A Unique History
The Spannuth family legacy of pretzel innovation is a "Unique" story with new histories being discovered every day.
The
Beginning
Our Earliest Pretzel Making Accounts
March 1st
1755
1st Born Pretzel
Unique ancestor Hermann Spannuth makes a twisted soft pretzel that can be easily held by a baby as a comfort to ease the pain of teething for his son Johann.
September 9th
1770
Celebrity & Knighthood
Hermann Spannuth is knighted by German Emperor Joseph II for his pretzel making prowess to help stake a claim on Bavarian lands. War was averted with Fredrick the Great due to the Bavarian Pretzel treaty.
Coming
to America
Bringing the Bavarian to the Home of the Brave
March 23rd
1776
The Brave Immigrant
Tough as nails Johann Spannuth crosses the Atlantic in a rowboat with only one paddle, the clothes on his back, and one seriously heavy pretzel oven to protest unfair British Pretzel Taxes in the American Colonies.
July 4th
1776
America Declares Independence
Enjoys Tax Free Pretzels!
June 23rd
1815
French Feud
The remaining Spannuths immigrate to America after Napoleon declares war on them for refusing to sell pretzels to the French Army. Sad and hungry, they lost the Battle of Waterloo.
May 7th
1824
Get-Over Beethoven
Beethoven composes his 9th Symphony to woo the Spannuth Pretzel makers from Pennsylvania back to Germany. Unfortunately for him they stay in America causing him to suffer from writer’s block and never completes another symphony… Ode to Pretzels!
Early
Innovations
Left Brain, Right Brain... Twisted Pretzel Brain
May 17th
1842
Flights of Fancy
To get his reach beyond Philadelphia and get customers the freshest soft pretzels right out of the oven “Innovator” Emanuel Spannuth develops a Hot-Air Balloon/Pretzel Oven Hybrid. On its maiden voyage, he crashes in rural Lebanon County, Pennsylvania where he decides to settle alongside many fellow German expatriates.
April 22nd
1853
German Fortunes
Emmanuel Spannuth conceives of pretzel “Shells” to be a German version of the Chinese Fortune Cookie. The concept is shelved because no one wants to read German fortunes.
April 24th
1860
Blazing Hard Pretzels
Days prior to the Great Pretzel Bake-off of 1860, the Spannuth Bakery is set ablaze in what is believed to be an act of sabotage. Their batch of overcooked soft pretzels are submitted to the bake-off as “New- Hard Pretzels” and go on to win the competition.
A Business
is Born
We Saw the Future and It Was Pretzel Shaped
April 19th
1862
Protecting Our Legacy
Patriotic Henry Spannuth enlists to fight for the North in the Civil War. Prior to leaving he buries all the family’s pretzel secrets to keep them safe from the South.
May 19th
1865
Honest Abe
To celebrate victory for the North, Henry Spannuth hands out hard pretzels to his fellow troops. They make their way to President Lincoln who encourages him to continue as a baker and fulfill his dream. He knew this was a good idea because Honest Abe never lies.
May 20th
1865
Secrets Lost
Returning home, Henry sets out to reestablish and grow his pretzel business but cannot remember where he buried the family’s pretzel secrets. He spends the rest of his life digging and searching to no avail.
May 31st
1874
Tele-Pretzels
While traveling through Pennsylvania, Alexander Graham Bell spots Henry Spannuth in a field full of holes, talking into one of his pretzels like a mad man… at that moment he conceptualizes the telephone.
Go Hard
or Go Home
Word Spreads About How Unique Our Pretzels Are
October 31st
1901
Presidential Endorsement
President Teddy Roosevelt tries Spannuth Pretzels and proclaims they are the only pretzels hard enough for his Rough Riders. They told Teddy that he should “Speak more softly and always carry a big pretzel.”
November 25th
1920
The Uniquely Edible Floats
Local notoriety grows when Paul Spannuth builds an edible float made of hard pretzels that had a brief debut at the first Thanksgiving Parade in Philadelphia. The float won “Most Unique” by judges but unfortunately was devoured by Santa’s reindeer.
February 11th
1921
Officially Unique
Inspired by their win at the 1st Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade, “Unique” Pretzels is officially Trademarked / Incorporated by Paul Spannuth.
July 5th
1923
That Pretzel’s a Dandy
The Dandy Brothers use a unique 2-seater Reading Standard motorcycle to deliver “Classy Wares” door to door. Best-sellers were mustache wax and Unique Pretzels, both considered “the Bees Knees”.
December 5th
1933
Prohibition Ends
Unique Pretzel Sales Spike!
September 9th
1941
Dipping Genius
Great Gramps William H.C. Spannuth determines that his Unique Pretzel’s relationship to mustard is “relative” while drinking beers with his buddy Al Einstein. Inspired, he develops the first batch of Unique “Dips”.
