Wawa History

Founded in 1964 by Grahame Wood--Dick's first cousin once removed--Wawa began as a roadside dairy market in the Philadelphia suburbs.

The 1968 edition of Dun and Bradstreet's Million Dollar Directory listed Wawa Dairy Farms as having 250 employees and 9 million in annual sales.

1969 The first Delaware store opens.

In 1970, Grahame hired his cousin's son, Richard D. Wood Jr.--Dick--a young lawyer who'd advised companies on mergers and acquisitions and IPOs.

1972 A new slogan People on the Go Go to Wawa Food Markets is introduced.

1974 The Goose and gold background are added to the Wawa logo.

1975 Wawa stores begin brewing and selling fresh coffee.

In 1977, Wawa began sharing ownership of the company with its associates through profit-sharing plans.

1978 The 200th Wawa store opens in Souderton, NJ.

Sales per store, which averaged 11,000 a week in 1979, had jumped to 20,000 a decade later.

1980's 1980 Wawa wins Best of Philly award for coffee.

Which has paid off handsomely for longtime employees like Cheryl Farley, who started part time at Wawa in 1982.

1984 Hoagies are now Built-to-Order.

In 1985 the company began test-marketing Lite Bite salads, its first product directly targeted to working women.

1986 Wawa wins Best of Philly award for coffee and deli.

The conventional merchandising wisdom in a convenience store is to get the customer to buy something she didn't really walk in to buy, Frederic Schroeder, Wawa's vice-president for marketing, told a Chain Store Age Executive reporter in 1987.

Wawa began a program of eliminating ozone-layer-depleting chlorofluorocarbons CFCs in 1988.

By the end of 1990 the Wawa chain had grown to about 485 stores in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware.

In 1991 prepared foods as opposed to packaged items were accounting for 25 percent of Wawa's sales, with the average gross margin per location, after spoilage, 55 percent.

On Hoagie Day--May 6, 1992--the company celebrated by building a 500-foot-long sandwich.

Although store size stayed about the same, sometimes the company had to buy the lot next door to increase parking for the growing number of customers, who brought the weekly sales level per store to 35,000 in July 1994.

ATM services were developed in later years, and all Wawa stores had ATMs by 1995.

With 515 outlets in 1996, Wawa Inc. was one of the largest privately held convenience-store chains in the United States.

In the decades after the massacre, there were no public memorials or other events commemorating it. It wasn't until 1997 a full 76 years after the event that the government formed an official Race Riot Commission to investigate the details of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Wawa ownership was mostly split between two separate family trusts, and one trustee started trying to force a sale or an IPO. In 1998, the company sold a stake to an investment group controlled by the McNeil family--the Tylenol heirs--who, within five years, tried to force Wawa to go public.

1999 The Rendelli hoagie is featured at Hoagie Day to raise funds for education.

At least ten more Wawa stores were expected to be selling gasoline by the year 2000, on larger properties than its current superstores, which averaged about 5,000 square feet.

2002 The Wawa Dairy celebrates its 100th anniversary.

A Wawa share was about 900 when its ESOP expanded in 2003.

2004 The 24 oz. coffee cup Big 24 is introduced.

In 2005, Wawa also entered into a partnership with JPMorgan Chase to provide a Visa credit card inscribed with the Wawa brand name.

2006 Wawa s annual charitable giving tops 5.6 million.

2008 Coffeetopia celebrates Wawa s coffee selection.

2010 April 14, 2010 1 billionth surcharge-free ATM transaction is celebrated.

2012 First Florida store opens in Orlando on July 18.

A one-time Deloitte analyst who became CEO in 2013, Gheysens took over in the midst of the company's push into Florida.

2014 Wawa celebrates its 50th Anniversary.

In 2015, a study confirmed what many convenience store shoppers already knew Wawa is the best.

The New Rivals Fast food, old and new Panera 2.8 billion in revenue in 2016, before it sold for 7.5 billion to German conglomerate JAB , Dunkin' Donuts 860 million in revenue , Chipotle 4.5 billion in revenue --and even the fast-growing likes of Sweetgreen.

Top dog in the 550 billion United States convenience store industry is 7-Eleven, which took in 29 billion in United States revenue in 2017.

In mid-2019 it introduced catering services across all its stores.