11 Intriguing Facts About Sheetz You Might Not Know

For many across the country, Sheetz has become an unspoken must-stop for any trip lasting longer than 40 miles. This red-roofed gas station/fast food establishment/convenience store/refillable beverage paradise meets so many needs, making it an unavoidable—dare I say, essential—stop on countless road trips. While the Sheetz phenomenon stretches across Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina, its heart lies in Western and Central Pennsylvania. Here, you'll find a Sheetz almost at every highway exit, with its parking lots serving as impromptu town squares after hours. Let's dive into 11 fascinating facts you may not know about this 600-store mega-chain of super-pit stops. Unless stated otherwise, the history of Sheetz is sourced from Made to Order: The Sheetz Story by Kenneth Womack.

1. Sheetz originated from a business designed to sell surplus milk.

Sheetz’s corporate headquarters are located in Altoona, Pennsylvania, a town that, like Sheetz, rose to significance as a key stopover. Starting in the 19th century, Altoona became a major railway hub. In 1907, J.E. Harshbarger, a farmer’s son from nearby Bellwood, Pennsylvania, noticed that local dairymen were wasting excess milk. To address this, he established a milk distribution system, delivering milk by horse and buggy to Altoona, which at the time had a population of 55,000. By 1941, Harshbarger’s son-in-law, Jerry Sheetz, recognized the decline of home milk delivery and opened five Sheetz Dairy Stores in the city.

2. Sheetz is a family-owned business.

The foundation of Sheetz dates back to 1952 when Jerry Sheetz’s son, Bob, purchased one of his father’s dairy stores. In 1961, Bob’s brother Steve Sheetz joined the venture. Since then, the company has remained in the hands of the Sheetz family and is currently overseen by an Executive Family Leadership Council comprising 11 Sheetz family members spanning three generations.

3. The introduction of "Made to Order" sandwiches in the 1980s helped Sheetz stay afloat.

In 1963, Bob and Steve Sheetz opened their second store, originally called Sheetz Kwik Shopper. They expanded rapidly, introducing groceries and deli counters. By 1972, the company had 10 stores and added gas pumps in 1973. By 1983, Sheetz had grown to 100 locations, functioning as 24/7 gas stations.

The company faced financial struggles due to the high costs of groceries, making it hard to compete with supermarket chains that bought in bulk. Meanwhile, fast food was gaining popularity in the '80s as more households with dual incomes lacked time for cooking and shopping. Sheetz explored several in-house concepts, including the Sandwich Saloon, featuring western-style swinging doors to separate the food service area, and Charlie Chicken, a dive into the fried chicken market.

As Sheetz prepared to spend $25,000 per store to install chicken fryers and showcase its mustached chicken mascot in window displays, Earl Springer, a manager in Williamsport, Maryland, had a game-changing idea. He convinced the Sheetz family to implement “made to order” submarine sandwich stations. Customers could specify exactly what they wanted on their sandwich. The cost for this sandwich-making station was just $1100 (a price that helped explain Subway's rapid expansion in the U.S. at the time). A skeptical Steve Sheetz gave Springer $1100 to give it a shot.

It worked. Thanks to an advertising campaign on a local country music station, customers flocked to try the sandwiches, and soon Sheetz installed these stations at every location. The campaign, dubbed “I Want My M.T.O.,” mirrored the widespread “I Want My MTV” slogan. M.T.O. became a defining feature of Sheetz, where customers could choose from seven types of cheese, request a pretzel bun, and avoid picking tomatoes off their sandwiches. Today, Sheetz offers an M.T.O. menu with items like nachos, hot dogs, burgers, tacos, and wraps, varying by location.

4. Sheetz offers some truly unusual fried foods.

The M.T.O. menu is a staple of the Sheetz experience, but the chain keeps its loyal customers excited by rolling out specialty items, many of which are fried, including fried cheese curds, fried Oreos, and the fan-favorite fried macaroni and cheese balls.

5. Sheetz was among the pioneers in using touch-screen technology for ordering.

In collaboration with a niche tech company, Sheetz developed touchscreen computers to replace cards and small pencils for ordering M.T.O. items. The first touchscreen computer was installed in an Altoona store in 1994, and the company soon made them a standard feature across all locations.

6. A fierce rivalry exists, particularly among customers, between Sheetz and another convenience store chain in Pennsylvania.

