But earlier this year, Wawa quietly switched production to a new factory in a tax-break zone in Vineland - just in time for the company's hippie-themed summer Hoagiefest promotion, with sandwiches starting at $2.99.
The Vineland bakery, Omni Baking Co., is co-owned by Leonard Amoroso and his cousin Daniel Amoroso, in partnership with members of the Mulloy family, who own Ginsburg Bakery Inc. in Atlantic City.
Philadelphia's loss has been Vineland's gain. In January, as the Wawa contract with Amoroso's was running out, Amoroso's told the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry that it was cutting 115 of its nearly 400 Philadelphia workers. Since then, "we laid off about 70," Amoroso said.
In February, Omni told New Jersey it would hire at least 140 workers to prepare the plant to make 28,000 dozen rolls a day for its new customer.
"We're up to about 350 [employees] from 180 a year ago," said Omni co-owner Dan Mulloy. Amoroso's handled about three-quarters of Wawa's rolls; Omni does all of them. Omni's other clients include New York Frozen Foods Inc.
New Jersey taxpayers helped make this possible, with state and local tax breaks and $14 million in cut-rate financing for Omni's expansion.
The bakery owners say it was Wawa that wanted the switch. "It's a project we've been working on for a while. It's all directed by Wawa," Mulloy said.
"For years, they've been looking for ways to eliminate all the trucks going to their stores," Amoroso said. "There's too many trucks in the driveway. Us. The Inquirer. Stroehmann's. Herr's. Tastykake."
Now there's no more Amoroso trucks at Wawa. Instead, Wawa has the Vineland bread hauled to its commissary center near Swedesboro and puts it on Penske trailers that bring it to stores with pretzels, doughnuts, muffins and bagels from Pennsauken-based J&J Snack Foods.
