Hamburg celebrates National Pretzel Day

National Pretzel Day was April 26 and Philly Pretzel Factory celebrated the day by giving away a free pretzel to every customer and the first 100 customers in the door received a card that allows them to get a free pretzel every day in May.

Philly Pretzel Factory in Hamburg was no exception and enjoys being able to give back to their loyal customers and embracing the community.

‘It’s our way of saying thanks to the community and all of our customers,’ said Terence Ryan, owner of the Hamburg store.

The first National Pretzel Day was declared by Robert S. Walker in 1983. It was in April 2003 that Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell re-declared the holiday.

‘We give away free pretzels as a reward to all of our loyal customers that are so supportive to Philly Pretzel Factory throughout the year,’ said Marty Ferrill, President of the company. ‘We have a good percentage of customers that visit their local Philly Pretzel Factory two to three times per week. We decided to give away the free pretzel every day in May as an added bonus to our fanatical customers that visit on National Pretzel Day.’

Ryan still remembers his first experience with the company when he went in; tried one and thought the pretzels were great. The employee sold him three pretzels and then asked if he was an Eagles fan. After answering yes, the employee then added a fourth pretzel for free. The experience is one that Ryan never forgot.

‘It’s a fun business,’ said Ryan. He added that he enjoys getting people interested in the pretzels and seeing their reactions which is something he has the chance to see often on National Pretzel Day.

Earlier in the week, Ryan estimated that they were expecting 200 plus people on the day. In the past, the crowd was manageable with the busiest time being during lunch. All of the pretzels are made at the location including special shapes for holidays and custom shapes for events.

‘It’s great for the community,’ said Ferrill. ‘We see families visiting all day. Kids come in after school for their free pretzel. I think customers in our community really appreciate that we dedicate a day to give them a free pretzel.’

According to Ferrill, the event is bigger every year with customers looking forward to the day. He recalled one customer commenting on Facebook that he was planning to camp out in front of the store so he could be one of the first people in the store.

This year, Philly Pretzel Factory launched a website, freepretzels.com, so that fans that could not make it out to store would be able to go to the website and would then be emailed a coupon for a free pretzel.