Buc-ee’s, Kwik Trip and QuikTrip ranked among the top 20 brands in the 2024 Best Brands for Customer Service List, created by Forbes and data and consumer insights company HundredX.

Brands were ranked based on customer feedback in multiple areas, including the quality of interactions with employees, the speed at which goods and services were provided and their ability to resolve any problems with shoppers. 

Buc-ee’s ranked 12th overall, slightly edging out Kwik Trip in 13th, while QuikTrip came in at 17th. 

Drilling down, Buc-ee’s came in fourth and Kwik Trip ranked sixth in the U.S. for the quality of their employee interactions, according to data from HundredX. That category was dominated by c-stores and quick-serve restaurants, with those two industries taking seven of the top 10 spots.

This comes as c-stores are competing more directly with QSRs. Fifty percent of consumers  already believe c-stores are just as capable of delivering fresh food and drinks as restaurants are, wrote Tom Cook, a principal at restaurant and foodservice business improvement firm King-Casey, earlier this year.

C-stores also offer one-stop shopping for many consumers with their fuel and product mix, Cook noted, and consumers perceive the value at c-stores as higher than at restaurants.

When it comes to standing out from a crowded field, friendly, helpful employees is a big part of what draws people in. “Friendly employees who make me feel welcome” was important to 84% of customers, according to a 2022 NACS survey — coming in behind only speed. This suggests having enthusiastic staff with the time to perform customer-facing tasks is a huge opportunity for c-stores. 

La Crosse, Wisconsin-based Kwik Trip recently noted it would be adding self checkout to all new builds, a move that frees up employee time for other work. Buc-ee’s, meanwhile, focused on higher pay rates to attract top employees amid the c-store industry’s labor woes.

“The businesses that understand and then meet their customers’ needs better than competitors will always be the most successful,” said HundredX CEO and founder Rob Pace. 

Buc-ee’s edged out Kwik Trip in the overall rankings thanks to its higher ratings for bathrooms — where the ratings notes Buc-ee’s is a “clear leader within the industry” — along with attitude of workers and security. Kwik Trip came in second for employee attitude and fourth in the other two categories. 

Meanwhile, QuikTrip took top honors for speed of service among c-stores and ranked No. 7 overall in that category.

This is the first time Forbes and HundredX have put out this list, though they have collaborated on lists like Best Brands for Social Impact and Customer Experience All-Stars. The new ranking looked at more than four million pieces of feedback from more than 3,000 businesses across the past year.