While Sheetz is ubiquitous across Pennsylvania, its reach diminishes in the Philadelphia region, where Wawa, a 700-location convenience store and gas station chain, reigns supreme. Wawa, like Sheetz, is a family-owned business founded in the mid-1900s, with a cult following in the local community for its made-to-order fast food offerings. The two chains only overlap in a few areas, based on a map created by an actual NASA cartographer.

Despite their rivalry, the leadership of Sheetz and Wawa maintains a friendly relationship. “Our families started out as really good friends,” Ryan Sheetz, director of brand strategy, told Thrillist. Steve Sheetz served on Wawa’s board, and a member of the Wood family, who owns Wawa, also sat on Sheetz’s board. According to Ryan, the families helped each other out in the early days. “The similarities aren’t accidental. We shared a lot of our good ideas with each other,” he explained.

7. Sheetz adds a z to spice up its menu items and highlight its charitable endeavors.

Jerry Sheetz, who transformed his father-in-law’s dairy company into what would become Sheetz stores, was originally born Jerry Sheets. After receiving a misspelled nametag at a dairy convention reading “Jerry Sheetz,” he decided to keep it. He even went so far as to obtain a new birth certificate in Harrisburg, simply stating, “I like it better.”

Today, Sheetz sporadically replaces 's' with 'z' on signs and social media, adding a unique touch to its branding. While the reasoning behind selling “burgerz” and “fryz” remains a well-guarded company secret, they don’t apply the 'z' to French toast sticks or apple fritters, leaving customers to wonder about the internal logic behind these quirky choices.

The company is strategic in branding its charitable initiatives with a z, such as the Sheetz for Kidz holiday toy drives and the Kidz Meal Bagz lunch program, designed to support children facing food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

8. Sheetz keeps cigarette prices as low as possible to encourage customer visits.

In the early 1990s, Sheetz introduced its own cigarette brand called Jacks. This was part of an experiment with in-house brands, which also included the short-lived, heavily advertised cola brand It! (exclamation points included).

Jacks were priced at $1 per pack, while the average pack cost $1.40. As smoking declined, tobacco companies raised prices to maintain their profit margins. Ironically, Sheetz made less profit from Jacks, earning 15 cents per pack, compared to 45 cents per pack on Marlboros or Camels. However, the low price on cigarettes drew customers in, and naturally, most left with more than just their tobacco purchase.

“Sandwiches were up, drinks were up, candy bars were up,” said Louie Sheetz, brother to Steve and Bob, in an interview for Made to Order. “The discounted cigarettes were bringing in foot traffic, and customers were buying other products.”

Cheap cigarettes might be a shadowy, cancerous contributor to Sheetz's success. Although the company stopped selling Jacks, it continues to offer cigarettes at the lowest price permitted by state law.

9. There is a Sheetz-themed podcast.

Since October 2018, two Pittsburgh residents, Alyse and Suds, have recorded over 30 episodes of Freakz in the Sheetz, a podcast dedicated entirely to Sheetz. Many of the episodes last over an hour as they recap their Sheetz visits. (Suds: “What did you think of the chicken sandwich?” Alyse: “It was good. The honey mustard could’ve been better though; it was a bit runny.”) They talk about differences between Sheetz locations. (Alyse: “Some of the Sheetz around here don’t have milkshake machines or slushy machines.”) They also attempt to define what Sheetz truly is—something more than a gas station but not quite a restaurant. (Suds: “When do you think Sheetz will have its first waiter or waitress?” Alyse: “I don’t see that happening.” Suds: “They do have drive-throughs now.” Alyse: “The closest thing I’ve seen to a waiter or waitress is someone coming out of a Sheetz drive-through to deliver food to someone who had to wait.”)

10. Sheetz celebrates the holidays by offering free coffee.

In the holiday spirit, Sheetz gives away free coffee to customers visiting on Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day. In 2020, due to COVID-19 precautions, it adapted this tradition by offering one free cup per week to loyalty cardholders and app users throughout December and January to avoid large crowds.

11. Sheetz is making its move into Columbus, Ohio.

While Sheetz is hesitant to challenge Wawa's dominance, it is focused on extending its reach westward. The company plans to open more than 50 stores in the Columbus region by 2025, with an investment of $250 million. “We’re not entering this market lightly, that’s for sure,” Sheetz president and CEO Travis Sheetz cautioned.