Comedian Charlie Berens on Wisconsin-based Kwik Trip: ‘Yes, I will see you next time.’

Charlie Berens has been to a couple (two, three) Kwik Trips in his travels as a stand-up comedian.

The Wisconsin native, known for his sendups of Midwestern culture on social media, will go out of his way to stop at a Kwik Trip on tour: “There’s not a better option.”

“I really think it’s the people that make Kwik Trip such a success, and just the fact that it’s everywhere in the Midwest,” he said, adding that makes it ripe for satire. “You see it so often that from a comedy perspective, you can make jokes about it. People know about it so you can reference it, and you can find different comedic ways to have fun with it.”

The Minnesota Star Tribune recently wrote about Kwik Trip’s cult-like following in the Upper Midwest. In an email interview edited for clarity and length, Berens, who has made comedy sketches about the convenience store and partnered with the chain on an iced coffee flavor, shares what he thinks makes the La Crosse, Wis.-based brand special.

It’s got all the things you need in a gas station. I mean, first of all, it’s got clean bathrooms. It’s got good coffee, it’s got good food, and they sell booze. So that’s like the four pillars of a great gas station right there. And once people know you have those, they’re going to go to that place, and then that place is going to be able to have more of it. So the Kwik Trips are multiplying because people like ‘em. People seek them out. I’m going up to Bemidji for a show at the Sanford Center, and I’m probably going to stop at, I know I’ll stop at, exclusively Kwik Trips because why would I go somewhere else? There’s not a better option.

And Kwik Trip has really nice people that work there. They really do. If there’s a line, they have people just waiting to jump on another register, and the line just goes away immediately. So I really think, actually, even beyond the facilities and the products they have, it’s the people that work there. Even as simple as saying, “See you next time” [the store’s signature phrase]. Yes, I will see you next time. I mean, it’s something as simple as that, though some may see it as a surface-level thing. I think over time that builds community. And if you have your local Kwik Trip, then you will see that person next time. You’re not just traveling through, and it is a real thing. And it just seems like the folks who work at the Kwik Trip, people I’ve met, they seem to enjoy it and take pride in it, and that’s cool to see.

Your local Kwik Trip, I think it’s about the people inside for sure. But it is also the place itself. Where this really is a big deal is in [rural areas]. I got some buddies that are in the farming world, and that’s a tough life. That’s a tough life. And finding community in some farming towns, it can be an isolating business a little bit. And at least one of my buddies, I know he mentioned that the Kwik Trip is the place that he likes to go to because he knows the people working there. It’s the closest convenience store. First of all, it’s like 10 minutes away from him out in the middle of nowhere.

And it’s just, you can go there and talk to somebody, have coffee, do whatever, get the stuff you need. But it builds community in a place where maybe there’s not a ton of community right at your fingertips just because you’re farming, you’re working on the land, and there’s not an immediate city center, and the Kwik Trip kind of becomes that. So that’s cool.

I definitely will go out of my way to go to a Kwik Trip as opposed to a different gas station. Different gas stations, you’re rolling the dice. You never really know what you’re going to get. Kwik Trip is very consistent, and they’ve got all kinds of selections of food. You can go healthy if you want to be healthy. You can go glazers [donuts] if you want to do glazers. They’ve got good coffee. So, I don’t know, you always know what you’re getting with a Kwik Trip, so I guess that’s why I just stick with the Kwik Trip.

Definitely the, “We’ll see you next time.” That’s right up there with “Tell your folks I says hi,” where you don’t actually know if you’ll ever see this person next time. Just like you don’t actually expect them to tell their folks “they say hi,” but you say it anyway. Kind of out of principle. I mean, that’s a very Midwest thing about it. Also, the walk-in beer cooler. I mean, you can’t really get more Midwest than that, and just the people are so friendly and hardworking. Also, it’s based out of La Crosse, Wis. I mean, beautiful Midwest town right there. So there’s a lot of things that make it Midwestern. But I would say the number one thing is the people.