LARGO, Fla. — Wawa, the popular convenience store chain, introduced its drive-thru prototype to the Largo community Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and other festivities.
The 2,200-square-foot store is the first standalone Wawa drive-thru in Florida and the third in the company, officials said in a news release. With daily operating hours from 5 a.m. to midnight, the store team can quickly serve 12 cars at a time for breakfast, lunch and dinner, according to organizers.
The new store will reportedly employ around 25 associates, each of them receiving competitive pay, benefits and stock through Wawa's Employee-Stock-Ownership-Plan, officials said in the release.
Grand opening festivities at the new Wawa, located on East Bay Drive, began at 8:30 a.m. with a T-shirt giveaway to the location's first 100 customers, officials said in a news release.
On top of that, the Largo Police and Fire Departments took part in the store's signature "Hoagies for Heroes" building competition with $1,000 donated to each department's charity of choice, officials said.
The drive-thru officially opened at 9 a.m. and is fully equipped with its signature hoagies, burgers and fries, award-winning coffee and other items, according to the release.
“Wawa has a long history of testing and innovating new store formats to provide the greatest level of convenience for our customers,” Robert Yeatts, Sr. Director of Store Operations said in a statement. “With our new Largo store, we will continue to learn from this new format while gathering feedback from our customers and associates."
Appearances at Thursday's event included Wawa Director of Store Operations Nancy Dulaney, Area Manager Richard Morton, General Manager Jason Ellis and the store mascot, Wally Goose.
