WaWa, a Philadelphia area filling station chain that sets itself apart with better fresh food, is lining up sites for expanding into the Orlando and Tampa Bay areas.

Unlike rival megastations that rely on cashiers for food prep, the typical WaWa is staffed with a dozen people most of the time, with two or three full-timers assigned to tend the fresh food counter.

The standard fare includes 10 soups, built-to-suit sandwiches, flatbread quesadillas, salads and hot to-go bowls. Open 24/7, WaWa gets its name from an American Indian word for the Canada goose, a bird common to the Delaware Valley. Stores stock 6,000 items, four times as many as a 7-Eleven. Direct competitors for gas prices are Hess and RaceTrac.

Family owned for three generations, the 560-store chain grew out of a century-old dairy company that branched into farm store retailing in 1964. Today, employees own 29 percent of the company through a stock-ownership plan.

This is WaWa's first expansion south of Virginia. The company envisions opening up to 15 Central Florida locations in two years.

"We've planned this new journey south for a long time," said WaWa spokeswoman Lori Bruce.