Lauren O’Neill

Less than two months ago, Wawa opened up its first drive-thru only store. Soon most if not all Wawas will continue this trend. To celebrate the opening of this drive-thru, none other than Wally, Wawa’s goose mascot, attended the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Adding a drive-thru to Wawa was a result of COVID-19 and the owners were looking for alternative solutions to keep their business up. Wawa’s director of construction, Terri Micklin remarked, “We had talked about a drive-thru for many years and we had worked on it, but [the pandemic] really just became the catalyst to accelerate this and bring it to the market as quickly as possible.” The company released a statement saying, “Wawa is committed to increasing convenience and providing new options for service while keeping safety and comfort top of mind.”

Although this sounds like a great idea to some, customers have varying opinions on the drive-thru only store. While some referred to it on social media  as a “truly historic moment” others have coined it as Wawa being “lazy.”

The new Wawa is located in Westampton, New Jersey and their drive-thru menu has an extensive list including the beloved sizzilies. Wawa plans to rotate through breakfast, lunch and dinner items and the menu excludes certain items such as sourdough melts and pitas. There are also certain restrictions such as an entire hoagie cannot be toasted, only the roll. The limited menu serves to create an efficient and fast paced drive-thru to prevent customers from waiting in long lines for their order.

This location is not allowing customers to walk into the store, it is drive-thru only. Due to the fact that this is the first Wawa with a drive-thru, the employees want to try out the drive-thru without worrying about walk-in customers.

There are already plans in place for large orders or long lines. Wawa made curbside parking available where customers are instructed to wait and the order will be delivered to your car.

Wawa is planning to add five to ten drive-thru locations within the next year and a half. Wawa plans to open their second drive-thru in Falls Township, Bucks County. The drive-thru runs like many other fast food drive-thrus and customers have the option to order from their mobile device or speaking directly to an attendant in the window.