Wawa's reign atop a national customer ranking of convenience store chains has come to an end.
Kwik Trip, the Midwest chain known for its bakery and made-to-order food, took the top spot in this year's survey by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Wawa tied for second place with rival Pennsylvania chain Sheetz, which rose from sixth place in last year's ranking.
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ACSI conducts annual customer satisfaction surveys across a range of industries. The agency started tracking convenience stores last year, noting how the top chains in the category have become legitimate competitors with fast-food restaurants. Delaware County-based Wawa, whose cult status has been buoyed by an aggressive U.S. expansion and national exposure from HBO's "Mare of Easttown," had the top score in ACSI's inaugural ranking last year.
This year's survey included responses from about 8,600 people who were chosen at random between October 2024 and September 2025.
Consumers were asked to rate their satisfaction in areas such as food and coffee quality, reliability of apps, speed to checkout, store location, and layout and cleanliness. Scores were assigned on an index scale of 0-100.
Kwik Trip, the fuel and convenience chain based in Wisconsin, earned this year's highest overall score of 84 with a six-point improvement over last year's survey. Wawa held steady at 82, while Sheetz jumped three points from 79 last year. Oklahoma-based QuikTrip — not to be confused with Kwik Trip — came in fourth place with a score of 81. Buc-ee's, another cult favorite chain based in Texas, landed in fifth place with a score of 80 after losing one point from last year's survey.
With nearly 900 locations in six Midwestern states, Kwik Trip stands out for having a small grocery section at its stores. The made-to-order menu includes fried chicken, pizza, burgers, soups and sides. The chain also has its own branded coffee line Karuba and a bakery known for its donuts and muffins. Its brand partnerships include affiliations with a handful of pro sports teams, including the Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Bucks.
Among survey takers in the Northeast, ACSI has Wawa and Sheetz deadlocked with an overall score of 82. The chains have slowly begun encroaching on each other's Pennsylvania footprints, with Wawa adding a number of stores in central Pennsylvania and Sheetz countering with at least one store under construction in Montgomery County.
Wawa's aggressive U.S. expansion in recent years has taken the company into 13 states, including new stores that have opened in North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio. This year's ACSI survey found that Wawa is now the preferred convenience store among customers in the South, where the company narrowly beat out Buc-ee's. In September, Florida surpassed New Jersey as the state with the most Wawa stores.
Out west, where there are no dominant regional convenience store brands, 7-Eleven got the top score in ACSI's survey with a 76. Gas station Chevron came in second with a 74.
Nationally, the survey found that 64% of customers enrolled in rewards programs at convenience stores visit their top chains weekly. Only 45% of customers not signed up for loyalty programs said they go to convenience stores on a weekly basis. Rewards members also gave convenience stores better scores across all categories than non-members.
Industry-wide, convenience stores earned an overall customer satisfaction score of 76 for the second year in a row. The biggest improvement came in customer ratings of mobile app quality, which rose three points this year to a score of 84.
Industries with the highest overall customer satisfaction scores in ACSI surveys were soft drinks (84), athletic shoes (83) and non-hospital care (83). Breweries, full-service restaurants and TV manufacturers followed closely with overall scores of 82 each. The lowest-rated industries were subscription TV service (70), U.S. Postal Service (71) and internet service providers (72).