Editor's note: Darren Schulte, NATSO vice president of membership, frequently visits NATSO members to review their locations and offers impactful merchandising and operations improvements. Contact Schulte at dschulte@natso.com or (915) 526-5820 to learn more about the costs and details of this service.
QuikTrip’s stores are clean, well stocked and filled with friendly faces waiting to help customers, but what stands out above all else is the speed of service. They have evaluated every aspect of the location and eliminated anything that slows the speed of the transaction.
I’ve never seen a store that moves people through as quickly and efficiently as QuikTrip, which operates 31 travel centers and their prestigeous convenience store group which is closing in on 1,000 stores. Everything they do is about speed, which is increasingly important for today’s customers, whether they’re professional drivers, the traveling public or locals.
The focus on speed starts with the company’s culture. Employees know service is key, everyone is cross trained, and QuikTrip has strategically positioned staff within the location to ensure people can get through quickly.
When I was visiting stores with one of the division managers, a line started to form at the cash registers. The division manager left me and jumped behind a register to improve the speed. He wasn’t doing that to impress me. That is part of their culture.
QuikTrip also has low turnover, and all of us in this industry understand the value long-term employees have on our overall operations. The company has been included on Fortune’s list of the best companies to work for multiple times.
Each of QuikTrip’s locations, from inside the store to the fuel islands, has been designed and formatted to get people in and out quickly. Thought has gone into how someone gets a candy bar, visits the cooler or pours a cup of coffee.
The level of insight and attention that has gone into every part of a customer’s visit is obvious, and it speaks to QuikTrip’s commitment to service and its success.
/// Did you know most weeks can find Darren Schulte, NATSO's Vice President of Memebrship, visiting a NATSO member truckstop location, spending three to four days, using his merchandising and operations expertise to help them grow their business? Learn about NATSO’s Profitable Retail Review program here.
Photos Credit: Darren Schulte/NATSO
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