Jordan Kuck wanted to set the record straight.
After a Minneapolis TV station rolled into his family’s small-town grocery store during the November SNAP benefits showdown, Kuck says what aired on KARE-11 looked nothing like what he actually told the reporter — and he blasted the station on TikTok.
In a video that’s already racked up more than 6,000 views, Kuck, whose parents have owned Glenn’s SuperValu in downtown Winsted for more than 30 years, says the station took his comments out of context to paint a picture of a small-town store teetering on the edge because of the federal benefits freeze.
“They made it sound like if people didn’t receive their benefits, it would affect our stores so greatly that we would be on the brink of going out of business,” Kuck said in the TikTok. “That actually kind of made me irritated because I’m like that’s not what I said whatsoever.”
What really happened, according to Kuck, is that KARE-11 showed up and pressed him on how the partial SNAP shutdown was hurting rural grocers.
But Kuck said he pushed back. “You can kind of tell that they were trying to get me to say certain things which I would not do,” he recounted. “They were saying, ‘Oh it must be hard for small-town store already especially with the shutdown — that must affect you big time.’ And I said, ‘You know, it really doesn’t, it makes up such a small percent of sales that we didn’t even really see it.'”
Kuck said he did mention that SNAP once hit about 10% of sales, but that was during the height of COVID when many people were laid off.
He said the station ran with that number, but left out the “COVID” part, making it sound like the store’s current lifeline was hanging by a government-benefits thread.
“I honestly said it didn’t really affect us much and if anyone actually needed help they could let us know and we would definitely help them out,” he said.
The KARE-11 piece that aired quoted Kuck saying SNAP recipients “make up 10% of its sales” and framed small rural stores as “already on the brink,” citing University of Minnesota research about thin profit margins.
Kuck says that’s not the full story — and not what he told the news crew.
He ended the video with a warning to his TikTok followers. “Don’t believe everything you hear.”
Alpha News reached out to KARE 11 for comment but did not receive a response.
Jenna Gloeb
Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.
