Anne Beiler had been baking most of her life, but it wasn't until she began managing a concession stand at a farmer's market in Maryland that she thought about starting a business. The stand served pizzas, pretzels, chips and candy, with the pretzels outselling everything else. Beiler stopped selling pizza and began hand-rolling pretzels in front of her customers, making the snack even more popular. Eventually, Beiler bought her own stand, naming it Auntie Anne's, and, soon two of her brothers were operating Auntie Anne's booths of their own. Today, Auntie Anne's locations serve a variety of pretzels, dipping sauces and drinks.

Join us in putting the hand-rolled deliciousness of Auntie Anne’s® soft pretzels into more people’s hands. We are looking for franchise owners to extend our reach into street side locations, tourist locations, colleges, and more. Our guests savor Auntie Anne’s® pretzels’ unique flavor profile. You’ll value the strong financials, culture that promotes community involvement, and opportunities afforded you by our impressive global footprint. The future is looking bright for our franchise owners. Get in on the goodness now.

 Stores can be found in shopping centers, airports and train stations across the United States and Worldwide.

The total investment necessary to begin operation of an Auntie Anne's® franchise ranges from $156,350 to $445,000. This includes $30,000 to $30,400 that must be paid to the franchisor or their affiliates.

The total investment necessary to begin operation of a Shop within a temporary stand in a farmers’ market, a concession trailer, or a food truck (a “Concession Shop”) is $98,350 to $253,000. This includes $10,000 to $10,400 that must be paid to the franchisor or their affiliates.

Over the last few years, Big Dad's Pies has been developing the business with an increased emphasis in establishing well-branded and easily accessed Pie Shops. National expansion plans are now a reality with the recently completed Heathwood manufacturing facility, which includes five large SNAP freezers. The SNAP freezers (a $500 000 investment), which were commissioned in December 2008, will enable products to be produced in advance and stored in the freezers so that not only will product shortage never be a problem, but now products can be delivered to stores at greater distances away from the manufacturing facility. Previously stores had to be located within a 20 km radius to the manufacturing facility to ensure a fresh product could be delivered each day. Now product can be produced, frozen and then delivered via freezer trucks to stores around Australia.

Benefits of owning a Big Dad's Pie Shop * Excellent range of products * No trade qualifications needed * Low operating costs * Strong, yet managed growth * Operate out of sites from 60m2 * Work well as both stand alone and strip mall sites without the demands of shopping centre food courts * High customer service standards * Excellent well managed branding * Upfront and ongoing training * Benefits of group purchasing * Site identification, lease negotiation & store design * Excellent support & leadership * Ready to bake products * Is a turn-key operation * Standardised products & systems * Cash based takings * Professionally developed franchise system * Comprehensive operations manual * Modern well-equipped new store * Ongoing research and development * Touch screen Point of Sale system with excellent reporting capabilities