How does QuikTrip engage with the communities you serve—and with your own team members?

One of QuikTrip’s core values is to provide opportunities for our employees to grow and succeed.

That core value extends to the communities in which our employees live and work. QuikTrip stores are now in over 19 markets, and we have almost 30,000 employees. Ensuring their safety and well-being is critical to helping them grow and succeed, which is why we are proud that five percent of our company’s net profit is invested directly back into the communities where we operate.

QuikTrip believes in a world where communities are safe and thriving. We invest in organizations that work with at-risk youth and in K-12 education; we support mental health and substance abuse treatment programs; we support first responders and local law enforcement foundations and organizations. We also invest in Folds of Honor, United Way and National Safe Place.

QuikTrip began partnering with Safe Place almost 30 years ago. We now have 21 partner agencies across 17 states, and all of our 1,000 stores are either Safe Place or Safe Place TXT 4 HELP sites. That means that any youth in crisis can go to a QuikTrip and ask for help, and our employees are trained in Safe Place procedures to ensure that person is safe until a Safe Place partner agency volunteer is deployed to help the young person in need. We also provide grants to our Safe Place partner agencies so they can keep doing and growing their incredible work.

Previously, we only measured the success of our Safe Place program by how many youths were provided access to services. But we know it’s important not to just provide services but make young people aware of Safe Place as an option when they are in crisis. Now, we also track the outreach and communication that our Safe Place partner agencies conduct to make sure youth and caregivers know about this vital service.

I believe that people work best in the community when they put their energy, funds and awareness around the issues that matter to them. Everyone has a mission that speaks directly to them or to their employees. There is nothing more important to QuikTrip than the safety and protection of our store teams. This is why we invest in organizations that help strengthen public safety and work with at-risk youth to provide them with a road map to a strong future—breaking the cycle of generational poverty.

Our store teams are on the frontline 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They work with customers who say “hi,” know them by name and treat them with respect. They also work with customers who physically threaten them, throw things at them, steal from them and dirty up the store and bathrooms they then have to clean. We want to make sure that our store teams can come to work every day feeling safe and supported and that their company truly appreciates and values all the hard work they do every day. At QuikTrip, if you aren’t taking care of the customers, you better be taking care of the people who do.