Here's A Business Plan With A Twist

The products Dan DiZio sells may be soft, but he doesn't believe the market is. DiZio, 36, a Churchville, Pa., resident, is president of Philly Pretzel Factory. He started the business in Philadelphia in 1998 with his friend and partner, Len Lehman of New Hope, Pa.. The business has expanded from that one store to nearly 150 up and down the East Coast, including several stores planned for Monmouth and Ocean counties. In 2004, Philly Pretzel Factory opened its first New Jersey franchise, in Burlington County. Other stores in the southern part of the state soon followed. This month, the chain's first Ocean County store will open on Route 9 in Stafford. Michael DeCerbo, a 48-year-old Surf City and Tabernacle resident, owns it, and hopes to open his 1,300-square-foot franchise by Thanksgiving. According to the company's Web site, 11 franchises in New Jersey have opened this year, with 35 more listed as "coming soon." Locally, stores are planned for Berkeley, Bradley Beach, Brick, Eatontown, Freehold, Lacey and Toms River. "When we applied for a franchise in January, I think there were 80 stores. Now the company has 130 or 140 stores," DeCerbo said of his first foray into franchises. Already he's looking into opening a satellite franchise on Long Beach Island next summer. "It's both a simple product and one that's pretty inexpensive," DeCerbo said. The expansion, both at the company and at the local level, comes at a time when the salty snack market "" including hard and soft pretzels, corn and tortilla chips, cheese snacks and popcorn "" has seen a consumption decline of six percent since 2003, according to Mintel International Group, an international consumer, media and market research group with a U.S. office in Chicago. Still, Mintel values the 2007 salty snack market at $9.8 billion this year. DiZio says his pretzels can compete against another well-known soft pretzel manufacturer, Auntie Anne's, which locally has stores in Eatontown, Freehold Township and Toms River, because he has a different business model. Although a customer can buy individual pretzels "" priced at 3 for $1 "" "We're more based on volume. An average customer probably buys 30 pretzels in one visit," DiZio said, adding that the store caters to organizations such as soccer clubs or those looking to hold fund-raisers. And, like Auntie Anne's, Philly Pretzel Factory sells soda as well as hot dogs wrapped in pretzels. The business also sells sausages and party trays. Between four and six employees will work at the Stafford location, which has no customer seating but will allow patrons to see the pretzels being made. DeCerbo came across Philly Pretzel Factory accidentally. He said he had been Advertisements (STAFF PHOTO: PETER ACKERMAN) Michael DeCerbo, a 48-year-old Surf City and Tabernacle resident, is the operator of the first Philly Pretzel Factory store in Ocean County. N.J. GROWTH 2004 One store: Moorestown 2005 Three stores: Atlantic City, Cherry Hill, Medford 2006 Four stores: Egg Harbor, Haddon Heights, Voorhees, Sewell 2007 Eleven stores added, and 35 more planned for this year and next.

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