Wawa's new boss pledges a bread oven in every store: Update
CEO Chris Gheysens is even making room to sit down, in some stores
Wawa's new boss pledges a bread oven in every store: Update
Joseph N. DiStefano
UPDATE: After readers asked about changes to Wawa's cold-cuts prep, spokeswoman Lori Bruce says: "We have been phasing out slicers for a few years now; we currently have them in about 100 stores." Most stores now use pre-sliced meats and cheeses "received fresh... on a daily basis" through Wawa's South Jersey-based supplpy chain (there's a different chain for Florida stores) from Berks, Giordano's, and other cold-cut houses; Dietz and Watson has not been a supplier. EARLIER:
So he doesn't get downtown much, Gheysens admitted to the Irish American Business Chamber & Network (corrected) at its Pyramid Club luncheon today. "You know how it is. I've got four kids. So not a dollar on me" when he had to feed a meter this morning, he said. "So I stopped at the ATM. There was a three-dollar surcharge. What's Wawa's surcharge?" Wawa friends in the crowd yelled back, "Zero!" and applauded. "Right. So I went in Starbucks. They charged me $2.25 for a cup of coffee. What's Wawa's coffee price?" The shout came back: "A dollar." "And Wawa's coffee is better." Pause. "This is not an advertisement by any sense." That got the laugh line too.
He was story-telling: Center City has converted to card-operated parking meters. No matter; the crowd went right along as he sketched a "Blue Ocean" business strategy -- "Couple gas, with food service, in good locations, with great customer service... No one else is doing that" in Wawa's markets.
Wawa, Gheysens says, now wants to be seen, not as fast food, but as "Fast Casual," in a league with fresh-food but no-waitress-to-tip Five Guys, Chipotle, or Panera, only without all the seating. Except in Florida, and at some new stores, which are adding chairs outside, and seem more like the Sheetz I visited in Carlisle the other day, than the classic move-you-along Wawa way.
"In Florida, we're using the same feel, but a different store model," with glass walls, "and seating outside," Gheysens affirmed. "Go around Philadelphia, you don't see those stores." A majority of Wawas now sell gas, but he's still planning to upgrade smaller no-gas outlets, especially in Center City, and the popular but worn outpost at Penn: "That needs to be a landmark." Gheysens also said Wawa has made a decision on its store-baked bread experiment in partnership with Amoroso's, Wawa's bread supplier: "Fresh baked rolls. By the end of the year you will have an oven in every Wawa." Which means more bread baked on site (and maybe less from Amoroso's South Jersey industrial bakery).
There'll also be employees in "mock chef coats." "Less clutter. Brighter colors. More consistent," Gheysens says, "with what you find in a Panera or a Starbucks."
- They do seem to really be skimping lately on the hoagies. I had a turkey hoagie a short while back and it seemed to have only about 60% of the amount of meat it used to have, and they sliced it paper thin to make it seem like more. Sneaky.
— Strongbow - No problem with the amount of meat on the sandwiches in the stores in my area. It must be the manager at your store cutting back to meet their monthly budget. — Grapost
- It's spelled "Sheetz," not "Scheetz." Does this paper do any editing before publishing a story?!— ReaganRocks
- Sheetz also has a wider variety - you can get burgers & fries there (and they are actually good - Angus burgers, not McDonald's-esque). Perhaps Wawa should take a page from there too if they are trying to head in that direction. — MASTERNC
- Don't take a page from Sheetz sandwiches. Their subs are garbage compared to wawa hoagies.
— daxtremesolja - Amoroso's make a great roll. The flavor is everything. Just because it is fresh baked doesn't mean it'll taste better. Look at Subway, if they used a good roll, the sandwiches would taste good. Unfortunately, that is not the case.— MrPhilly
- I'm gonna eat pizza!— Punchfoster
- Wow, the CEO of WAWA saying he didn't have money on him bc he has 4 kids.— 420Phillie
- work on your lunch meat/cheese not your bread— JKJ
- Subway also smells like yeast, I want to throw up when I walk by there and now wawa will smell like a melding of coffee and yeast.— ConverseB24
- Wawa? Really? Pul-leeeeeeeze! I'd rather eat frozen Elios!— eMMster
- What's he gonna do about those SOGGY sandwiches? I refuse to buy sandwiches at Wawa any more because they are always soggy and limp.— Jen D
- "There'll also be employees in 'mock chef coats.'" Sure fire way to rid yourself of great customer service is to humiliate your employees! Way to go WAWA.
— atibamanii - I can see where Wawa is going. It is out to follow the right wing Republican Wal-Mart model. Destroy unions, and force women, minorities, gays, and the elderly to work for minimum wage and no health care benefits while their owners get fatter and richer and do everything they can to destroy the rights of women, children, minorities, the disabled, and gays by giving their money to try to get Republicans elected.— eldiablodelsol2009
- Yes, it's all a giant conspiracy, you genius. You do know they are family owned, not franchised, pay for their workers to attend college and actually have benefits unlike most other things in their category. Can you get that through your tiny, pea-sized liberal brain? — Strongbow
