The COO of the Pennsylvania-based maker of pretzels and other savory snacks shares his insights.
Making pretzels is in Justin Spannuth’s blood — literally. The COO of Unique Snacks is the latest in a long, long line of Spannuths to take up the craft of pretzel making. While he learned the trade from all the pretzel-making members of his family before him, he’s currently preparing the next generation to carry on the salty legacy. Here, he shares his story, in his own words.
The Spannuth family’s history of making pretzels goes back to the late 1800’s. At some point between the late 1800’s and when our second generation Incorporated in 1921 as Unique Pretzel Bakery, Inc, pretzel making for our family went from being a second job or hobby into a real business. My grandfather, the fourth generation of Spannuth family to make pretzels, made our original Splits by accident in the 1950s, as he was a one-man show in his garage-sized bakery and fell behind in what he was doing causing the pretzels to burst open on the surface when he baked them. That pretzel garnered a bunch of positive feedback from his regular customers causing him to figure out what he did and duplicate it. For a few years, that version of his original pretzel he called ‘Mistakes’ before he figured with the way they were selling, he better give them a better name. That is what really began the journey of what people know Unique Snacks for today.
My dad, the fifth generation, started twist tying bags as a child while the family lived next door to the oversized garage we called a bakery. As he got older and our Splits products gained popularity we moved to our current location in 1980 and he took over growing the company from an antiquated version of mass production to a real pretzel oven supplied by our neighbors, Reading Pretzel Machinery (now Reading Bakery Systems). As a child, in the 80’s and early 90’s, I spent many days over the summer in the break room and conference room.
When I wasn’t a distraction to many of our employees, and I’m sure they’d consider it a nuisance, I got pretty good at paper football and Game Boy. I started in the business following my high school graduation. I had no plans to join the company but life got in the way of what I wanted and the solution was what I needed. Starting as a mixer and learning every role in production over a 10-year period I learned a lot about machinery and product. We were only 17 employees at that time and I had no formal training so most lessons were learned the hard way. In 2008 I started in the business side of the company and that’s when the real lessons of the industry started. Needless to say, I’m still learning.
The first steps to growth were to begin the journey of not looking like a Pennsylvania Dutch brand and start to look like we belonged on shelves outside of Pennsylvania. Those shifts in marketing and appeal really started to show our company growth. In 2010, I invented the Pretzel Shells, which were an attempt to make a high-quality version of our Splits into a bite-sized shape. The struggle of achieving what I wanted led to making the hollow bite-size pocket they became when we launched them.
Since then, most of our product development has come from knowing our strengths of baking and using them to develop products that our competitors couldn’t duplicate. Still being a small family-owned business, the ability for professional market research and consumer testing hasn’t been a part of our practice. Most times it comes down to our own judgement of taste and preference and trying to assume what our customers would like. As we grow these processes are changing to be sure we are more strategic.
In a family business, the exposure to other companies is difficult. Learning our industry as well as best practices in business in general needs to be learned but often not available without getting exposure through outside groups, forums, and trade associations. I love to learn and grow, and as I started to meet so many other great family-owned business owners in my same space, SNAC International really started to become one of my favorite places to be. Stepping into the chairman role wasn’t something I necessarily desired but as the opportunity presented itself, I figured it was just one more way to grow. It was definitely outside my comfort zone but after two years I know the growth in myself was tremendous. That growth transcends into my own business as a leader allowing me to look at things differently as well as have a new level of professional confidence.
Outside of regulatory pressure, the snack industry is such an amazing industry. You get the ability to be creative in products and marketing, learn manufacturing, and mostly get to share your product with so many people. When you make a treat that people enjoy it is fun to hear their stories of times with family or friends that involve your products. I love all of our products for different reasons. The Splits are still a staple. It is the most difficult pretzel in the market to make and its quality of flavor and texture is truly Unique. Shells was my first successful product launch and really gave me my first shot to show what I can do as I was growing into our family business. The Knead’ems sourdough mini pretzels are my new favorite but the verdict is still out on whether or not it’s because they’re new.
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