Wawa broke ground on stores last week in Pompano Beach and West Palm Beach, Fla., as the Delaware County-based chain of convenience stores is set to reach 100 locations in the Sunshine State by November, writes Brian Bandell for the South Florida Business Journal.

Four years after entering the region of central Florida, Wawa currently has 90 stores and more than 3,500 employees in the state.

“We had people who didn’t know what a Wawa was, and now they’re running some of our best stores in Florida,” said Wawa CEO Chris Gheysens.

According to Bandell, Wawa is one of the largest employee-owned companies in the country. Gheysens said it has about 200 employees who own over $1 million in stock, thanks to its free stock compensation program.

Gheysens said that each store is an investment of about $6 million. Each location typically employs 40 workers who earn a minimum starting wage of $10 an hour.

Click here to read more about Wawa’s burgeoning empire in the Sunshine State from the South Florida Business Journal.