Organizational Behavior
QuikTrip: Staffed by Passionate and Compassionate People
After graduating from the University of Oklahoma and then completing a tour of duty with the Air Force, Ches- ter Cadieux “endured what he describes as ‘10 months of frustration’ as a printing salesman. He had no clear plan of how to escape from the printing business, but he knew he wanted to own and operate his own company.”1 To scratch his entrepreneurial itch, Cadieux, in collabo- ration with a long-time friend from junior high school, opened a small convenience grocery store in Tulsa, Okla- homa on September 25, 1958. Cadieux and his partner offered little product selection and had high prices—just like their competitors—and they barely eked out a profit during their first few years in business.2 For the next sev- eral years QuikTrip expanded the number of stores in its chain but continued with limited product selection and high prices. Meanwhile, competitors were springing up everywhere. Then Chet Cadieux had a marketing man- agement revelation, and he began transforming Quik- Trip into the company it is today.3
Cadieux refocused QuikTrip’s product offerings to- ward high—volume items such as branded beer, soda, cigarettes, coffee, and candy, and eliminated low-volume items such as canned vegetables. He cut prices as well. He added gasoline sales in the early 19705 and made it a major product offering in the late 19805 and early 19905. Like its other product offerings, QuikTrip takes a lower gross margin on gasoline sales than its major com- petitors do, but it makes up for the lower margins with much greater volume.4
Today the company’s Web site describes QuikTrip as follows: “QuikTrip Corporation is a privately held com- pany headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. . . . QuikTrip has grown to a $9 billion company with 580+ stores in 9 major metropolitan areas. Those revenues place Quik- Trip high on the Forbes [italics inserted] listing of larg- est privately held companies. QuikTrip’s strategy is to be the dominant convenience/gasoline retailer in each mar- ket, and to reach that level not through sheer numbers of stores, but through key, high-volume locations. With over 10,000 employees, Fortune [italics inserted] maga- zine has ranked QuikTrip high on the list of Best Com- panies To Work for the last nine years.”5
How has QuikTrip, under Cadieux’s leadership achieved this phenomenal level of success? ’
According to Cadieux, QuikTrip’s success is due to providing customers with high—quality products and excellent service.6 Cadieux emphasizes the importance of the employees and the “human touch” in QuikTrip’s success. He says, “[w]e’ve been able to compete success- fully because of our people. We hire better people, train them better[,] and pay them more. We are obsessed with keeping the stores clean and well-merchandised and with providing a rewarding customer experience overall.”7
QuikTrip insists on hiring “nice” people who like people.8 In describing QuikTrip’s employees, Cadieux says: “They’re friendly, they’re efficient, they’re smart, [and] they’re extroverts. . . . They have a strong work ethic. They want to be a hero to every customer who comes through the door. They’re ambitious. They want to work hard.”9 “Other key qualities for QT hires in- clude the ability to work in teams, the humility to learn
”lOfrom others, and an appreciation for diversity. QuikTrip stresses excellence in customer—employee
interactions. QuikTrip considers its employees to be a “living brand and [the company] devote[s] a great deal of time and energy to training and developing them so that they reflect the brand’s core values.”11 In reacting to employees being a “living brand”, QuikTrip’s custom- ers comment on two defining perhaps unique charac- teristics of QuikTrip employees: The employees seem to be glad to work at QuikTrip and they seem to like one another.12
Can Quiktrip’s recipe for success he a managemeni revelation for other businesses?
[31. seusslo-n Questionsevi-
1. How would you describe the attitudes and emo- tions of the typical QuikTrip employee? How do these attitudes and emotions influence the emplO)” ees’ work behaviors? How would you describe the attitudes of Chester 'Cadieux regarding QuikTrip’s employees? What 1mp11cations do Cadieux’s attitudes have for how
>manages the company and leads the employees’
he
3. How might the employees’ attitudes and emotions influence how they deal with customers from an ethical perspective?
4. In reference to the question at the end of the case: What useful lessons can other companies learn from QuikTrip’s recipe for success? Explain your answer.
SOURCE: This case was written by Michael K. McCuddy, The Louis S. and Mary L. Morgal Chair of Christian Business Ethics and Professor of Man- agement, College of Business, Valparaiso University.