Kwik Trip Sees Substantial Increase in Dairy Purchases Over Recent Months

LA CROSSE, Wis. — Kwik Trip saw its in-store dairy purchases increases substantially during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic due to people spending more time at home.

The convenience store chain saw a boost in sales of gallons and half gallons of milk rather than smaller to-go cartons, according to The Mid-West Farm Report.

"Part of that is because when people are on the go or the driving work, they grab their little container of milk, but if they're confined at home for a couple of days or a week, they'll buy the full gallon," said John McHugh, director of corporate communications for Kwik Trip.

Ice cream also saw a boost, as did butter and eggs, but McHugh noted that higher sales of the latter two could also be attributed to a promotion than ran as sales increased.

Kwik Trip also recently announced a partnership making the company the official supplier of milk to schools in Whitehall and Arcadia, Wis.

The chain sources its milk from farmers within a 75-mile radius of its headquarters in La Crosse.

"As we well know, national daily dairy consumption has been going down," McHugh told the outlet. "We certainly want to make sure that we can continue as a strong presence, especially here in Wisconsin, supporting our farmers, so anything that we can do to increase those sales, were doing that."

To celebrate National Dairy Month in June, Kwik Trip plans to send more than 270,000 coupons for milk to local food banks and other organizations.

"June was always a huge month for us in terms of donations for all those events," McHugh said. "The more and more that people start to get removed from where their milk actually comes from, the more important those events are to educate, especially our young people, about how hard our farmers work. These are people that can't take a vacation, or they don't take a day off because the cows have to be milked."

Known as Kwik Trip in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and as Kwik Star in Iowa, the retailer operates more than 675 family-owned convenience stores.