“We’re spreading the Wawa love!” an employee of the convenience store shouted into a bullhorn outside the Newseum on Tuesday evening.

Dozens of Washingtonians gathered inside of a tent emblazoned with “Wawa” to get free t-shirts and pose with a giant sandwich mascot named “Shorti.”

“I’m from New Jersey, so I’ve been going to Wawa since I was a child,” says Hallie Mansbach, who had been posing at the Wawa selfie station with her friend, a giant cardboard cut-out of coffee, and a hoagie.

And she’ll be seeing a lot more of it in her chosen home. The Pennsylvania-based convenience store is looking to open a total of 50 stores in Washington D.C., beginning with the largest Wawa to date.

The first Wawa in D.C. will open by the end of the year at 1111 19th Street NW, as we reported, and the company presented renderings of that store at an event on Tuesday evening at the Newseum. (Notably, while the event had Wawa coffee, those expecting the company’s famous hoagies were doomed to disappointment—the Newseum was catering.)

The 9,200 square foot downtown location will be the first Wawa with a bevy of seating options inside, along with outdoor seating—the company’s first foray into a sidewalk cafe. All of this will comprise the “Wild Goose Cafe,” named for the company’s mascot.

But that location is part of a much larger expansion: Wawa is projecting 5-10 stores within two years, 10-20 stores within five years, and a total of 30-50 stores in total. Neighborhoods under consideration include Georgetown, West End, East End, NoMa, Capitol Hill, Capitol Riverfront, and the central business district.

Each location will employ between 70 to 100 full- and part-time employees, says John Poplawski, Wawa’s senior director of site acquisition and development.

Most of the stores in D.C. will be what Wawa refers to as its “Urban Model,” meaning they won’t include gas stations and will instead focus on their food offerings.

When news first broke that Wawa planned to open up shop in the District, most of the reactions were intense and spirited. (The company had some of the exclamatory tweets up on a screen.)

Wawa president and CEO Chris Gheysens, in addressing a room full of real estate developers and business folks, said “Someone in this room is a leaker,” referring to Popville publishing an invitation for the evening’s presentation.

Within an hour after that, according to Gheysens, 600 customers reached out to ask to be included in the Newseum event. That’s why the company decided to set up the tent outside.

Indeed, the company attributes the series of leaks about their planned locations to “the passion about our brand,” says Poplawski, who declined to confirm whether the other locations were accurate.

Even as Wawa plans its District-wide expansion, it will also continue to open stores in Virginia and Maryland, among other locations. Currently, it has 757 stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida.

Opening shop in suburban Virginia and Maryland pits Wawa against Sheetz, a rival Pennsylvania-based convenience store.

“They do a nice job as well,” says Poplawski about Sheetz. But he’s not expecting to see the chain make its way within city limits. “They don’t really do urban stores.”