Kwik Trip is ranked the best gas station brand in the nation by USA TODAY readers.
The national newspaper announced Wednesday morning its 2024 USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. Kwik Trip made a couple of lists in the Road Trips division.
Kwik Trip ranked No. 1 in Best Gas Station Brand and came in third for Best Gas Station for Food, behind Royal Farms and Casey’s.
Other Road Trips categories included Best Glamping Spot, Best Luxury RV Resort, Best National Park Lodge, Best Rental Car Company, Best Roadside Attraction, Best Roadside Motel, Best RV Campground and Best Vintage Trailer Hotel.
The awards highlight the best places and attractions in travel, food, drink and lifestyle. Each week, USA TODAY 10Best hosts a panel of industry experts who nominate their favorite places and attractions across a range of categories. 10Best editors look into each nomination and select a set of nominees that readers vote on for four weeks.
Kwik Trip has become a phenomenon.
Wisconsinites will not be surprised that Kwik Trip ranked first in the favorite gas station brand category. Since opening its first location as a neighborhood grocery store in Eau Claire in 1965, the convenience store brand — now based in La Crosse — has grown to a Midwestern convenience store and gas station with almost 900 Kwik Trip and Kwik Star locations in Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and South Dakota. As Kwik Trip has continued to grow, it has collected a fan base that turned the brand into a phenomenon.
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin took a deeper dive into the brand and its popularity in 2022.
Part of Kwik Trip’s success has been through the use of social media, turning a convenience store and gas station into a more humanized brand voice that connects to its followers. A digital content supervisor told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin that Kwik Trip has used social media platforms to bring the brand to life, listening and learning from its fans and followers.
Kwik Trip has Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat accounts. It even has a Spotify account with more than 160 followers who can listen to the company’s “Kwik Trip Checkout” or “Chicken Jammies” public playlists.
Why do people love Kwik Trip?
There are multiple fan groups on social media dedicated to members’ love for Kwik Trip, including a Wisconsin Kwik Trip Enthusiast Club, Kwik Trip Enthusiasts Club and even a Kwik Trip Missed Connections group. Some fans have held photo shoots at their local stores, even on prom and wedding days.
In the 2022 article, customers shared with USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin why they loved Kwik Trip. Many said they appreciated the company’s high standards for cleanliness, helpful and caring employees and a variety of “grab and go” food options. Customers said they feel like they’re a person in a Kwik Trip and not just another customer.
Many people love how interactive the brand is on social media, often posting jokes and quips and responding directly to comments on its social media posts. Kwik Trip also leans into its Midwest brand, partnering with various Midwest social media personalities like comedian Charlie Berens and various Green Bay Packers players.
Originally posted in the Journal Sentinal Online