Wawa is a convenience store chain that has been serving customers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey since the early 1900s. The company began with the motto 'Buy Health by the Bottle', delivering milk to customers' homes. Now, Wawa offers a wide range of pre-packaged foods and pastries for breakfast, all fresh and relatively inexpensive. The store is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and offers everything you would expect from a convenience store - snacks, lottery tickets, beverages, tobacco, gasoline (in most places), etc.
What sets Wawa apart from other convenience stores is the level of customization and the good ingredients, as well as the fact that it was one of the first places to use touchscreen self-service menus. Customers can also enjoy Wawa's brand of hot breakfast items, such as Sizzli, as well as a delicatessen shop complete with touchscreen orders for sandwiches, hot sides, drinks and cold cuts. Wawa is also renowned for its customer service, scrupulously clean bathrooms, decent gas prices, free air for their tires, and free ATMs. The company covers parts of Pennsylvania that don't yet have rival stores like Sheetz.
In 1977, Wawa began sharing ownership of the company with its associates through profit-sharing plans. In 1992, Wawa formalized its associated ownership with its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), with shares awarded annually to associates based on service from the previous year. Wawa is also very active on social media, responding daily with jokes and offers for gifts and coupons from Wawa and helping to build community. It owns 50 acres (20 ha) of land around Red Roof, the corporate headquarters, 150 acres (61 ha) of land around Wawa dairy, and 225 acres (91 ha) J.
Since opening its first store here, Wawa has sold enough sandwiches to spread between Jacksonville and Miami more than eight times. The origin of the name 'Wawa' is unclear; however, it is believed to be derived from the Ojibwa Native American word 'wewe', which means 'wild goose'. This is because the Canadian goose makes a sound similar to 'wawa', so it is possible that both the word ojibwa wawa and the French word l'oie are based on the honking characteristic of the goose.
