Wawa DriveThru holds grand opening ceremony in Falls Township

FALLS TOWNSHIP, Pa. - An innovative new Wawa is opening in Bucks County on Friday.

The 1,850 square foot store is located at 549 W. Trenton Avenue in Morrisville and will "solely focus on drive-thru and curbside pickup service," according to a Wawa spokesperson.

Wawa held a socially distant ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday morning to commemorate the location. Wawa representatives and local officials were in attendance to celebrate the store's opening. 

Wawa CEO Chris Gheysens told FOX 29 that the coronavirus pandemic played a factor in Wawa trying an expedited ordering option. Gheysens said the drive-thru idea was something that had been on the "back burner" but came together quickly over a nine month period. 

The challenge for Wawa, unlike many fast food chains that have operated via drive-thru for decades, is their popular made-to-order menu. Gheysens described limiting the menu to balance efficiency and customers' favorite items.

"People come into Wawa and they love customization, they love the breadth of our menu, but the reality here is that we have to skinny it down a bit because we have to get people in and out in about four minutes," Gheysens said. 

"That's really our test. Do customers accept this menu and how do we have to iterate and change it? And can our operations meet the needs of four minutes or less?"

Customers will use "state-of-the-art" technology to place orders for their favorite food and drink items from the comfort of their vehicles. The DriveThru Wawa will be opened from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

A drive-thru location opened in Westampton, New Jersey in December. 

___

For the latest local news, sports and weather, download the FOX 29 News app.

DOWNLOAD: FOX 29 NEWS APP

Sign up for emails from FOX 29, including our daily Good Day Digest newsletter