FAMILY BUSINESSES OMG Pretzels Mother-daughter take on the gourmet snack food industry We are a mother-daughter duo who have taken a family afterschool snack and turned it into a brand that is changing the way people think about pretzels. In 2014, we co-founded the company to share the family recipe with others. Our mission is to bring people together over shared moments of better-for-you, scrumptious snacking. Ours are the only award-winning, seasoned, authentically aged sourdough pretzel nuggets in the market. Our clean label snacks have a light, airy crunch and each of our culinaryinspired seasoning blends is carefully crafted for the ultimate love at first bite experience. My mom, Lynn, who created the garlic seasoning recipe and originally made the pretzel nuggets as after school snacks for my siblings and I, produced the pretzels in her kitchen two pans at a time and then packaged them for local retailers. These initial partners were acquired the old-fashioned way—going door to door, sharing samples, and getting on shelves. As word spread in the Philadelphia area, we scaled up to a commercial kitchen and hired a few people to help Mom make the pretzels, mainly family and friends of the family. Dad worked in the dish room at the commercial kitchen, helped make deliveries, and was a constant support for mom and me. I have 13 nieces and nephews and six of them helped at the commercial kitchen. My brother and sister who live close by in Pennsylvania, helped with moving products from place to place. Half a dozen friends from church used to help in the kitchen also. The common goal was to support us and help grow the business. At the time, Mom was running OMG! Pretzels and I was still working at my full-time teaching job so that we could continue to invest in the company. A few months after we moved into the commercial kitchen, we met our first distributor, and they helped us branch out regionally across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. This was a huge step for us, and we continued to grow incrementally this way for the next three years. All the while, we were working together as a family to turn OMG! Pretzels into the next big snack hit. My ultimate dream is to make my parents millionaires. It’s also been a fun aspect of the evolution of the relationship mom and I have together. It has been really rewarding and brought us closer in our personal relationship. Not that we never butt heads, but we talk things out and are open in our communication. “It’s been wonderful getting to know what a special person Stephanie has turned out to be and we love working together. I love her so much.” Lynn says. In 2021, I took over as CEO and turned my full attention to OMG! Pretzels. We were getting too big for the commercial kitchen, but we didn’t really know what the best next step was. We looked into getting space and our own equipment, but the machines are huge and very expensive, especially for a family-owned and self-funded business. We also realized that handstirring isn’t really a scalable process, so we needed to keep problemsolving. Ultimately, we turned to a co-manufacturer and that allowed us to scale the business to the next level. This wasn’t a quick process though since we didn’t know any co-manufacturers and the ones we found online weren’t the right fit. When we found the right one, it was thanks to an introduction from another relationship we had. This really taught me to be open with my network about challenges we are facing because you never know who knows someone that can help you obtain that next piece of the puzzle you need to make everything work. In 2023, we launched new packaging and elevated our products with higherquality ingredients, making OMG! Pretzels Non-GMO, kosher certified, and MSG, sesame/soy/nut and artificial ingredient free. In 2024 we also introduced a 3-ounce grab-and-go bag in five of our flavors, which helped us break into the convenience channel. We are continuing to scale with the plan of being a global brand in three to five years. Now, 10+ years after starting OMG! Pretzels, mom is still involved with the business. She goes to tradeshows, helps with sampling events, and fulfills website orders. Since I’ve been CEO, I’ve really focused on creating and deepening relationships in the CPG and pretzel industries, which has taught me a lot and created connections for me and OMG! Pretzels that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. To anyone out there struggling I recommend you embrace those relationships and don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice. Having a family business is worth every minute of hard work because at the end of the day, we are building a legacy for my parents, and I could not be more proud of that. Connect and learn more at www.omgpretzels.com. by Stepanie Kriebel Stephanie and her mother, Lynn. 42 enterprising Women
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