Pretzel History: Company Information | Auntie Anne's (2024)

FAQs

What is the history of Auntie Anne's? ›

Auntie Anne's got its start in 1988 when Anne Beiler bought a stand in a Pennsylvania farmer's market. After some experimentation, "Auntie" Anne created a masterpiece — the same freshly baked goodness you know and love today.

According to some scholars and various sources, the most popular story is that the pretzel was made in 1610 AD by an Italian monk when he decided to make a special treat to help motivate his students to keep on learning.

GoTo Foods (formerly Focus Brands) is an American company that currently owns the Schlotzsky's, Carvel, Cinnabon, Moe's Southwest Grill, McAlister's Deli, Auntie Anne's and Jamba brands. It is located in Sandy Springs, Georgia, and operates over 5,000 stores.

Beiler. Anne F. Beiler is an American businesswoman and founder of Auntie Anne's pretzels.

Alternate terms include auntie or aunty. Children in other cultures and families may refer to the cousins of their parents as aunt or uncle due to the age and generation gap. The word comes from Latin: amita via Old French ante and is a family relationship within an extended or immediate family.

Beyond broadening the company's horizons through new omnichannel capabilities, Auntie Anne's also doubled down on its digital presence in 2021. Although the company already had an app and loyalty program, last year Auntie Anne's began honing its online voice and grew its loyalty members to just under two million users.

Seen as a symbol of good luck, prosperity and spiritual fulfillment, pretzels were also commonly distributed to the poor, as a way of providing them with both spiritual and literal sustenance.

The pretzel was invented by European monks in the early Middle Ages, possibly in the 6th or 7th century. The monks used the pretzel's distinctive knot shape to represent the Holy Trinity, with the three holes in the pretzel symbolizing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Many people like to say a monk invented it (usually "around 610") as a reward for children who learned their prayers, the word "pretzel" coming from the Latin "pretiola," which means "a little reward." Others claim that monks designed it after the hands of a person in prayer, with the name coming from "preces," prayers ...

Lancaster, PA

Auntie Anne's / Headquarters

Did Auntie Anne's change their name? ›

Auntie Anne's and Cinnabon parent company Focus Brands rebrands to GoTo Foods. Auntie Anne's, Cinnabon, and Jamba parent company Focus Brands announced Tuesday morning the company's rebranding to GoTo Foods.

Auntie Anne's founder Anne Beiler appeared in the 2013 season premier of the television show The Secret Millionaire in which she masqueraded as a volunteer at the Baltimore-based food non-profit organization Moveable Feast.

Both Cinnabon and Auntie Anne's are part of Focus Brands, the Atlanta-based operator owned by Roark Capital, the private equity group trying to buy Subway.

Auntie Anne's is a global food franchise, selling soft pretzels and drinks.

Auntie Anne's come from very humble beginnings with the real life “Auntie” Anne baking her tasty pretzels at a farmers' market in 1988 to raise money for a community centre. Fast forward to today and the Auntie Anne's brand is now a global success with more than 2000 stores and loved in over 30 countries.

All those pretzels are made and twisted on the spot.

Auntie Anne's definitely doesn't serve pre-made pretzels! Every location receives shipments of the signature flour mixture, which is put in a mixer along with water and yeast. They're baked, brushed with real butter, salted and served right there.

Anne and Jonas Beiler were both raised Mennonite, and in her book Twist of Faith, Anne talks about how God helped her through a family tragedy and helped her build Auntie Anne's. But the halo over the pretzel in the company's logo was introduced in 2006 after Sam Beiler initiated a redesign and rebranding.

German immigrants certainly brought pretzels with them when they began settling in Pennsylvania around 1710. In 1861, Julius Sturgis founded one of the first commercial pretzel bakeries in the town of Lititz in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Anne went on to marry her childhood crush, Jonas Beiler. The pair lived their happy lives until tragedy in 1975. Their 19-month-old daughter, Angela Joy was killed in a farming accident.