Wawa broadens menu as it expands into new states

Wawa, which long catered to local tastes with its hoagies and soft pretzels, is now giving its menu a Southwestern flavor.

The convenience store chain has put a new emphasis on bowls, burritos and quesadillas.

Forget your roast beef Shorti with onions, tomatoes, and lettuce.

Instead, Wawa's rolled out a new quesadilla — the $7.49 Fajita Veggie, with red and green bell peppers, onion and two types of cheese. You can get it with the chain's just-debuted medium salsa roja and fire-roasted corn. among other ingredients.

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Wawa's menu has been less than Tex-Mex with choices like a pierogi quesadilla and a buffalo chicken steak with cheese quesadilla.

Based on visits to South Jersey Wawas, other new quesadillas include three versions of roasted chicken — with cheese, with fajita veggies, and with bacon.

And for breakfast? You might order a fajita veggie egg white omelet, which Wawa lists as a quesadilla.

New burritos include the Crispy Jalapeno Roasted Chicken and Chipotle Roasted Chicken, as well as another version of the fajita veggie.

An expanded selection of Signature Bowls includes the Roasted Chicken Burrito and the Breaded Chicken Burrito..

Then the bowls becomes more tongue-twisting with Breaded Chicken Bacon Ranch Mashed Potatoes and Honey Hot Breaded Chicken Mac & Cheese.

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And if you still want a hoagie, hold the hot and sweet peppers. They'll add in fajita veggies there, too.

A Wawa representative did not respond to a request for more information about the product roll-out, which is being promoted on billboards and in TV ads.

The change comes as Wawa is also moving into new and distant markets. .

The company, based in suburban Philadelphia, this year opened its first stores in Alabama and North Carolina.

It's building stores in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.

Wawa, which opened a store in Penns Grove on Aug. 15, now has about 270 sites in New Jersey and more than 1,060 overall.

Another store is to open in Logan on Aug. 22.

Initially in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, Wawa has built a presence in Maryland, Virginia, Florida and the District of Columbia.

But the chain opened its first stores this year in Alabama and North Carolina.

It's building stores in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: Jwalsh@cpsj.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Wawa broadens menu as it expands into new states