April 20, 2018
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoice
Wawa's flagship Philadelphia location at Broad and Walnut streets in Center City.
Rejoice, Wawa fans — you're right up there with the Eagles and Villanova now.
That's right, the Philadelphia area's beloved convenience store was voted American's favorite sandwich spot. The rest of the country now knows what we have all known for years.
In an annual survey conducted by customer experience research firm Market Force Information, Wawa came out on top in the broad category covering sandwiches, hoagies and other variations at quick-service restaurants.
The survey asked 11,500 consumers to rank the top burger, sandwich, Mexican, pizza and chicken brands. Rankings were used to create a composite loyalty index score. Notably, about 73 percent of respondents to the survey were women who obviously knew what they were talking about. Only about 26 percent were men.
Wawa finished with a composite loyalty index score of 64 percent, beating out Firehouse Subs (62 percent) and Jersey Mike's (59 percent) among the top three.
Conspicuously absent from the top of the rankings was a certain Wawa rival known as Sheetz.
Wawa outshined its competitors in the area of "value for money spent" and came in second, behind Jimmy John's, for speed of service. Wawa also had the highest mobile app awareness at 67 percent, bolstered by last year's launch of a new mobile ordering platform.
The growing convenience chain, born in its current form in Delaware County in 1964, currently has more than 790 locations in six states and Washington, D.C., with plans for additional stores in Philadelphia over the next year.
Philadelphia will be holding a parade, let's see, every single day forever.
