Tulsa, Okla.-based QuikTrip Corp. is being featured on Fortune magazine’s Web site as one of the few U.S. companies that has never laid off an employee, the Tulsa World reported.

 

Fifty-one year old QuikTrip has never had to downsize its workforce despite operating 533 stores and employing 11,000 people.

 

QuikTrip also ranked 27th on Fortune‘s “Best Places to Work” list, which was published in January.

 

“This 24-hour convenience store chain is privately held, allowing it to pour profits back into stores instead of divvying them up among shareholders,” the Fortune reported. “Meanwhile, its strong balance sheet has helped it to weather economic downturns without having to cut staff.”

 

QuikTrip Spokesman Mike Thornbrugh agreed the flexibility of being privately owned has allowed the company to expand carefully and avoid the pressures to cut costs dramatically to meet revenue reports.