Photograph courtesy of Kwik Trip; inset: x.com/KwikTrip
Other convenience-store chains might want to take a page out of Kwik Trip’s playbook when it comes to garnering attention for a new product. The La Crosse, Wisconsin-based retailer rode right down the center line on the road with an “is it real or fake?” April Fools’ Day post on X for its new Roller Grill Hot Dog-Flavored Potato Ripple Chips, a limited-time flavor.
Related: 5 Things: Special April Fools’ Day Edition
The April 1 post, with more than 25,000 views as of April 4, pictured a hand holding the Urge! chips with line, “Rolling out to stores this week.” Urge! is Kwik Trip’s branded snack line. Many people assumed the chips were a joke for April Fools’ Day.
One response asked, “April fools?!?” to which Kwik Trip replied with a clip of actor John Candy saying, “No.”
Another asked, “Why do I feel this isn’t a joke.” Kwik Trip replied, “Because it’s not.”
“These chips are real, and it wasn’t an April Fools’ joke,” Ben Leibl, Kwik Trip spokesperson, told CSP. “They are a limited-time offer item.”
The chips, in stores now, follow other eye-catching Kwik Trip products, such as last year’s pink lemonade-flavored Dunker doughnut, one of several recent flavor mashups. Leibl told CSP at the time that this flavor “is part of our innovation at the company. We aren’t afraid to try new things and introduce new flavors of our products to our guests.”
This January, Kwik Trip rolled out a limited-time four-pack of lip moisturizers, one of which was “car wash” scent. It smelled like cherry vanilla, the scent Kwik Trip adds to the soap in some of its car wash options.
Offbeat flavors such as the Roller Grill Hot Dog-Flavored Potato Ripple Chips “started several years ago with our LTO Glazer inspired chips,” Leibl said. “After several years of not doing another LTO chip, we launched our Blueberry Dunker Chips last summer and had great success with those.”
That success propelled Kwik Trip keep the momentum going with another flavor.
“We worked with our supplier on several flavors and focused on something that Kwik Trip is known for,” Leibl said. “We wanted to go with something savory this time around, and we settled on the Roller Grill Hot Dog flavored chip. “This is something fun and unique that we like to try, and we are excited for the Roller Grill Hot Dog chips to be in our stores for our guests to try and see what they think.”
Leibl added, “Our social media team is very good at what they do and had some fun with the release of the new chips. There was a play on April Fools’ Day to generate some buzz surrounding the new product. It took off on social media, and the rest is history.”
- Kwik Trip is No. 11 on CSP’s 2025 Top 40 Update to the 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. Watch for the full 2025 Top 202 ranking in the June issue of CSP magazine and in CSP Daily News.
Kwik Trip has nearly 900 locations. One of the biggest independently held c-store chains in the country, it serves customers in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. It produces more than 80% of the products sold in its stores, supplied by its own bakery, commissary, dairy and distribution center.
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