La Crosse-based Kwik Trip Inc. plans to acquire Middleton-based PDQ Food Stores Inc.
Kwik Trip has agreed to acquire PDQ’s 34 company-owned convenience stores in south central and southeastern Wisconsin, excluding its one location in California. The transaction is expected to close in October, pending PDQ employee approval and other closing conditions. The transaction price was not disclosed.
PDQ has about 600 employees, who will be given the opportunity to apply for jobs with Kwik Trip but will not automatically be hired on, said Dave Niemi, a spokesman for Kwik Trip.
Kwik Trip also plans to add another 400 positions at the PDQ stores to bring each to 34 or 35 employees, so it will be adding a total of 1,000 employees to its payroll.
Kwik Trip, a family-owned company founded in 1965, is one of the largest independently-held convenience store chains in the U.S. It currently has about 19,000 employees at 570 stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Once the transaction closes, it plans to operate the acquired stores as PDQs while it completes a remodeling and reimaging process. By mid-2018, the PDQ stores will become Kwik Trip stores. The company will spend $30 million to $35 million on the remodels.
Kwik Trip described the PDQ stores as being located in a market important to its expansion plans. Nine of PDQ’s stores are in the Milwaukee area, located in Cedarburg, Delafield, Kenosha, Oak Creek, Sussex and Waukesha. The rest are located mostly in the Madison area.
“Our family is committed to owning and growing the company for another 50 years,” said Mark Zietlow, real estate manager and third-generation owner at Kwik Trip. “The PDQ store locations are an excellent fit in our growth strategy for Wisconsin. Additionally, Kwik Trip and our family are committed to providing good-paying jobs for all of our current and future co-workers. With the acquisition of PDQ and future remodel of the PDQ locations, we anticipate adding more than 1,000 jobs.”
