7 Things Weigel’s Does in East Tennessee Beyond Filling Your Tank

Some stops are just for gas, and some turn into part of the neighborhood.

Tennesseans who stop at Weigel’s in the eastern part of the state may not see all of it from the parking lot.

Here’s a look at what the chain is up to around East Tennessee.

1. Football Friday Votes

Weigel’s runs a Football Friday during the 2026 football season, and you can open the app on a Friday to vote for a participating local school.

One of Weigel’s homepage posts said that week’s vote was for Sevier County high schools, with participating stores listed from Dolly Parton Parkway to Wears Valley Road.

At the end of each weekly voting period, the school with the most votes wins a $500 donation for its athletic program.

You could get a whole pizza for $8 with your MyWeigel’s Rewards at participating stores that day.

One participating voter will also have the chance to be selected as the winner of free pizza slices for a year.

2. Auto Spa

Weigel’s first Auto Spa opened on Bill Bell Road, next to its Powell store, in July 2025, CStore Decisions reported.

The site has a wash tunnel, smart vacuum stations and license plate recognition.

The Auto Spa’s website lists Ellie’s Graphene Monthly Membership.

With that membership, you get 20 cents off up to 20 gallons of fuel once a month when you visit a Weigel’s store.

If you’re a MyWeigel’s Rewards member, Weigel’s said in its grand-opening release that you earn loyalty points with every wash, just as you would on fuel and in-store purchases.

3. Tennessee Milk

If you buy a jug at Weigel’s, the company says the milk came from East Tennessee cows.

The milk can get from the farm to your table in less than 24 hours.

Knox TN Today reported in 2019 that Weigel’s sold more than 2.5 million gallons of Tennessee milk a year across the 67 East Tennessee stores it had then.

The Weigel family entered the dairy business in 1931 with four cows and sold raw milk for nine cents a gallon.

The company bought a pasteurizer in 1936, and it says that made its dairy among the first in East Tennessee to distribute pasteurized milk.

4. Dippin’ Chicken

The fresh food page on weigels.com describes Weigel’s Dippin’ Chicken as never frozen, hand-breaded and made fresh to order.

You can pick from seven sauces: Signature, Weigel’s Hot, Hot Honey, Honey Mustard, Caribbean Jerk, Buffalo and Barbeque.

Its rolled biscuits and traditional two-piece biscuits are all made fresh daily, and chicken is among the biscuit varieties you can order.

5. Delivery

In July 2026, Weigel’s said it had more than tripled the annualized run rate of its delivery business between December 2025 and July 2026.

You can order through the Weigel’s website or app, or through DoorDash and Uber Eats.

Its rewards program is built into ordering on its website and app, so you can earn MyWeigel’s Rewards points there.

Weigel’s says delivery orders for donuts peak between midnight and 1 a.m., and that each store receives fresh donuts from its commissary around 11 p.m. each night.

6. Family Christmas

Weigel's said in December 2025 that its Family Christmas would send 300 children shopping at Target.

Each child, ages five to eight, would get $250 for a personalized shopping experience.

The day would start with a holiday breakfast at the Knoxville Expo Center.

If you're picturing a small toy drive, Weigel's says the program has now served more than 5,300 children since it began.

If you're wondering how the children are chosen, the Salvation Army and the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley help identify them.

7. Service Dog Donations

Smoky Mountain Service Dogs, an East Tennessee nonprofit, received $40,000 from Weigel's in November 2025, the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) reported.

The group is a nonprofit that trains and provides mobility and psychiatric service dogs to veterans and first responders living with service-related disabilities.

You can trace the tie back to 2017, when Weigel's says it launched its Wags for Warriors donations campaign, with the collected revenue going to the group.

If you're curious what the training involves, Weigel's says it takes more than 1,800 hours and $22,000 or more to train one assistance dog.

NACS also reported in February 2026 that Weigel's took part in a Passing of the Leash ceremony.

The ceremony is the formal placement of a specially trained service dog with a veteran or first responder.

How the Stores Grew

Weigel's says its first Farm Store opened at 2910 Sanderson Road in Knoxville on December 9, 1958.

Ellie the Cow first appeared on the Jug O' Milk sign there.

The company built ten more Milk Depot Farm Stores between 1960 and 1963, then opened its first Walk-In Weigel's Convenience Store in June 1964.

That store on Oak Ridge Highway measured 1,800 square feet.

If you pick up an Icee at Weigel's, the company brought the drink to Knoxville in 1967.

Its first self-serve pumps went in at a Farm Store on Emory Road in 1970.

By 1979, Weigel's had grown to 30 stores, all in the Knoxville area.

If you've ever ordered food at a Weigel's, that started with the Summit Hill store, which opened in 1985.

Store 93 opened in Kingsport in 2019, and the company says it is the farthest Weigel's from the original Broadacre Dairy, 110 miles away.