Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Juntura

Hi Nicole, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

My story probably starts somewhere during my final semester of college where I am sitting in the computer lab wondering what the hell I am going to do with my career as an English major with a) zero money b) zero guidance c) zero understanding of the working world. My reasoning for getting a degree in English was play to my strengths and I wasn’t exactly great at math and always wanted to write creatively. My college advisors were no help and I had to rely on my friend’s guidance just to graduate on time since I was a transfer student and had stayed at home for two years working 30 hours a week at a local cafe/bakery while also going to school full time. I knew I wanted to do something “professional” (a.k.a. computer-based, non-sweaty jobs) so I decided to continue my stint from the previous summer as a local bank teller (since I had no idea how to get a job and remember this was an honestly terrible time to be job searching) which then led to a coordinator job in the healthcare field, which then opened the door to the largest healthcare organization in our state, which found me getting poached by a different department leader looking for an admin. So I went from the most entry level job in the wrong field (finance was a no go for me) to the highest point of the career path I’d chosen, which I decided to end after a year of being the executive assistant for the president of a rural hospital in 2019. I was able to save enough money to leave the position a few months after maternity leave ended for my first child and only about a week and a half before covid hit. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to leave that job specifically, but also the decade-long career I’d been blessed with but also knew was not sustainable for so many reasons. I recognize that I have been given a chance to start over and to not only finally get to be the mom I’d always suspected I wanted to be, but to also finally get creative since I always knew–and I’m more than sure my employers knew too–that I was way too creative (aka nightmare employee) to be in a strict role that allows for zero creativity and requires a “type” that I knew I could only fit into temporarily. I never really fit in and filing papers didn’t seem like a great use of my talents, I just needed a steady paycheck and was never told I could actually maybe do something creative for work because that just wasn’t an option presented to me and I never really had the confidence or the knowledge or means to do it for real. Then I met my partner and he was a huge advocate for doing your own thing in life, the entrepreneurial spirit it turns out I had all along, and he was supportive enough to encourage me to quit my career and help make the concept into a reality.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

No. Nope. Absolutely not. No. The struggle is real, it is currently ongoing, and I have been tested (and have failed) in every possible way. Trying to start a food-based (or sales-based) business, or rather a business in general, is not an easy thing to begin with no matter how creative you are, and then if you’re trying to keep that business afloat while you need to keep a tiny human alive while also dealing with a second pregnancy (so two tiny humans) while trying to navigate the post-pandemic business models that require pivoting, while also trying to forge a path into an overcrowded food scene while also having no idea and no guidance on how to do it, takes a lot of guts and mistakes and adjustments. It has been a real sh**show and there have been a lot of really embarrassing moments and times of very little return for the effort and time and money spent. There is zero way I could do this alone and if my husband didn’t step up and step in to help with the baking and figure out logistics we wouldn’t be able to do it at all. Trying to balance life as a mom and business owner is chaotic at best and trying to make sure no harm is done in the process is the biggest priority.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

We are a literary-themed artisanal soft pretzel company based in Maine. We operate out of a vintage trailer which serves as our food truck and we go to as many large events in New England as possible since we decided not to stick to a singular location as of yet (we tried it last season and results weren’t ideal). We are looking to expand our wholesale outreach locally (and hopefully less locally!) in the near future and to continue to be at crowded events where people want handcrafted snacks and beverages to enhance their experience (so all of them!). We are known thus far for spunky, fun branding, great, tasty ideas and being late (winky face!!). I’m personally proud of the fact that I do all of the branding despite not knowing how at first, and that we try really hard to be as eco-friendly as possible with our packaging choices, as well as using the best all-natural ingredients for our menu. We reached some huge and unexpected milestones this year and are wrapping up our second season as a food truck, and we are super proud of the fact that we’ve gotten a lot of recognition from bakers and customers alike, especially as of late. We were the only vendor asked to serve at the Democratic rally last month, an honor which felt totally vindicating after a lot of misfires earlier in the year. We have come such a long way in the three total years of doing this (first year was table pop-ups only) and we are so proud to have a great end to the season (we are wrapping up this week)!

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?

Our whole job is to provide joy wherever possible and we aim to surprise and delight everyone we come in contact with, and when we can’t do that for one reason or another (since there are usually a million and one variables that play into this) it’s really tough to have to disappoint a customer who was expecting their experience to be a certain way, so we do try to avoid this whenever possible and attempt to go above and beyond for every aspect of service. Details matter. Some days as a baker you just have a bad day and that feels really tough if you know something should be a certain way and isn’t. We are still practicing and this effort is a craft and practice and only gets stronger every year.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.plottwistpretzels.com
• Instagram: @plottwistpretzels
• Facebook: @plottwistpretzels

Image Credits

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