QuikTrip (abbreviated QT) is a chain of convenience stores primarily found in the Midwestern and Southern United States (not to be confused with Kwik Trip convenience stores).The first QuikTrip opened in 1958 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the privately held company is still headquartered today. QuikTrip promotes its gasoline as "high-quality" and offers a money-back guarantee. In 2004 QuikTrip and Chevron were the first two retailers to earn a "Top Tier" rating from General Motors, BMW, Honda, and Toyota. (The "Top Tier" rating exceeds the United States Environmental Protection Agency's standards for gasoline additives.) QuikTrip stores are known for a wider-than-normal selection of fountain drinks, gourmet sandwiches, and grill items.Quiktrip locations are larger than the average gas station, offering anywhere from 6 to 24 gas pumps and a large retail space inside. All stores are owned and operated by the company and have a uniform layout: to the right of the doors is the candy and grocery items, and the coolers housing bottled soda and alcohol; and to the left is the snack display, fountain drinks (including coffee and frozen drinks), the hot food area (comprising hot dogs, taquitos, Eggrolls, Corn dogs, and stuffed breadsticks), the coolers with cold sandwiches inside and the microwaves for frozen products. Front and center is the checkstand, which usually has space for two or three employees and three to five POS registers.Recently QT changed its standard layout, removing the old checkstand that once stood to the left and building a new one to the right of the doors. Replacing the space of the old checkstand is a grill bar and chip gondola. Eventually all markets will have a new pastry case and a floor cooler.On October 10, 2007, QT also begun operating a location inside the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. This unit only operates during arena events and it has been said that it makes more revenue than any other QT outlet in the nation in a day in less than four hours.QuikTrip operates 480 stores, most of which are concentrated in the following 10 United States metropolitan areas:Oklahoma: Tulsa (53 stores)Kansas/Missouri: Kansas City (73 stores)Nebraska: Omaha (10 stores)Kansas: Wichita (35 stores)Iowa: Des Moines (22 stores)Arizona: Phoenix (52 stores)Missouri: St. Louis (87 stores)Missouri: Springfield (4 stores)Georgia: Atlanta (110 stores)Texas: Dallas/Fort Worth (47 stores)In the last two markets, Dallas/Fort Worth and Atlanta, QuikTrip competes head to head with RaceTrac, an Atlanta-based convenience store chain that is very similar to QuikTrip inside and out. Both chains tend to have newer, clean facilities with abundant on-site lighting, a large convenience area, and generally lower retail fuel prices than other surrounding stations. In many cases, the two competitors are located directly across the street or on opposite street corners from one another.QuikTrip has a business practice of replacing older, less profitable stores with newer ones.In recent years, QuikTrip has been consistently listed among Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For. The January 2006 version of the rankings placed QT at #21, ninth among companies classified as "mid-size." QuikTrip often uses this fact in recruiting new employees. QuikTrip also ranked 32nd on Forbes magazine's list of largest private companies in 2005. .QT runs a promotion where it sells a quart of soda for 69 cents during the summer months.QuikTrip had its own branded goods marketed from the 1970s-1980s, including QT Beer — QT for "Quittin' Time." The ad campaign would say that it was "QT Time," and would often show a dog named Lamar. The dog's owner was portrayed in television commercials by actor Ben Jones, who often asked the dog, "Ain't that right, Lamar?" References^ Brian Barber. "A More Congenial Spot: Camelot site may be QuikTrip milestone", Tulsa World, 6/19/2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-02. ^ OuikTrip Gasoline^ OuikTrip Locations^ Fortune magazine profile^ Forbes Ranks QT 32nd largest private company.