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Wawa chief Chris Gheysens on growth of company, waistlines

A pint of ice cream, lurking innocently in the freezer, is a dangerous thing. Chris Gheysens, 45, Wawa chief executive, knows it all too well. "My favorite Wawa ice cream is cookie dough. I've definitely been known to double dip, maybe triple dip.

Chris Gheysens in Center City: "Everyone's fighting for a share of stomach."
Chris Gheysens in Center City: "Everyone's fighting for a share of stomach."Read moreALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer

A pint of ice cream, lurking innocently in the freezer, is a dangerous thing.

Chris Gheysens, 45, Wawa chief executive, knows it all too well. "My favorite Wawa ice cream is cookie dough. I've definitely been known to double dip, maybe triple dip.

"But, if I want a Wawa treat, I'm a cheesecake smoothie guy," Gheysens said. "They are amazing and reduce stress with the first sip."

Stress reduction matters to someone like Gheysens, who leads a company that is growing by a store a week.

Does the competition stress you out? So many Wawa grocery staples, such as milk and bread, can be bought anywhere, including the local drugstore.

Everyone's fighting for a share of stomach: Dunkin', McDonald's, Starbucks, Subway. They're fulfilling a need of fresh, built to order, for people on the go. So that's what we think of our universe: Fast, easy, on-the-go - all of those are competitors. But Walgreens and CVS, they're the number-one competition for us, largely on real estate.

Really?

They want to be on the corner of Main Street and Main Street just like us, on a parcel with two acres of land that has lots of cars in both directions, great access. But they also compete with us on the fill-in purchase.

Speaking of competition, how are you handling the rivalry with Sheetz, the popular family-owned Western Pennsylvania convenience chain now heading east.

The Sheetzes run a good company. We're friendly. Their CEO, Joe Sheetz, spends time in Wawa territory down in Stone Harbor, so he's in our stores a lot.

Sheetz and Wawa, underneath the veneer of what the stores look like, are very similar - food service, lots of innovation around fresh food. Unique at what we do.

We both focus on customers, so it's just the veneer of the brand. We come off a little bit more conservative and they would come off a little bit more flashy.

We compete with them in southeast Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Neither of us have a lot of fun where we compete because they're a tough competitor.

Emotionally as well, right?

It's a rivalry just like any regional rivalry. Just like the Flyers here and the Penguins in Pittsburgh. We're squarely Philadelphia Wawa and they're squarely Western Pa.

Any thoughts about raising Wawa's minimum hourly wage to $15?

It's in our plans. Our minimum is now $10 an hour. I'm a little bit on the different side from most in the retail industry. When you look at our business model, I think we can absorb that type of cost much better than most of our competitors.

When you think of your traditional convenience stores, [with their] mix of profit - they don't have the fresh food. They are living off cigarettes, snacks, packaged goods, and gas - all generally dwindling categories with very low margins. So they don't have the financial bandwidth.

How about turnover?

Most of our turnover happens in the first 90 days. One of the root causes is people weren't sure of what they were [getting into]. They were customers, but didn't realize how hard the job was.

Is free Wawa coffee enough of a perk to help you attract the talent you need?

Our employment brand has really changed with the entry into Florida and us being more viewed now as a national player rather than just regional. People who have been general managers of Walmart, Panera, Starbucks are now running our stores. All that said, three out of four we want to promote internally.

What's the best advice you've received as a leader?

Howard Stoeckel, the former CEO and one of my best mentors, said, 'You have to carve out time for yourself to think and to just get out of the office.' Early on, I was not very good at that. I was overwhelmed, frankly. Between the external commitments, the internal commitments, your day can look crazy quickly.

Interview questions and answers have been edited for space.

jvonbergen@phillynews.com

215-854-2769@JaneVonBergen