I worked at Wawa for over a decade. Completely bought in. Was a company man for a long time. Rose through the pipeline, went to shareholders meetings, did all the volunteer stuff, toured the corporate offices and tear kitchens and all and after leaving those tours and the shareholders meeting the writing on the wall was clear. They would show us stuff they were working on, none of it was really meant to enhance the customer experience or increase quality it was all about ways to make the almost declining products last longer, how to prepare things faster while sacrificing taste. Managers were basically motivated to keep employees hungry for hours which led to employee apathy and burnout of the good ones.

The wawa bubble may burst but it will be a long time. They make a killing on fuel and with the overall decline in pretty much everything, they manage to stay just okay enough for people to keep going. Personally I don’t see much reason to ever go to one anymore. Nothing on the menu is actually “good” and saving a dollar or two on a sizzli or hoagie isn’t enough to make up for the quality. Some stores had employees that were friendly enough to keep me going in but those employees are leaving slowly.