Fast food restaurants inside gas stations/convenience stores are all the rage — think brands like Wawa, Sheetz, and Royal Farm. Each has a full-fledged restaurant inside where you can get a variety of things like burgers, subs, chicken or other items.
Recently, the growing brand Dash-In opened its first area location in South Riding — also featuring a chef-curated, full-on restaurant.
And of course, locally, the Rubino family — known for their Rubino’s Pizzerias — opened three convenience stores called The Filling Co. — each with a well-reviewed restaurant inside.
Now, another local gas station brand is getting in on the action. The folks over at Schmitz Service stations are adding a restaurant to one of their Ashburn convenience stores — with plans to expand the concept.
It’s called Gastro High Octane Eats — and its first location opened today — Monday, May 20 — at the A-Plus convenience store located at the intersection of Loudoun County Parkway and Russell Branch Parkway. It’s paired with a Sunoco gas station right next door the the giant Flagship car wash.
Gastro will offer a full menu including breakfast sandwiches and sides, and artisan sandwiches such as a Chicago-style roast beef sandwich and a honey baked ham Cubano-style sandwich.
It will also have salads, pizzas, sides, and desserts. We’ve included an image of the menu board below.
We spoke with Eric Schmitz, owner of Schmitz Service stations, and he said opening this first Gastro is a way to stay competitive in an ever-changing industry.
He also said that they considered some of the franchise food brands that are out there, but ultimately decided to create their own brand and menu where they would be able to make sure everything is top quality.
According to the company website, Schmitz operates seven gas stations and c-stores, including six found in Ashburn and Leesburg.
If this test location of Gastro High Octane Eats goes well, the plan calls for the company to roll it out to some or all of its other stores.