Founder of the popular Philly Pretzel Factory Dan DiZio started selling soft pretzels in his neighborhood when he was 11—becoming a child entrepreneur with a sales team of kids from all around the town. He missed pretzels when he went away to school, so after graduation DiZio partnered with his college buddy Len Lehman to found the original Philly Pretzel Factory location in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia. Both of them were inspired by their love for pretzels and experiences with the original Philly-based pretzel bakeries, and held a deep respect for those founding fathers whose wholesale bakeries in the warehouses in and around Philadelphia fed the locals. Now, after more than 20 years, Philly Pretzel Factory has more than 170 stores with one of them being in New Hyde Park, which opened last week.
“We loved the location of the store because it was close to Lake Success Shopping Center,” Brigitte Louzeiro said, who co-owns the New Hyde Park location alongside Keith Joel. “At the time, we were having a difficult time finding a location and happen to see this vacancy as it went on the market. We were lucky enough that the landlord knew about Philly Style Pretzels from his childhood.”
Louzeiro said the store’s first week of opening was exciting and exhausting.
“That’s good because we have been well received,” she said. “We fell in love with the product and the company. We are happy to bring Philly style fresh oven-baked pretzels to the North Shore of Nassau.”
Besides pretzels, customers who drop by can also try the store’s pretzel hot dogs and the Philly cheesesteak bites along with its various array of dips including brownie batter, nacho cheese and other flavors.
“All of those go very well with our frozen lemonade drinks,” Louzeiro explained. “We also offer a variety of party platters. They are still popular even with COVID. Employers find it to be an affordable way to treat their staff with our pretzels. We have had some orders going to essential workers and also people who are quarantined at home.”
So what seems to be the most popular menu item?
“The most popular seems to be the rivets; they are bite-size pieces of pretzels, they come with a dip and also come in salted and cinnamon sugar,” Louzeiro added.
Louzerio also wanted to inform potential customers that they can park easily on Hillside Avenue just to pop in and out to get their pretzels and there is also parking in the back.
Philly Pretzel Factory is located at 2105 Hillside Ave. in New Hyde Park and is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
