Manalapan Wawa Celebrates 30 Years Today

 The 30th anniversary of the Manalapan Wawa located at 364 Route 9 North is on Tuesday, May 7.  To honor this special anniversary and to celebrate Wawa’s dedication to its Manalapan family, Wawa is hosting a family reunion-style in-store celebration that will take place on the same day. 

The 30th family reunion anniversary celebration will begin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 7. During the festivities, Wawa will toast the generations of customers and associates for their friendship and business throughout the years, through free coffee all day. Wawa will also recognize the American Red Cross, with a donation of $109,000 all raised through in-store donations by the customers and associates in all six states, from March 10-30 through in-store coin collection.

As a highlight of the event, honored customers will be invited to take pictures with Wawa’s Mascots Wally Goose and Shorti at a special in-store photo booth.  All pictures will be posted through online photo albums at wawaversary.com, capturing the memories forever.

Prior to the event, longtime customers can enter to be a part of the celebration and win special Wawaversary perks, such as winning a week’s worth of coffee!  Winners will be announced at the conclusion of each Wawaversary event.

The Manalapan store was built in 1983. Throughout the years, the store has evolved and been remodeled, bringing customers state-of-the-art facilities, service and convenience.

2013 Wawaversaries By the Numbers

Wawa’s Manalapan family reunion anniversary celebration is part of this year’s Wawaversary celebrations; in 2013, Wawa will celebrate milestone anniversaries or 25, 30, 35, 40, and 45 years for 65 of the stores throughout their chain.   This will be Wawa’s final year of Wawaversary celebrations, which began in 2009.  Throughout the 2013 Wawaversary celebrations Wawa will:

• Give away more than 100,000 cups of free coffee
• Perk over 50,000 Key Extended Family Members milestone customers with free specialty beverages
• Award and Highlight over 300 Key Extended Family Members milestone customers 
• Donate over $2 million to various charities through check presentations representing in-store collections at each Wawaversary Celebrations

“It’s been wonderful to celebrate our customers and associates through our Wawaversary events, and as we enter the final year of these celebrations, we are reminded of the incredible bonds that make our associates, customers, and community partners part of one big extended Wawa family,” said Chris Gheysens, Wawa’s President and CEO. “These family reunions remind us of the strength of these connections and we want to say thank you to everyone who continues to make Wawa a place that not only simplifies lives, but feels like home!”

Wawaversary Event Specifics

To mark the start of the reunion, Wawa’s Mascot, Wally Goose and Shorti will lead the Wawa Through the Ages parade, which visually highlights Wawa’s key milestones. The parade features associates wearing oversized foam-board photos of everything from Wawa’s famous milk man, to everyone’s favorite hoagies, to the evolution of coffee cups through the years. 

Key Extended Family Members

As part of this milestone reunion celebration, Wawa will honor Key Extended Family Members. Wawa has identified key customers who have frequented the location since the very first day it opened! 

To honor these key family members, the store’s General Manager, Shara Torres, will present each of these customers with a specially designed golden travel mug, filled with one month’s worth of free Wawa coffee coupons and specialty beverages.  In addition, each of these customers will be presented with a ceremonial “key to the store.” Cake and coffee will be served to all, with music and dancing to follow.  Each Key Extended Family Member will also be presented with a t-shirt featuring the store number and how long they’ve been part of the Wawa Family.

Key Immediate Family Members

The ceremony will also recognize the Key Immediate Family Members, Wawa’s longest-term associates at the store.  These Key Immediate Family Members will be presented with Wawaversary GooseBumps an internal Wawa recognition program that results in Wawa gear and prizes – in acknowledgement of the important role they play in forming Wawa’s bond with customers and the community.