Wawa Day 2019: Free Coffee — and Michael Solomonov Making Hoagies
Wawa expects to give away more than 2 million cups of coffee during its annual celebration on Thursday.
Photo by David Murrell.
Another Wawa coffee freebie day is coming soon.
On Thursday, the company will give out cups of joe to celebrate Wawa Day, the day Wawa opened its first convenience store in 1964. The company has been in the retail business for 55 years and has run its charitable Wawa Foundation (which has raised more than $66 million for causes surrounding health, hunger and heroes) for five years.
As part of the celebration, Wawa will host six in-store celebrations. Philly’s party, to be held at the company’s flagship store at 6th and Chestnut streets, will be the largest shindig.
The Wawa Foundation will partner with three community organizations during Wawa Day: Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Special Olympics and Check Out Hunger. The Philly celebration will include a look at Wawa’s future plans — including store-level catering packing and menus debuting in May, as well as the convenience store’s plans to double its store count over the next 10 years and focus on healthier food items (like grain bowls and “clean” ice cream).
Photo by Alexandra Hawkins
There will be fanfare and festivities, as always. Mayor Jim Kenney is expected to speak, as well as Wawa CEO Chris Gheysens and Wawa Foundation president Jay Culotta. (We’re keeping our fingers crossed for a Gritty appearance.)
There will also be a “chef showdown” between Zahav’s Michael Solomonov and Wawa chef Farley Kaiser. They’ll both build as many “Broad Street Meatball” hoagies as they can in five minutes. Wawa is donating up to $10,000 in proceeds from its sales of the sandwich, available at 15 Philly Wawa stores this month only, to Broad Street Ministry.
Wawa expects to give away more than 2 million cups of coffee on Thursday. The freebie deal (which includes all coffee sizes) will be available at all locations.
