For pretzel makers, spring is the busiest time of the year and Saturday is their busiest day of the week. So what better time to give away the marquee product?
On Saturday, April 26, the favored snack of Pennsylvania (the commonwealth has no official state snack) will be celebrated nationwide with promotions and giveaways. And some sellers, such as the Philadelphia Pretzel Factory, are planning to give every customer a free pretzel to observe the occasion.
“It’s a big event for the pretzel business,” said Jim Powers, who runs Philly Pretzel Factory franchises in West Chester and Phoenixville and expects to give out a thousand or more free pretzels at each location Saturday. “It’s a terrific way to give back, say thank you and let people know how much we appreciate them. We just have to hope for good weather.”
As an added bonus, Powers said, the first 100 customers this Saturday get a punch card worth one free pretzel a day every day in May.
“Last year we had one boy come back every day for his free pretzels,” Powers said.
National Pretzel Day reportedly started in 1983 when then-U.S. Rep. Robert S. Walker. R-Philadelphia, declared a commemorative day for pretzels. Lest the observance be overlooked, U.S. Rep. Rep. Joseph Pitts, R-16th of East Marlborough, offered a one-minute remark in Congress about National Pretzel Day in 2001, and in 2003, then-Gov. Ed Rendell re-declared April 26 as National Pretzel Day, although it remains unclear exactly how a Pennsylvania governor could bind such a claim on other states.
In any case, pretzel lovers coast to coast got the message.
“The entire Philly Pretzel Factory franchise system and our customers look forward to National Pretzel Day every year as the biggest and best day of the year,” CEO and cofounder Dan DiZio said. “We love treating our customers to a free pretzel all day because we think it is important to show them how valued they are to us, and to let them know we wouldn’t be where we are today as the best Philly style pretzel bakery that exists without their continued devotion to our brand.”
Philly Pretzel Factory sells more than 100 million pretzels every year, and its employees make each one fresh daily. This year the company plans to produce a million hand-twisted pretzels to meet demand on April 26, but President Marty Ferrill says its unlikely they’ll all be given away for free.
“We’ll see,” Ferrill said. “It’s hard to gauge exactly how many because it all depends on the customers.”
In the past, the chain’s 135-plus pretzel stores have collectively handed out in the neighborhood of 150,000 to 200,000 free pretzels on National Pretzel Day, Ferrill said.
Each location in the Philly Pretzel Store chain averages about 10 to 12 employees, Ferrill said, and on National Pretzel Day, the toughest job likely belongs to the bakers. “They’ll be working hard all day,” he said. “And they have to stand in front of an oven that’s 500 degrees.”
This is the seventh year the brand has marked the occasion with a pretzel giveaway. The franchisees have been preparing for the day for weeks and have been promoting the campaign via Facebook and Twitter.
DiZio says he and co-founder Len Lehman are still active in the stores, and Lehman is a fixture at their first store on Franklin Street in Philadelphia’s Mayfair district. DiZio says he also plans to be in the stores twisting pretzels on April 26.
“It’s definitely all hands on deck,” DiZio said. “I will be at the original store and will visit a whole bunch of stores that day.”
Other big days for soft pretzels are Halloween, Super Bowl Sunday and Christmas Eve, DiZio said. But without a doubt, the business heats up with the weather.
“We sell a lot of pretzels for T-ball teams, picnics, family gatherings,” DiZio said. “No doubt, this our busiest time.”
At the Lionville Philly Pretzel Factory near Downingtown East High School, franchisee Kevin McMonagle is a veteran of five free pretzel days. “It’s a huge promotional event,” he said. “It’s a busy day, kind of a reward for our regular customers, and it brings in new customers.”
McMonagle said store traffic will double or triple on National Pretzel Day, and his crew of 13 expect to give away about 1,000 to 1,500 pretzels and sell another 3,000 to 6,000 on top of that.
“When you give away anything, it’s good for everybody,” McMonagle said.
This year the company has a goal of giving out 1 million pretzels during the day. Since Philly Pretzel Factory’s first National Pretzel Day campaign seven years ago, the company has grown from about 50 locations to more than 135 locations. And 40 to 50 more locations are set to open in the coming year.
The Philly Pretzel factory is not alone during the promotional day. The Pretzelmaker and Pretzel Time stores, which are not affiliated companies, also plan to observe this year’s National Pretzel Day with the tradition of giving away free pretzels while raising funds and awareness for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Customers are invited to visit their local Pretzelmaker to receive a free soft pretzel – standard salted or unsalted – and will be encouraged to make an in-kind donation of any amount to the organization. If the company achieves its goal of giving away 65,000 pretzels, Pretzelmaker will make a corporate contribution to the charity, which seeks to find cures and ensure access to treatments for blood cancer patients.
Customers can also make donations online at pages.lightthenight.org/2014.
Pretzelmaker and Pretzel Time have commemorated National Pretzel Day with a free soft pretzel to customers visiting participating stores since 2008.
But don’t expect a freebie everywhere on Saturday. At Auntie Anne’s Pretzels in the Exton Square Mall, for example, the free pretzel promotion is an every-other-year event, and the last giveaway was last year. So this year the store will be observing the occasion with other promotions.
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