Wawa Finds Its Place in History
WAWA, Pa. -- Wawa Inc. historian Maria M. Thompson and retired executive vice president Donald H. Price have written Wawa, published by Arcadia Publishing, to bring to life the history of the 200-year-old company using images from company archives, local collections and family scrapbooks.
“This book illustrates how our business has adapted over time,” writes chairman and CEO Richard D. Wood Jr. in the book’s foreword. “More important, it is a celebration of people -- people who have driven this adaptation through [the years], people who have advanced the company’s growth and people who will continue to enable future growth.” Wood represents the fifth generation of his family to lead the company.
Wawa was founded as an iron business in 1803 and incorporated in 1865; the company’s owners opened a dairy processing plant in the late 1800s and a milk plant in 1902, and expanded its home delivery business to include more than 145 routes by the late 1950s. The first Wawa Food Market opened in 1964 and the company today operates more than 540 food markets in the mid-Atlantic region.
All royalties from the sale of Wawa will be donated to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“This book illustrates how our business has adapted over time,” writes chairman and CEO Richard D. Wood Jr. in the book’s foreword. “More important, it is a celebration of people -- people who have driven this adaptation through [the years], people who have advanced the company’s growth and people who will continue to enable future growth.” Wood represents the fifth generation of his family to lead the company.
Wawa was founded as an iron business in 1803 and incorporated in 1865; the company’s owners opened a dairy processing plant in the late 1800s and a milk plant in 1902, and expanded its home delivery business to include more than 145 routes by the late 1950s. The first Wawa Food Market opened in 1964 and the company today operates more than 540 food markets in the mid-Atlantic region.
All royalties from the sale of Wawa will be donated to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.