Wawa Proof of Concept Success 900th Store

Success does leave clues and Wawa ability to continually evolve is clearly a valued touchpoint driving continued customer adoption, top line sales, and bottom-line profits according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

With 900 units open and nearly 5 Billion in annual sales Wawa ranks as one of the top retailers in the U.S. according to Johnson.  Here are some fun facts about Wawa:

1.    Wawa was founded more than 200 years ago, as an Iron factory.

Though the first Wawa store was opened in 1964, the company actually has more than 200 years of history. It began in 1803 as a New Jersey iron factor and was incorporated in 1968 at the Millville Manufacturing Company.  Then in 1902, Millville’s owner George Wood opened up a milk processing plant in Wawa, PA (The cows for the plant came from English Channel island of Guernsey.)

2.       “Doctor Certified” Milk was a key to its early success.

In the early 1900’s many children were becoming sick from drinking raw milk, so Wood had doctors vouch for his product. The ‘doctor certified’ milk, delivered directly to a customer’s home made a huge business success.

3.       Being Allowed to remain open on Sundays help business Boom

The stores were successful in part because convenience stores were exempt from laws that kept other stores closed on Sunday’s.

4.    Wawa is an Ojibwe Word

Wawa is Ojibwe word for Canada Goose

5.    They sell a lot of Hoagies

Wawa store sell close to 70 million made-to-order hoagies annually.

6.    Coffee is HOT

Wawa sells enough coffee to fill Shamu’s tank more than 11 times.

Chris Gheysens, president and CEO, Wawa stated, “As a new store opens, we will continue to provide comfort and a sense of normalcy in the safest way possible, while listening to what our friends and neighbors need most throughout these challenging times.” How is your company evolving?

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter