Today, we review the Cold Wawa Gobbler. In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, many chains offer turkey-themed sandwiches. For several years, Wawa has offered various sandwiches labeled “Gobbler,” available both hot and cold, for a limited time each Fall season. The Cold Wawa Gobbler uses sliced turkey deli meat and, as the name indicates, is served cold. The Hot Wawa Gobbler options are different – they feature carved turkey and are served hot, as the name suggests.
Wawa is a convenience store and gas chain located mainly in Mid-Atlantic and Florida. As of 2023, there are 1,032 locations. It was founded by Graham Wood in 1964. Before 1964, the Wood family had been in the dairy business. While many will say Wawa is a gas station, its roots are as a convenience store, and it did not have its first gas station until 1995.
As for the Gobbler sandwiches, Wawa has been doing them for nearly two decades.
The Construction
The Cold Wawa Gobbler has a simple foundation—sliced oven-roasted turkey (deli meat) and stuffing. You have a variety of available condiment options. I tried to stick to the foundation, but I made two modifications. First, I added cranberry sauce, which was not a default. Second, I opted to have the bread (but not the sandwich) toasted. Wawa’s bread is simply too soft for me, and I wanted to get a little more of a crust from the tasting.
My sandwich did not include mayonnaise. Even though mayonnaise is not listed as a default, I have found it as a default when placing an order at the kiosks for the locations below. Simply put, I don’t like mayonnaise, so I made sure it wasn’t part of the sandwich.
- Wawa Oven Roasted Turkey (Default)
- Stuffing (Default)
- Cranberry sauce (Default)
- No Mayonnaise
- White Bread (Toasted)
- Size: Classic (10 inches)
- Sandwiches Eaten: 2
- Location: Jacksonville, FL and Hialeah Gardens, FL
- Price: $8.29
One note: the Wawa Hot Gobblers are different. Not only do they use carved turkey instead of deli turkey, but they also offer additional options, such as mashed potatoes and gravy on the sandwich. These extra options are not available for the Cold Gobbler.
The Experience
We used the same scoring as we did for our Turkey Sub Quest series for this assessment.
- Meat/Cheese 4 points
- Bread: 2 points
- Condiments: 2 points
- Intangibles: 2 points
Meat
Wawa has a good deli turkey. I’ve had it on other deli sandwiches for Wawa. The turkey is nestled in between the cranberry sauce and stuffing for the Cold Gobbler. This turkey has a very slight smokiness. I also like the fact there was trim on each turkey slice. The turkey was sliced thin enough for me, and the quantity on the sandwich was good.
Score: 2.50 out of 4.00 points
Bread
Even though it has a slight crust, Wawa’s bread tends to be on the softer side. Therefore, I opted for toasted bread to enhance the crust a little more. While the toasting gave a little more crust, it came at a slight cost, as the crust flaked off the bread.
As always, Wawa’s white hoagie roll has a slightly dusted bottom – something that I like. I couldn’t determine whether this was dusted with flour or cornmeal,
Score: 1.25 out of 2 points
Condiments
As mentioned, this is a simple sandwich with only two condiments: cranberry sauce and stuffing. Recently, the KMA Talk Radio team debated whether cranberry sauce is a condiment or a side dish. In most cases, it’s a side dish, but with the Cold Wawa Gobbler, it definitely is a condiment along with the stuffing.
The cranberry sauce was slightly jellied with some berries mixed in. It was placed on the upper part of the sandwich. The sweetness level was ideal for me.
While I normally want a little more savoriness from my stuffing, this was still quite good. In fact, I’ve ordered it standalone from Wawa in the past. For the Cold Gobbler, the stuffing is placed on the lower part of the sandwich.
The quantities of the condiments also worked well for me
Score: 1.25 out of 2 points
Intangibles
When it came to the Cold Gobbler, I found the ratios of the turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing to be perfect.
The ingredients meshed well together, but I didn’t quite get the wow factor. I was looking for more magic when the whole sandwich was put together. While I liked many of this sandwich’s components, the overall score did not exceed the sum of the parts. The toasted bread, which I thought would enhance the experience, didn’t change much about the sandwich. While it wasn’t overly messy, some cranberry sauce occasionally dripped out.
When I assessed the Firehouse Thanksgiving Turkey Sub, cranberry sauce overpowered that sandwich. Cranberry sauce is often sweet by nature, and while it’s not as dominant on the Cold Wawa Gobbler, it still puts the turkey and stuffing into a stepchild role.
Score: 1.00 out of 2 points
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
While Wawa did not invent the Gobbler concept, one can argue they popularized it. Regarding the Gobblers, I will tell you my preference is the Cold Wawa Gobbler over the Hot Gobbler. At the same time, I’m still more inclined to reach for a Wawa Turkey and Provolone over the Cold Wawa Gobbler. Ultimately, I think it’s hard to combine the three ingredients of the Wawa (turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce) to make it work. Yes, they taste good, but there are other sandwiches out there that taste better.
Coming in at $8.29, this is not a bad price for a 10-inch sub. While I might tire of it year-round, I can see myself looking forward to satisfying my craving for a Gobbler next November and eating it again.
Summary
| Meat (4) | 2.50 |
| Bread (2) | 1.25 |
| Condiments (2) | 1.25 |
| Intangibles (2) | 1.00 |
| Total (10) | 6.00 |
Score: 6.00 (out of 10 points)
Value: Slightly Above Average
Photo Credits: Cigar Coop
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