3 minute read
Daniela Stephanz Anderson, The Pretzel Angel
Daniela Stephanz Anderson, The Pretzel Angel
By Chip Newcome
Daniela Stephanz Anderson, the Middleburg-based owner of The Preppy Pretzel, has a most altruistic mission.
“I want to give away as much as I can,” she said. “And use my business at every opportunity to help others in the community, whether it’s giving away food, employing those who have challenges getting hired (disabled, homeless, etc). And when the business has reached the level of success that’s in my dreams, I’d like to provide housing, counseling and jobs for kids who age out of foster care at 18….If you don’t dream big, why bother?”
Stephanz Anderson is an entrepreneur who also dreams big. She jokes that the definition of an entrepreneur is “someone who jumps off a cliff and builds the plane on the way down.” And, when she started The Preppy Pretzel, that’s pretty much what she did.
In 2022 she came up with a plan and jumped. Over the past two years, she’s also been building the plane and in the past eight months, she’s seen The Preppy Pretzel grow into a highly successful vendor business at farmers markets and college campuses she visits. There are always long lines of hungry folks waiting to purchase a traditional pretzel. She also does private and corporate events.
Stephanz Anderson, who had a popular wedding cake business in recent years, learned to make her authentic, Bavarian-style soft pretzels as a child in the Tyrolean Alps where her mother and grandmother lived on the border of Austria and Italy. Each pretzel is hand cut, rolled, and twisted using centuries old artisanal techniques.
The ingredients are all natural. She sources as many local ingredients as possible not only for her pretzels but also the toppings and fillings for which her specialty pretzels have become known. They come in a variety of shapes: classic twist, roll, bagel, baguette, bites and custom.
The Pretzel Lady also believes in giving back to communities where she sells her pretzels. Philanthropy is, quite literally, baked into the fabric of her business.
“At every market,” she said, “I bake an extra three or four dozen pretzels, and I give them away to the homeless.” At the Foggy Bottom market in D.C., she’s known as “The Pretzel Angel.”
She’s also found community spirit in the markets she visits. At one point, she was still trying to figure out how to do the markets, which includes set up, tear down, and everything in between, then packing everything into her car at the end of a long day.
One day, some fellow vendors saw her trying to get everything torn down and into her car. “They came over and said ‘No man left behind. We are not leaving you. We are going to stay with your stuff. Go get your car, and we are going to help you pack.’”
The Preppy Pretzel visits some of the most successful markets in the DMV, including Foggy Bottom, Silver Spring, and the Mosaic Market in Fairfax. She also sets up on college campuses and regional festivals.
Details: For more information, go to https://marketspread.com/vendor/96137/thepreppy-pretzel-countryside-confections-llc/
