DC snack puts a twist on Philly tradition

In order to succeed in the competitive entrepreneurial space of the D.C. area, businesses have to corner a market that’s not covered.

In founding The Pretzel Bakery, local entrepreneur Sean Haney instantly found his market.

“As any good Philly boy knows, you grow up eating pretzels, with every event, every trip… when I moved to D.C. in ‘98, I just kept thinking to myself, man, D.C. needs a good pretzel spot,” Haney said.

To feed his own cravings, Haney began making his own, despite having no baking experience. When his friends couldn’t get enough, “that kind of encouraged me to write a business plan…it ended up being the plan for the Pretzel Bakery,” he said.

Though Haney was inspired by Philadelphia pretzels, he wanted to do something more. “[Big pretzel companies] use cheap ingredients, they mass produce them. I started to realize, man, maybe those pretzels aren’t as good as my childhood memories,” said Haney. “I expanded on the standard Philadelphia soft pretzel.”

Quickly, Haney began putting everything into his business. “I loved seeing the look on people’s faces–they make people happy. And that’s when I thought, this isn’t a bad idea.”

“This is simple. I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but I knew there were not a lot of moving parts to this.”

In D.C., Haney found a lot of similarities with Philadelphia. “The people that live in the neighborhood that the Pretzel Bakery operates.. they’re very proud of their neighborhood. They want services, and they want to stay in their neighborhood,” said Haney.

“It remind me very much of the pride people take in their neighborhoods in Philadelphia,” he said.

“I think all entrepreneurs have that same, I don’t want to call it passion, but that determination to make something work,” said Haney. “Passion will only get you so far. It’s that determination, that when something doesn’t go right, that you’re going to plow through it… it’s all about trial and error.”

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