Because Wawa is indisputably and overwhelmingly better than 7-Eleven in the US (Japan is a completely different story). Every time I (reluctantly) walk into a 7-Eleven there’s an acrid, gag-inducing smell in the store–no matter where it is. Compare the sad, wrinkly, grease-coated hot dogs rolling on the grill at any 7-Eleven with the freshly-made-to-order food at Wawa. It’s a no-brainer.
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Funny, when you mentioned the gag-inducing smell my mind immediately went to those hot dogs 
Waffle House is the “I went to the fights and a hockey game broke out” of the all-day breakfast place places.
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So… couple of thousand visits?
Just kiddin’.
My go-to late night after drinks place was called (IIRC now, so many years later) “Steak-n-Egg Kitchen”.
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Indeed.
Not food per se, but the best craft beer selection is at, of all places, a corner Shell gas station.
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Non-chain stuff, you mean? Around here some really killer bbq is at a gas station near my daughter’s house. They’ve been there for ages, it seems. They compete against a local cop friend of mine (who runs his bbq business weekends only) and win a lot of them.
There’s a really great taco joint in a local BP-Amoco. They also have a food truck that draws crowds.
My family’s favorite Greek sit-down, white-tablecloth place is in another BP-Amoco, but so far as I know, those two businesses are not affiliated, and they put up a more or less permanent wall dividing the space, and cut new entrances for the resto. The restaurant only seats about 20.
Our favorite Mexican place shared half the space of what had been a monster beverage/liquor mart. I kept telling the proprietor of the liquor store he was going to get run out of business because his prices were considerably off-scale vs. his competitors. He scoffed at me (“Ima b-ness man and you’re NOT” (despite this being his first business venture)) and he went under about 6 months later. The next guy in bought his inventory at cost, got permission to sublet part of the space and threw up a wall to set off the restaurant.
Then the landlord insanely jacked their rents - in 2021, during the pandemic - and lost both businesses. I don’t know where the liquor business went, but I still visit Oscar in his new, more reasonably priced restaurant space.
Almost 3 years later, that space is still empty. Serves the greedy basto right!
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We rotated between three different diners and Steve’s Prince of Steaks. I think the destination depended on who was driving that night (scary . . . but we lived to tell the story).
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That’s different from WaWa or Sheetz, tho, which both make their own food. Our Unimart back home has a fab Oaxacan taco place inside. It opened my eyes (and tastebuds!) for Mexican food 
We do have some Krispy Krunchy chicken in gas stations here, and some indies like Halal King in Richmond, CA, also in a gas station.
Also, some truck stops have Punjabi food. Gift link:
ETA: I posted about Halal King before I got to ML8000’s post.
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This is a great story from more than 4 years ago that I will always remember.
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We had AMAZING Indian food in July and again in August at a place called Spice Hut in Lenoir City, TN—located inside a gas station (and don’t miss the fireworks stand in the parking lot!) right off I-75. It’s actually a full-service restaurant, owned/staffed by Indian immigrants, and has the most Indian-from-India menu I’ve ever seen in the US outside Edison NJ. I’ve taken about 25 trips to India over the years, and there are dishes you get there that you’ll never see on a menu in this country—unless you go to Spice Hut. They even made me a fresh lime soda, my favorite Indian beverage, and not on the menu. The food was excellent, so good that we made a point of going back for a second meal on our way home, too.
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I remember that too. In fact, last fall when I drove my mom’s car from LA to DC, I stopped at a few of them. Great, simple Indian fare.
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Oh yeah–loads of gas station taco trucks in the Bay Area.
