QuikTrip Bakery Scrapped in Bellefontaine

TULSA, Okla. -- The long awaited plans for a QuikTrip bakery in the St. Louis suburb of Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo., has been abandoned, and instead, the company plans to focus its efforts on a nearly complete facility in Belton, Mo., the Kansas City Business Journal reported.

QuikTrip had planned to build a $21 million bakery called QuikTrip Kitchens in Bellefontaine Neighbors. Plans were announced in January at the town's board of alderman meeting by Mayor Marty Rudloff. At the time, Rudloff called the project the "largest industrial and commercial venture in the city's history."

In January, CSNews Online reported the facility -- which was to be built on a 12-acre site already zoned for the bakery -- would open in mid-2008 and employ more than 100 people. Instead, the company ditched the project because of site problems, the report stated.

However, the company is weeks away from completing a bakery facility in Belton, Mo., where there is an existing distribution center. The Belton facility provides easy access to surrounding markets such as Wichita, Des Moines and Omaha, company spokesman Mike Thornbrugh told the Journal.

"Kansas City is extremely important to us," he said. "We have a great relationship with the various communities there."

Currently, QuikTrip is hiring employees for the Belton facility, which is expected to employ hundreds of people, Thornbrugh told the paper. Specifics about the size and cost of the facility were not available to the Journal.

The bakery in Belton follows the opening of a test kitchen in Tulsa two years ago. The projects are part of a plan to provide the company's own baked goods and fresh foods to its stores, instead of purchasing goods from outside suppliers, the report stated.

Local stores in the Kansas City area have been remodeled over the past eight to 10 months in order to make room for doughnuts, muffins, sandwiches, wraps, salads and other items the bakery will provide. While the company has rolled out products slowly, those from the Tulsa kitchen have been well-received, Thornbrugh said.
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