Philly Pretzel Factory to Open Two Manhattan Outposts
By Nicholas Rizzi August 3, 2018 7:10 pm
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Philly Pretzel Factory has started its push to open 25 stores around New York City with upcoming locations in Harlem and Tribeca, Commercial Observer has learned.
Gotham Foods, a franchisee of the Philadelphia-based chain, recently inked 10-year deals for 3,270 square feet in a former hair braiding shop at 4-14 West 125th Street and 300 square feet at Aion Partners’ 86 Chambers Street, according to Dan Myers, a managing director at Kassin Sabbagh Realty. Myers represented the tenant in both deals as well as the landlord, The Renatus Group, in Harlem.
On West 125th Street, Philly Pretzel Factory will occupy 470 square feet on the ground floor—which had an asking rent of $150 per square foot—and 2,800 square feet below grade—which had an asking rent of $35 a foot—for a commissary kitchen. At the Tribeca location, Philly Pretzel Factory will replace creperie By Suzette on the ground floor. The asking rent there was $300 per square foot, according to Ravi Idnani of RKF, who along with colleague Andrew Stern, handled the deal for Aion Partners.
A spokeswoman for Philly Pretzel Factory did not respond to a request for comment.
The deal marks Philly Pretzel Factory’s first steps in its expansion plan. The company—which currently has one New York City location with another franchisee at 604 Forest Avenue in Staten Island—signed a development deal with Gotham Foods last year to dethrone one of the city’s most ubiquitous foods: the bagel.
“We are trying to replace the bagel,” Philly Pretzel Factory co-Founder Dan DiZio told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “They eat bagels all the time there. They have pretzels on every street corner, but we have a better widget—a better product. We have to conquer the New York market.”
The company launched in Philadelphia in 2005 and later franchised to expand to nearly 180 stores across the country, the Inquirer reported.
