 2, His last official day on the job was December 31st, TSM Rochester. Categories: Articles. Even if you've made many trips to a Kwik Trip or Kwik Star as they're known in Iowa due to copyright issues you probably had no idea about this tribute to their owner, Don Zietlow. Categories: Lifestyle , Local News. Kwik Trip has more than locations in Wisconsin , Minnesota , and Iowa and now has a new leader. Each year, USA Today asks its readers to vote on a variety of lifestyle and travel topics. You've probably never noticed it, but I bet the next time you're at a Kwik Trip you'll look for it. If customers look hard enough, they'll find a tiny Easter egg on each bottle of milk at their local Kwik Trip. Kwik Trip's La Crosse operations include two bakeries, a dairy, a kitchen that prepares pizza, burritos, take-home meals and salads, warehousing and distribution.

Even if you've made many trips to a Kwik Trip or Kwik Star as they're known in Iowa due to copyright issues you probably had no idea about this tribute to their owner, Don Zietlow. It's been right under your nose the whole time!

Enterprise Zone tax incentives to fuel its expansion. Don's son was a professor of surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Or at least for the past few years. We're taking those manual jobs, those highly repetitive jobs, and we're going to use robots for that. He resigned that job last month and will focus all of his attention on Kwik Trip. It all operates seamlessly to send custom ordered shipments six days a week to convenience stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota and Michigan. However its profit sharing plan provides a glimpse into the its finances. It also appears on bottles of tea, juice and other drinks. After years, Don Zietlow has retired. Don's plan worked.