How Wawa built a cult following around its iconic sandwiches By Linda Abu-Shalback Zid
W
hen Joshua Harris moved away
from New Jersey, he deeply
missed the Wawa hoagie sandwiches he once enjoyed at least twice a
week—so much so he posted a special
request on Wawa’s Facebook page: “We
need Wawa in Denver. There is nothing
for competition here!”
In fact, with 447,199 people who
“like” the Wawa, Pa.-based chain on
Facebook, such requests are constantly
pouring in—in one day alone from
Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, South
Carolina and Florida.
Harris explains that the sandwiches
are “better than 90% of the sub shops.”
And if he were ever to get his wish for
Wawa’s expansion to Denver, he’s “fairly positive” he would eat three meals a
day there for the first three months.
For now, however, Harris and others
will have to wait. According to Wawa
spokeswoman Lori Bruce, the company
may expand beyond its current fivestate swath of Delaware, Maryland,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia,
but not right now. “We are looking for
a new ‘hoagieland,’ but it’s too soon to
say when and where,” she says.
What is it about the hoagie that
draws folks such as Emily Peto of
Brookfield, Ill., to actually plan a stop
at one of the company’s 570 stores on
her vacation route?
“I go to the East Coast every summer,
and I make it a point to go to Wawa at
least twice while I’m there, if not more!
It’s always part of the schedule,” she
says. “It’s like eating the sandwiches
that Mom would make better than
anyone.”
Unlike Mom, Wawa churns out about
70 million of the hoagies annually.
The sandwich’s appeal seems to stem
from the fresh ingredients, the availability of customization, the company’s
willingness to experiment and the technology that facilitates ordering. That appeal has expanded into a sort of hoagie
culture throughout the East Coast.
‘High Hoagie Recognition’
Wawa embraced the hoagie in the early 1970s, with the first hoagies kept on hand as premade sandwiches.
In 1977, Wawa evolved to a built-toorder model, keeping a few premades
in the express case for grab-and-go
convenience.
Today, built-to-order is available
around the clock, with only a few of the
chain’s stores not open 24 hours. “Our
goal is to simplify our customers’ lives,
so they know they can come for a quick,
quality product around the clock, and
it’s consistently the same every time,”
says category manager Amanda Matyok.
Like many of Wawa’s key product
lines, “built-to-order started as a result
of our general managers responding to
customer requests on how we can make
their lives easier,” Bruce explains.
There are 39 base hoagies (including
breakfast), available in four sizes with
six varieties of cheese and 22 other toppings—available toasted or untoasted.
T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R F O O D S E R V I C E A T R E T A I L • W W W. F A R E M A G A Z I N E . C O M
31
Bruce says the company held “Hoagie
days” when it moved into the Virginia
market in the mid- to late ’90s. “The
South has its unique foods, whether it’s
pecan pie, barbecue, biscuits or other
southern favorites. And we brought
them the hoagie,” she says. “I think we
have high hoagie recognition in the
Virginia market.”
Continued Evolution
Wawa fans get in the
spirit of Hoagiefest.
TREND
TRANSLATIONS
Often, cult followings cannot be
created; they just happen. Nonetheless, Wawa’s story includes
some prerequisites for building a
rabid following.
uCreate a signature product
that is synonymous with your
brand, such as the Whopper,
the Frosty or the Wawa Shorti.
uAre your employees as
devoted to the company as
your customers are? They
are your front-line marketing
tools and a key part of the
experience. Engage them with
in-store competitions, and link
stores together via company
websites.
uCreate a space for fans to
express their love; visit Wawa’s
Facebook page for ideas.
uBrainstorm how to turn a
simple store promotion into
a citywide special event,
and partner with other local
companies and municipalities
to further foster relationships.
32
Italian and Turkey are the most commonly ordered hoagies.
“The customization is a hallmark of
our offer,” Bruce says. “It really gets
down to a tremendous amount of
variety and choices and tremendous
value for our customers.” Prices vary
by location, with an Internet search
showing prices ranging from $2.89
for a cold junior hoagie to $13.99 for a
2-foot hoagie. And aside from adding
meats, cheeses or bacon, customization
doesn’t cost extra.
