QuickChek or Wawa? Which one is growing faster in NJ?

QuickChek or Wawa?

It’s an age-old question — one just as New Jersey as whether you call it Taylor Ham or pork roll.

But it seems almost every week, news headlines read that a new QuickChek or Wawa has broken ground or opened its doors.

This week alone, we’re seeing the introduction of a QuickChek on Route 46 in Totowa, and a Wawa in Ramsey on Thursday — one of the first North Jersey Wawa's.

So we were curious about how the two iconic New Jersey brands were faring. Which one is growing faster? Which one has more name recognition?

By the numbers

Wawa has 282 stores across New Jersey, including one that’s opening in Ramsey this week, according to spokesperson Lori Bruce. QuickChek on the other hand has 162 stores in New Jersey.

Bruce said there are plans for another 15 in New Jersey through the end of the year, while Don Leech, Divisional Vice President, said there’s plans for up to two stores through the end of this year, and up to six stores in New Jersey through the end of next year.

Related: Wawa and QuickChek are NJ staples. Why aren't they found in its biggest cities?

According to the QuickChek website, there are plans for one store in East Hanover and another in Scotch Plains.

“Just looking for sites and just keep expanding our current market as we continue to grow,” Leech said in an interview.

Each to its own

While that may seem like a lot on paper, it’s really not, explained Arturo Osorio Fernandez, a management and global business professor at Rutgers University.

“If placed on a map there is a geographical pattern of service-overlap on highways and heavy traffic areas,” he said. “Yet you will also see that they have no real overlap. Each brand serves a different area. And there are even areas that are not served by either of them.”

USA Today Network New Jersey partner the Asbury Park Press ran a poll in 2018 asking readers whether they preferred QuickChek or Wawa. Of the 1,630 respondents, 68.16% sided with Wawa and 30.61% sided with QuickChek.

In a StudyLogic survey, a market research company, QuickChek came in first place for “overall satisfaction, price value and recommendation in the third quarter of 2015.” Wawa came in second.

Jersey strong

Wawa “is considered to be an NJ store by locals,” Fernandez said, despite being based out of Pennsylvania, “because of its largest presence in the area.”

With QuickChek, he said, “the brand is linked to green practices and transparency, [t]hus presenting itself as a more environmentally conscious business that seeks to provide freshness and convenience.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Wawa or QuickCheck? Which NJ restaurant is growing faster