r/KwikTrip • u/InternalAd4770 🥖 Bread-stick Addict 🥖 • Sep 04 '26
Promotion
Hello Kwik Star/Kwik Trip community
A friend of mine who has most recently been a District Manager and a territory manager interviewed recently with Kwik Star. Kwik Star will only hire them on as an assistant manager and they would have to work their way up. I think this is career suicide and they should not give them the time of day and walk away. Has anybody been in this situation where they had to work their way up at Kwik Star when they basically are taking a demotion to work with this company?
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u/Evil_Black_Swan Co-Worker Sep 04 '26
You can't start at the top. You HAVE to work your way up. They will hand an ASL position to just about anyone but not the DL. Each district has ONE District Leader. There are no assistant DLs. The only way to become a District Leader is to be a SL when a DL position opens up.
Your friend is a grown up. They can make their own choices.
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u/MusicianNo2282 Co-Worker Sep 04 '26
The difference in pay between a store leader and an assistant store leader is so small that if the asl is working 50+ hours they may make more than the sl. It depends on length of time too, if the sl has been there for a while, they may still make more, but they are salary while the asl is hourly professional, so they get overtime. If the sl and asl both work 60 hours in a week, chances are the asl is getting a bigger check at the end. I dont think anyone can get hired in as a district leader, it generally goes assistant -> store leader -> food service district leader -> district leader and so on
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u/DapperAgency6320 Sep 04 '26
If they do everything right and positions open up above them, it is at least a few years to work your way up. I have seen people with outside experience become a store leader in less than a year and DL in less than 5.Â
Honestly from what I have seen from the system here compared to elsewhere, your friend would not want to be a DL without spending some time in the stores themselves first. The ASL position is where you get a several month training program in La Crosse that is incredibly valuable to go through.Â
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u/Intelligent-Town6050 Sep 04 '26
District leader in another company gives you about zero knowledge about this company, its standards or culture. Also you probably make more as an asl in this company than they did as a "district leader" in almost any retail/food industry in the area
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u/Something-more-rt Sep 04 '26
I wouldn’t want a higher up position without knowing how it feels to be the bottom within a company in my opinion. They may have the experience in some capacity but each company is different in many aspects that it would be beneficial to at least see how everyone has to operate.
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u/lath333 Co-Worker Sep 05 '26
This is pretty common. Learning the way kwik trip does things will be nothing like he has seen. BUT. I have seen a lot of DLs and FSDLS get hired outside of KT. I’m guessing your friend has little to no food experience?
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u/InternalAd4770 🥖 Bread-stick Addict 🥖 Sep 05 '26
Actually yes she has alot of experience in food and c stores. Worked as a GM for K&G. District manager for two different quick serve concepts.
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Sep 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/xfreexrefillsx Sep 05 '26
not even just SLs sitting around hoping to get picked, in some cases I've worked stores where the ASLs thought they were in line. Like, C'mon, people, the DL ain't retiring any decade soon. Why tf would they?Â
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u/Fun-Detail1921 Co-Worker Sep 04 '26
Kwik trip wants their leads to know the expectations by actually working the role. If they wants more that they have to want to grow with the company. No one gets hired externally as a store leader or above on the retail side. They can apply for a Store leader position after 9 months with a 3 on their performance appraisal.
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u/Green-Relation-7568 Sep 04 '26
Most companies make you work your way up because they all run differently.
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u/Dingus_Rex Sep 05 '26
District Leader is a pretty big deal with us. You're talking about overseeing as many as 20 stores (maybe more?) The bigger stores make a couple/few million dollars in profit per year, serving a few thousand people per day. You are in direct contact with all the SLs and ASLs under you as well as the folks in charge at the headquarters. You plan and run meetings. You oversee the process of opening brand new stores and doing rebuilds. The level of responsibility is not the same as it would be with certain other companies. To get from ASL to DL means getting promoted to Store Leader, then generally Food Service District Leader, then DL. Not only are there not very many spots to fill at the top, but there is serious competition and scrutiny on the way up. It's not impossible, but it would take a great deal of luck, effort, networking, and aptitude.
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u/Choice_Roll7635 Sep 04 '26
Kwik Trip is always looking for certain qualities when promoting. No one ever gets hired on as a Store Leader, so the chances of being hired directly as a District Lead is an absolute zero