Despite his change in locale, hoagie fan Harris still finds a way to take
advantage of that customization. “I’ve
had friends from New Jersey flying to
Denver to visit [who will] stop by Wawa
and get me several Italian hoagies with
lettuce, tomato, onion, salt, pepper,
oregano, oil and vinegar and bring
them on the plane,” he says. “They
always complain about the smell lingering in their bags, but I don’t care. It’s
totally worth it!”
Across the country, hoagies go by
other names: subs, heroes, bombers,
poor boys, grinders, torpedoes. But
don’t try to call it a sandwich around a
Wawa employee. “We don’t call them
sandwiches; we call them hoagies,”
Bruce corrects during one such slip.
And Wawa has spread the “hoagie”
word throughout its areas of operation.
FA R E M AG A Z I N E A U G U S T/ S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 0
But the company doesn’t rest on its
laurels. “We’re always changing ingredients,” says Matyok. “We’re always
trying to monitor and understand
trends, and keep our offer fresh. …
Every year, we try to add new things.”
Those ingredients aren’t likely to be too
“out there,” though, with test runs on
anything the company does. “We have
a really good process, so any ideas that
are really out there and not feasible
don’t get all the way to a rollout to the
stores.”
Following such testing, Wawa rolled
breakfast hoagies out to all of its
stores this past winter. “It’s just been
a natural progression,” Matyok says of
the rollout. “We’ve been in hoagies for
so long, and we’ve had a hot breakfast
sandwich.” The company ran a campaign in January, with simple pricing
of $2, $3 and $4 breakfast hoagies.
Although Wawa doesn’t share information considered proprietary, Bruce says
the breakfast hoagies, which are available from 5 to 11 a.m. compared to the
other hoagies that are always available,
are doing “great.”
All Wawa hoagies must have the appeal to stand on their own. Although
the chain has done some promotional
combos in the past, the sandwiches are
typically sold as stand-alones; combos
are not a regular part of the mix.
Touch and Go
With such heavy customization, the
actual ordering process might seem
daunting. But Wawa added touch
screens from Atlanta-based Radiant
Systems Inc. to the mix in 2000 to
facilitate ordering. Wawa uses Radiant Customer Self-Service software on
Radiant P1550 hardware.
Again, testing determined the
outcome, first in one store, then rolled
out to a 25-store pilot and now available in all stores. “Wawa
saw tremendous revenue lift through upselling and selling
new menu items,” says Douglas Henderson, director of global
product marketing for the global petroleum and convenience
retail division for Radiant. “In addition, customer service improved because the Wawa store associate was able to concentrate on the customer, rather than just being an order taker.”
“A big focus of ours is speed of service,” Matyok says. “The
customer wants to get in and get out and get on with their
day.” (Each store has three to four touch screens.)
“And it’s also helped for the associates because handwritten sheets are prone to mistakes,” Matyok continues. “So
now it prints out either on paper or on a screen in front of
them, and they can work right from their screen or from a
ticket that prints out. It makes their lives easier.”
The Hoagie Experience
Wawa mascot “Wally” helps load freshly made
hoagies onto a truck bound for the Community
Food Bank of New Jersey.
For those who aren’t in the know about the hoagie phenomenon, Wawa’s Facebook status on May 18 would seem
quite cryptic: “HoagieMan has been spotted! Stop by Wawa
No. 678, 2501 Virginia Beach Blvd. in Virginia Beach, Va.,
at 11 a.m. today to catch a glimpse of HoagieMan, hear the
Hoagiefest tunes, and get some Hoagiefest goodies!”
That symbolizes the start of Wawa’s third annual Hoagiefest (see sidebar, below). “The whole point of Hoagiefest,”
says Bruce, “is to celebrate the hoagie, what it means to
Wawa and what it means to our customers and community—
and to give them a great price on the products they love.”
