Wondering why your QuikTrip doesn’t have the chain’s new coffee line? There’s good news

In early 2019, when QuikTrip leadership decided it wanted to be known for great coffee — and not simply great convenience store coffee — it turned to former Wichitan Ryan Boone.

“We want you to wow us with coffee,” the corporate chef was told.

The result is what some Wichitans have experienced at QuikTrips around the city since the new coffee line began to be implemented this spring.

“We’ve been testing our elevated coffee offering for several years now,” Boone said. “We have totally reimagined it.”

By the end of this month, that process will be completed, and each of the 38 QuikTrips in the area will offer the new system.

Wichita was one of the first markets to get the new coffee line, which will be rolled out to all QuikTrips nationally in 2025.

Boone, who grew up in Wichita, had been considering college or culinary school when he first started working at QuikTrip. He went on to work at a number of the convenience stores around the city.

“You take the job to help get through college, and next thing you know, you’re in the R&D department, and then a few years later, you’re a corporate chef,” Boone said.

He received his formal education on the job, which has included becoming a coffee expert.

“We strive to be leaders in beverages,” Boone said.

First, he did a deep dive into coffee production and trends. Boone worked with a beverage specialist and met with top coffee producers and manufacturers.

He was trained as barista and said he “worked with the crazy espresso machines with the levers and dials.”

Boone worked with equipment manufacturers, too.

“I saw two sort of very different approaches to how to deliver coffee.”

He said he liked pieces of both and decided to combine them.

QuikTrip’s hot latte on-tap system is unique, Boone said, and uses real milk and coffee — nothing powdered.

“We’re taking our fresh milk very seriously.”

Boone said making sure everything was safe and clean, in addition to great-tasting, “was a massive undertaking.”

“This is a fully self-serve product.”

He said it tastes like a barista freshly made it, though.

“It’s all freshly ground in store right before it’s brewed.”

There are hot lattes, iced lattes, cold brew and nitro cold brew.

Boone said customers have a lot of fun blending the new offerings, such as using an iced latte as creamer for black coffee or taming the sweetness in some lattes with black coffee.

QuikTrip tested the coffee for a couple of years in Tulsa.

“It’s been a real adventure getting everything to the finish line,” Boone said.

The blends “frankly taste much better than our old products,” he said.

Prices are $2.09 for a 16-ounce cup, $2.69 for a 20-ounce cup and $3.09 for a 24-ounce cup.

“The reception has been fantastic,” Boone said. “I would put it up against any cup of coffee.”