4/14/25 Meeting Minutes

Attendees: Catti, Chris, Adam, Matt, Ann, Lynn, John, Rich, Tom, Bob F., Hubert, Dave, Ron, Katie,

Club business:

Speaker update: 4/21 – Cindy Neil
4/28 – ISU Feed Grain
Speaker:
Chris Van Dyke: Kimmes Country Stores – VP Food and Category Management

Chris – Chris graduated from Loras College in 2009 with a degree in accounting and minor in business; worked at Kum and Go while in high school and then as a General Manager in 2010; worked at Wells Fargo (don’t recommend) and Lincoln Savings Bank prior to joining Kimmes Country Stores in 2013 as a 1099 employee and became full-time in 2015

Steve Kimmes – Owner and CEO; spent 30 years at Kum & Go; married to LaVonne; 4 kids (Brett, Jake, Luke, Ian); Brett and Jake all worked for Kum and Go and now work with Kimmes Country Stores; Luke is in Colorado and has a Doctorate degree; Ian worked with Country Stores previously, but now lives in Woodward, IA and works in Ankeny.

Timeline of events:
2012:
Steve retired from Kum & Go

2013:
Kimmes Country Stores developed when Kimmes Family bought Chico and Todd Kanne’s 8 stores
Rebranded 8 stores and introduced a new motto: “Remarkably Clean, Fresh and Friendly”
Wall Lake opened – December

2014:
Carroll (Valero) opened – January
Carroll (BP) opened – February
Alta opened– February
Le Mars opened – March
Glidden opened – April
Laurens opened – April
Cherokee opened – December

2015: purchased 3 Kum & Go sites
1.   Rockwell City
2.   Manson
3.   Denison
Coon Rapids opened – December
2018:
Baxter – March

2019:
Closed Laurens and Glidden
Humboldt opened – December

2021:
Carroll (Shell) opened – April

2022:
Kingsley opened – March

14 stores currently open and always looking to expand.

In the office:
Steve – CEO
Marie – CFO; married to Brett and have 3 kids
Jake – VP of Operations
Brett – VP of Marketing
Chris – VP of Food and Category Management
Casi - Category Manager; married to Jake and have 2 kids; sister to Rotary secretary, Catti
Jan and Brock – Supervisors
Kevin – Maintenance Director

What’s coming up?
-   Denison: replacing tanks and lines (less than 10 days left); new fuel grades available including E15 (the new E10); 1.1-million-dollar project
-   Wall Lake: complete raise and rebuild
-   Brand new donuts (start 4/15/25) and chicken (less spicey) coming out
-   Online ordering: before June 30th
-   Memorial Day: 100 days of Summer (deep discounts on products)

Pride Pumps:
2 cents on every gallon filled up on these specific pumps is donated back to the schools in the communities where these pumps are located.
Located in all communities where stores are located except Denison
- Denison has been approached multiple times about pride pump and declines to not participate each time.

What he loves about his job - Loves that every day is different.