The ’60s-inspired campaign means $2.99 value pricing
on 6-inch Shorti hoagies, music inspired by the hoagie, the
Paying Tribute to the ‘Almighty Hoagie’
In early June an estimated 500 to 600 hoagie aficionados crowded the lot of a colossal Wawa store in
Rio Grande, N.J., for the official launch of Hoagiefest,
a 1960s-themed bash featuring a carnival-type atmosphere of games, giveaways and more lunchmeat-laden sandwiches than one person can eat in a lifetime.
Now in its third year, Hoagiefest (www.hoagiefest.
com) comprises a series of one-day festivals designed
to “pay tribute to the almighty hoagie.” Billed as
“a celebration of peace, savings and Shortis,” each
Hoagiefest begins with a morning hoagie-build, in
which tie-dye-clad store associates construct a quarter-mile’s worth of Wawa’s beloved 6-inch hoagies to
serve to hungry patrons later that day.
“The Shorti is our signature product,” says David
Johnston, Wawa’s executive vice president and chief
operating officer. “The goal [of Hoagiefest] is to drive
sales but also to re-devote ourselves to the signature
product for which we’re famous.”
Throughout Hoagiefest, which runs from late May
through mid-July, Wawa offers a different Shorti for
a reduced $2.99 price point. The 10-week promo-
34
tion represents an “enormous challenge” in terms of
preparation, adjusted ordering and execution, but
it’s also an enormous opportunity to boost sales and
strengthen Wawa’s relationship with an extremely
loyal customer base.
Back in Rio Grande, it was only a matter of time
before a friendly food fight broke out. The tomatoes, lettuce and Genoa salami began flying during a
good-natured hoagie-building competition between
the Middle Township Police and the Rio Grande Fire
Co., in which both teams had to construct as many
hoagies as possible within a three-minute span. The
police came out on top, with 25 completed hoagies to
the firefighters’ 15. This regular “Hoagies for Heroes”
contest is another way for Wawa to give back: A
charitable donation is given to whichever team wins.
“I don’t know if we thought [Hoagiefest] would ever
get this big,” Johnston says. “Now it’s a tradition, and
it’s been such a hit that we’ve made it a central part
of every summer. … It’s just a big party to celebrate
something good.”
—Bill Donahue
FA R E M AG A Z I N E A U G U S T/ S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 0
HoagieMan (a Wawa hoagie mascot) and Hoagieband, and tiedyed graphics and tie-dyed-T-shirt giveaways.
Actually, tie-dye is strongly linked to Wawa’s heritage. It was
reportedly brought into the mainstream of American culture in
the 1960s by Don Price, who at the time was working for Best
Foods, trying to promote the company’s Rit Dye. Price eventually
went on to serve as Wawa’s executive vice president until 1998.
Chainwide Hoagiefest events are held throughout the summer to “bring the campaign to life” and to “reach customers in
new ways and gain media exposure,” Bruce says. “It’s kind of
become synonymous with summer: Here comes Hoagiefest.”
Wawa associates, as well as CEO Howard Stoeckel, will build
a quarter-mile hoagie at each event, serving it free to the public. Associates also decorate stores with the tie-dyed graphics,
inflatable guitars and musical notes and posters from the
Woodstock era.
Wawa also embraces its philanthropic side during Hoagiefest.
Bruce explains, “With every event, part of what we want to do
is give back to the community. … Not only are we serving hoagies free to the public, but we’re sending truckloads of hoagies
from each event out to the local food banks and food shelters.”
After the Fest
Even when Hoagiefest is not in session, associates continue
to take pride in their hoagies, with the ability to post photos
on Wawa’s internal website. Bruce says, “They actually can win
prizes for showing the best store spirit to their customers,
and interpreting the hoagie in their own way.”
And that hoagie spirit also remains with Wawa customers.
Bruce says she’s even heard from a bride who wanted to incorporate Hoagiefest memorabilia into her wedding in tribute to
her husband, who is nicknamed Hoagie.
“Sure, we absolutely get stories like that,” she says. “It’s part
of the culture here, and people think of us along with hoagies.”
As part of the festivities, local police and firefighters square
off in a three-minute hoagie-building competition.
Circle 111 on page 49 for product information
T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R F O O D S E R V I C E A T R E T A I L • W W W. F A R E M A G A Z I N E . C O M
35