Happy
Accidents
The Invention of Our Signature Splits
November 28th
1957
The Space Race
After the launch of the Sputnik satellite, Grandpa Spannuth commits Unique to become the first American pretzel in space. The United Soviet Pretzel Laborers accepts the challenge.
April 26th
1960
Split Results
Grandpa Spannuth was splitting his time between a new batch of pretzels and a rocket that could get those pretzels into outer-space and accidentally burned down the family bakery. He found the split-open pretzels that survived the blaze had an out-of-this-world taste! Unique Splits were born as a mistake… uh we mean… miracle of the Space-Age!
January 13th
1964
Dylan Discovers Splits
Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are a-Changin’ is released coinciding with the in-store release of the new Unique “Splits” pretzels.
July 21st
1969
Split Moon Landing
Apollo Astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first human being to set foot on the Moon. It’s rumored that when he said “That’s one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind” he was referring to Unique Splits.
A Split
Pretzelution
Our Split Pretzels Take Unique to the Next Level
September 25th
1985
Gaming Popularity
Unique expands "Splits" Pretzels into mass production to keep up with demand brought on by the ravenous snack cravings of Nintendo gamers.
April 1st
1990
April Fools
Teen prankster William Spannuth recalibrates the bakery ovens to run at higher temperatures as an April Fool’s joke on his dad. Pops Spannuth promptly grounded William for the rest of the 90’s, but gets the last laugh and introduces the toasty pretzels as tasty Extra Dark Splits.
June 23rd
1994
Condiment Craze
Bemoaning the Major-League Baseball strike, Pops Spannuth eases his ballpark cravings by producing pretzels infused with hotdog toppings. The controversial Mustard, Ketchup, and Chili flavored Splits had fans, but were not a home-run.
The New
Millennium
New Leadership and Buried Treasure Shape the Future
January 1st
1999
The Brotherhood
Fiercely competitive brothers, William & Justin Spannuth join the Unique Pretzel Corporation establishing the 6th American generation of Spannuth family pretzel bakery operators.
November 3rd
1999
Y2K Hero
Stressed-out over Y2K, William Spannuth develops Unsalted Splits to help keep everyone’s blood pressure low.
May 5th
2000
Salty Strikes Back
Due to an unanticipated overstock of salt, Justin conceives of and announces the production of Extra Salted Splits pretzel.
December 15th
2004
Multigrain Melee
A Product Testing food-fight resulted in an accidental ingredient combination where Justin’s Oat Flour Pretzel prototype and William’s Cracked Wheat experiment were baked together forming Splits Multigrain Pretzels!
September 15th
2007
Unearthing Secrets
While dealing with a groundhog problem on the historic company grounds, The Spannuth Brothers discover a time capsule full of old family pretzel ideas and secrets.
January 1st
2008
Rapid Growth
Anticipating growth fueled by their time-capsule recipes, the Spannuth brothers realize their individual competitive spirits could be combined to dominate the pretzel world, Unique Pretzel rebrands and the company doubles in size within a year.
Fresh Baked
Future
Our Most Recent Advancements
April 20th
2010
Super Sprouts
Ancient seeds labeled “Die Superbrezel” were recovered from the time capsule and cultivated into wheat flour for a ”Sprouted” pretzel recipe that tastes great and has amazing health benefits. Sprouted Splits are free of bad fats, lactose, and are Organic, Vegan, Kosher, and Diabetic friendly!
September 17th
2011
A Shell of a Success
To develop a new beer-filled pretzel to commemorate Oktoberfest, the Spannuth brothers revisited the 1853 “fortune cookie” pretzel recipe. They tried to replace the fortune with beer, but it kept evaporating when they baked the dough. However, the empty pretzel “Shells” tasted fantastic so they moved ahead with marketing the addictive, but sadly non-alcoholic “Pretzel Shells”.
December 21st
2012
National Treasure
To accommodate rapid-growth and house an expanding collection of Nicolas Cage movie memorabilia, Unique breaks-ground on a new 75,000 sq. ft. facility.
December 3rd
2015
Pretzel Props
Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery announces that its 2016 “Snack Producer of the Year” award will go to Unique Pretzel Bakery.
February 4th
2018
Paint the City Green
Not much is remembered from the night the Spannuth brothers celebrated the Philadelphia Football Championship win, but the next day it seemed that craft beer got mixed into the Sourdough Pretzel dough. It tasted so incredible that they decided to share Pretzel Rings with the world, and in a green bag to mark the occasion!
The
FUTURE
Present & Beyond
Unique Pretzel continues the family tradition of delicious, one of a kind quality and innovation that has pleasured pretzel lovers for centuries. With an eye set on the future, Justin and William are working on a Red Potato Pretzel recipe for a future Mars mission. Talks with SpaceX and NASA are TBD.