Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stephanie Kriebel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Stephanie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

The idea for OMG! Pretzels began with an after-school snack (hint: our Garlic pretzels) that Mom used to make for us when we were growing up. In 2014 we co-founded the company as a mother-daughter duo to share the family recipe with others. Lynn, my mom, who created the seasoning recipe and made the pretzel nuggets for us originally, made the pretzels in her kitchen two pans at a time and then packaged them for local retailers. These initial partners were acquired the old-fashioned way – going door to door, sharing samples, and getting on shelves. As word spread in the Philadelphia area, we scaled up to a commercial kitchen and hired a few people to help Lynn make the pretzels. At this time, Mom was running OMG! Pretzels and I was still working full-time at my day job so that we could continue to invest in the company. A few months after we moved into the commercial kitchen, we met our first distributor and they helped us branch out regionally across Pennsylvania and into New York and New Jersey. This was a huge step for us and we continued to grow incrementally this way for the next 3 years. In 2019, I took over as CEO and turned my full attention to OMG! Pretzels. We were getting too big for the commercial kitchen, but we didn’t really know what the best next step was. We looked into getting a space and our own equipment, but the machines are huge and very expensive. We also realized that hand-stirring isn’t really a scalable process, so we needed to keep problem-solving. Ultimately, we turned to a co-manufacturer and that allowed us to scale the business to the next level. This wasn’t a quick process though since we didn’t know any co-manufacturers and the ones we found online usually weren’t the right fit. When we found the right one, it was thanks to an introduction from another relationship we had. This really taught me to be open with my network about challenges we are facing because you never know who knows someone that can help you obtain that next piece of the puzzle you need to make everything work. In 2019 and 2020, we doubled our sales each of those years and expanded to a nationwide reach, including Alaska and Hawaii. I realized we’d need to start looking for a different co-manufacturer who could handle our larger quantities and multiple package sizes. We are in the process of onboarding that partner now, which will give us a lot of flexibility on our offerings outside of retail. We are continuing to scale and hope to be a global brand in 3 to 5 years. I’d say that scaling and building a strong brand/business is a job that is always evolving. Since I’ve been CEO, I’ve really focused on creating and deepening relationships in the CPG and pretzel industries, which has taught me a lot and created connections for me and OMG! Pretzels that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. To anyone out there struggling – embrace those relationships and don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

At OMG! Pretzels, we know first impressions are everything, especially when it comes to snacking and feeding family and friends. That’s why we took special care to ensure that every last bit of our carefully crafted, seasoned sourdough nuggets deliver the perfect sensory snacking experience that every snack lover dreams about. Our vision is to bring our love-at-first-bite flavor and craveworthy crunch to the world and earn a place in the hearts and pantries of snack lovers everywhere. Our pretzel nuggets are the perfect standalone snack, an elegant enhancement for entertaining, and a delicious addition to your favorite recipes.

We officially founded OMG! Pretzels in 2014, but our gourmet seasoned sourdough pretzel nuggets have been a crowd favorite at family gatherings for decades. After years of authentic “OMG!” reactions and countless requests from friends and family for their own private supply of pretzels to take home, we knew we had something truly special on our hands. With a wide range of bold, gourmet flavors and our iconic, craveworthy crunch, our pretzels are guaranteed to make you a true believer in love at first bite. Once you pop one in your mouth, OMG! comes popping out!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

OMG! Pretzels isn’t my first entrepreneurial endeavor. In fact, I’ve had several other businesses over the years and worked full-time as an educator for the first 7 years on OMG! Pretzels’ existence. I learned perseverance from my parents who both modeled working for themselves throughout my childhood. I’ve always known there are challenges and rewards to starting and running your own business, but working through the ups and downs of building this brand from the ground up to where it is now while also working another job was a real challenge

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

I’ve known her all my life since she’s my Mom, but starting OMG! Pretzels together has really deepened our relationship and given it a new element of connection. Growing up enjoying our Garlic Pretzels after school and at parties gave us the inspiration to found the company and seeing how much others enjoy them (and our other flavors) is really rewarding. Mom still entertains with our pretzels and adds them to our favorite recipes and we know our customers do as well. We are bringing people together and inspiring joy over shared moments of delicious, gourmet snacking, and we couldn’t be happier!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://omgpretzels.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omgpretzels/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OMGpretzels/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/omgpretzels/
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/omgpretzels/