Thanks to the Badger State’s many iconic businesses, you don’t have to travel far to refuel on a Kwik Trip, head to a Culver’s for lunch or enjoy a Blue Moon ice cream cone for dessert – if you have the Kohl’s Cash .
That got the Journal Sentinel data team thinking: Which homegrown company has the largest reach in the state? And vice versa: where would you go if you wanted to get away from them?
We looked at seven major Wisconsin brands: Kwik Trip, Culver’s, Blain’s Farm and Fleet, Fleet Farm, Kohl’s, Cousins Subs and Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream. Together, these Wisconsin-founded companies have more than 4,000 locations in the state.
Here’s what we found: 97% of the state lives within a half-hour drive of one of these brands. And nearly one in three Wisconsin residents – more than 1.8 million people – live within 30 minutes of all seven brands at the same time.
So are you spoiled for choice in locally grown mega brands in the dairy state? Or do you live in a “brand desert” in Wisconsin?
Do you live in a “brand desert” in Wisconsin?
Choose a brand from the drop-down menu below and enter your address to see if you live in a residential area 10 minutes or 30 minutes driving distance to a location for one of Wisconsin’s favorite mega-corporations.
Map by Andrew Hahn / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Please note: Location data for each brand is sourced from the brand itself, if available, as of April 2024. If not available, brand locations sourced from Open Street Maps. 10- and 30-minute travel areas are calculated using the Open Route Service API and reflect estimated 2024 infrastructure driving times. Population estimates within each travel area are estimated based on the latest US Census estimates from the American Communities Survey, and assume of an even geographic distribution of people within each US Census block group.
Kwik Trip fuels (almost) every corner of the state
Wisconsin gas station giant Kwik Trip was founded in Eau Claire in 1965. Nearly 60 years later, the Kwik Trip empire reaches every corner of the Midwest. Nearly 900 Kwik Trips and Kwik Stars, as the Iowa locations are called, exist in six states.
Today, two-thirds of all Wisconsin residents live within a 10-minute drive of a Kwik Trip location. And more than 96% of the state’s entire population lives within 30 minutes of a Kwik Trip – more than any other brand we analyzed.
In 15 provinces, you couldn’t get further than a 30-minute drive from a Kwik Trip franchise even if you tried.
But despite the brand’s ubiquity, no Kwik Trip location exists within Milwaukee city limits due to land costs. Of the ten most populous cities in Wisconsin, only Milwaukee and Racine lack one of these gas stations.
Wisconsin’s “Kwik Trip Point Nemo” – the farthest point of a Kwik Trip possible – is Rock Island, at the very tip of Door County. From there you will need to take two ferries and travel 50 miles to the nearest location in Sturgeon Bay.
Which iconic Wisconsin food brand has a bigger reach?
We also analyzed three food companies in Wisconsin: Culver’s, Cousins Subs and Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream.
In this food fight, Culver’s dominates: 90% of Wisconsin residents live within 30 minutes of a Culver’s franchise, and 62% live ten minutes or less away.
It’s even possible to drive from Gary, Indiana, to Green Bay, Wisconsin, without ever being more than 15 minutes away from a Butterburger. You can even take a detour to Madison or Janesville and not get any further with a concrete mixer.
Culver was founded in Sauk City in 1984 and plans to add locations in 13 states this year.
Meanwhile, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, founded in Madison in 1962, doesn’t operate many standalone scoop joints. But the brand can be purchased at nearly 300 gas stations, convenience stores and supermarkets across Wisconsin.
More than half of Wisconsin residents live ten minutes or less from one of these icy oases.
That’s not as much as Culver’s, but it’s still better than Cousins Subs, founded in Milwaukee in 1972. Still, 45% of us could get one of their sandwiches in 10 minutes or less.
Are you in the fleet farming area or the farming and fleet area?
Fleet Farm and Blain’s Farm and Fleet – two separate companies with supposed (but mythical) controversial histories – opened their first stores in Janesville and Marshfield, respectively, in 1955.
After state laws about wholesale businesses changed in the 1960s, both brands began expanding across the Midwest. Today, Blain’s Farm and Fleet is more prominent in the south, while Fleet Farm controls the northeastern part of the state. The companies both occupy the southeastern corner of the state.
So who wins the war between these two agricultural state wholesalers who have never actually had beef (although everyone assumes they have)?
In terms of people, Fleet Farm is accessible to more Wisconsinites. 3.5 million people live within 30 minutes of a Fleet Farm, compared to 3 million for Blain’s Farm and Fleet.
And if you just look at the surface area, Fleet Farm wins again: the brand covers an area 1.5 times larger than Blain’s Farm and Fleet.
Do you have Kohl’s money to spend? You’ll have the best luck in Waukesha County
Kohl’s first opened in Brookfield in 1962. Today, the department store mega-chain operates more than 1,100 stores in 49 states.
Wisconsin has 42 Kohl’s stores across the state. In fact, 78% of Wisconsin residents live within 30 minutes of a Kohl’s department store.
They are the closest in the greater Milwaukee area, specifically in Waukesha County, right where it all started.
Wisconsin Wonk is powered by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel data team. Do you have a quirky question about our state? We’ll try to get to the bottom of it. Contact us at datahub@journalsentinel.com.
This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How far-reaching is your favorite Wisconsin mega-brand?
