Wawa to Dawa: What's up with that name?

Wawa Inc. is unhappy with a North Jersey convenience store owner - and not because the guy offers a “Philly cheesesteak” with ketchup and mayo.

Instead, Wawa’s gone to federal court in Camden over the name of Mike Han’s shop in Paterson, Passaic County.

It's Dawa Food Mart.

“Dawa means ‘welcome’ in my language,” says Han, a Korean who opened his store a little over two years ago in a largely industrial area between a rail line and the Passaic River.

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“Everybody’s welcome here,” he explains.

Well, maybe not everybody.

In its trademark infringement lawsuit, Wawa says Dawa is taking advantage of the larger firm’s hard-earned reputation.

And what a reputation, if Wawa does say so itself.

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The company says its “noted and devoted following” has been documented by the Harvard Business Review. It adds “unsolicited media coverage” includes being name-dropped “in movies and television shows, such as the popular sitcom, 'The Goldbergs.'"

Why, the Pennsylvania-based firm “also is heralded by celebrities.” I'm guessing that's a reference to Baba Wawa.

Now, at first glance, Dawa’s no Wawa.

For instance, a sign outside the Paterson business touts "Bronx-style pizza and chicken." I don't go to Wawa for Bronx-style anything.

According to an online menu, Dawa offers Jamaican beef patties instead of Sizzlis, coco bread instead of soft pretzels and four coffee products, compared to 768 at Wawa. (I'm estimating on that last one.)

And frankly, based on online photos, Dawa's not nearly as nice as your typical Wawa.

That’s part of the problem, says Wawa spokeswoman Lori Bruce.

“We have an obligation to protect consumers from any likelihood of confusion … and to protect the brand name, goodwill and reputation that we’ve worked so hard to build over the past 50 years,” she says.

Indeed, a suspicious mind might see some similarities in signs outside the businesses.

Most notably, Wawa has a goose over the middle of its name. Dawa has a similarly positioned leaf.

That goose explains, by the way, why Wawa's Wawa.

The company, which started in 1803 as an iron foundry and began home delivery of dairy products in the early 1900s, is based in Wawa, Pennsylvania. And the town took its identity from a Native American word for Canada goose.

The lawsuit’s hardly a first for Wawa, which launched its retail chain in 1964 and now has more than 700 outlets in six states.

The company in 2010 sued a Baltimore man who operated Wawa Tours. The next year it went after a Fort Lee computer-entertainment business, Wawa Games.

The hoagie-maker prevailed in both of those suits in a matter of weeks.

Bruce notes Wawa, which has stores about 20 miles from Passaic, reached out to Dawa “on multiple occasions to resolve this matter privately and amicably."

“We wish them nothing but success,” she says. "Just without our name included."

Jim Walsh's column runs in print Fridays. Reach him at jwalsh@gannettnj.com or (856) 486-2646.