The Wills Group Inc.

Family-owned since 1926, the Wills Group includes Dash In Food Stores, its c-store chain founded in 1979; Splash In car washes; SMO Motor Fuels, its retail petroleum distribution company offering Shell, Exxon, CITGO and Dash In fuels; and Potomac Energy Holdings, which operates Shell-branded retail locations in central and western Maryland and distributes Shell-branded fuel to other retailers in the region.

The company launched a bean-to-cup coffee program and piloted a self-checkout platform. The stores enhanced the foodservice offering with the introduction of more differentiated menu items while incorporating local flavors. Recent introductions include the Big Country Breakfast Stackadilla, Double Meat and Ulti-Meat pizzas, Honey Old Bay Wings, Italian Sausage and Peppers Sub, a selection of Sandwiches featuring King’s Hawaiian Breads and more.

In 2021, Dash In launched a new mobile customer platform that covers retail purchasing, in-app fuel rewards, order ahead and food delivery features and car wash purchases. Also in 2021, it also began testing a self-checkout kiosk.

For benchmarking purposes, store counts are as of Jan. 1, 2022.