Wawa's Grand Opening Brings Taste Of Broad Street To Miami

MIAMI, FL — Calle Ocho met Broad Street Thursday as Philadelphia's legendary hoagies, cheesesteaks and soft pretzels took an extended road trip to visit Miami's cafecito and pastelitos.

The Philly-favorite Wawa convenience store chain officially took the wraps off its first three Miami-Dade stores with a nod to the local culture by installing the chain's first ever walk-up coffee windows, or ventanitas.

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Dennis C. Moss did the honors of building the very first hoagie — an Italian sub with layers of meats, cheese and veggies — at the new store on SW 184th Street.

"It's a great sandwich," said Moss, who got his first taste of Wawa sandwiches some time ago in Orlando. "The culture has a following, and it's different than anything I've seen."

Mention the name "Wawa" to any Philadelphia transplant and they almost certainly will regale you with tales of built-to-order hoagies, the Eagles Super Bowl victory, soft pretzels, Mike Schmidt, why no one can make potato chips like Herr's, the El and Tastykakes.

If you think we're kidding, just stop by one of the new stores in Miami-Dade and find out for yourself. In addition to the Philly favorites, the South Florida stores deliver a Miami twist.

"These empanadas have been inspired by the Miami market. We brought in guava pastries, guava cheese pastries, cafecitos," Wawa Director of Store Operations in South Florida David Prevost told Patch. "Croquetas are in the works, a lot of new food that is inspired by (Miami) — and not to lose our DNA, because we are still all hoagies. We still are coffee — soft pretzels. We do have a cheesesteak."

Wawa expects to build three more stores in the Miami area over the next year at locations to include 167th Street in North Miami, NW 27th Avenue in Miami and 87th Avenue in Doral.

"We plan to open up to 50 Wawas in Miami," said the chain's Jennifer Wolf. "In Florida, we build about 30 or 40 a year on average.

Famous for the slogan: "Everybody Goes to Wawa," the first three Miami-Dade stores officially opened Thursday with special events planned at each new store:

• 6971 SW 24th Street
• SW 137th Ave.
• 11101 SW 184th Street

With the Miami-Dade stores, the chain now has 840 stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Florida. There are already 7,000 employees working in Florida at 179 stores.

Since launching in Florida in 2012, the chain was served up 46 million hoagies in the Sunshine state, enough to stretch between Miami and Jacksonville 17 times.

Wawa’s COO Cathy Pulos and The Wawa Foundation earlier announced local partnerships around Miami with Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, Feeding South Florida and other community organizations.

Those partnerships have included a check presentation to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital to support the hospital's child life services programs; Wawa mobile pantry visits to various Feeding South Florida locations for a three-hour distribution of fresh produce, vegetables and perishable items; and donations of some 500 books to local K-8 schools through the Communities in Schools program.

"We couldn't be more excited," added Wolf. "It's definitely a family-oriented culture and that's just like Wawa. Who we are, is all about family and the community. It began as a family-owned company. We actually have an [employee stock ownership] program. We're 40 percent owned by employees."