York City Pretzel Company opens with artisan style soft pretzels

It's a new twist in the snack food capital - York City Pretzel Company opens Friday in York City.

The pretzel bakery and retail shop at 39 W. Market St. is specializing in artisan style, hand-twisted soft and hard baked pretzels. The shop opens at 5 p.m. with a ribbon cutting as part of York's First Friday celebration and tree lighting.

The owners are a conglomeration of York City movers and shakers - Philip Given, one of the organizers of Foodstruck York; Ben McGlaughlin, CEO of Wolfgang Candy Co.; Jordan Pfautz, owner of the Baron Von Schwein restaurant and food truck; Meagan Feeser, marketing director for Downtown Inc.; and Matthew Davis, organizer of events such as Yorktoberfest and Hibrewnation.

The idea for the pretzel bakery was hatched over a few beers at a local bar, Given said, adding they realized the standard generic bar pretzel could be elevated into something special.

They've hired a baker to lead production, and are using a simple, traditional recipe with high-quality flour. York City Pretzel Co. pretzels are best described as Bavarian style that are crumbly and soft, yet not overly chewy, Given said.

"It's everything you want a soft pretzel to be. At least that's the feedback we've heard," he said.

The soft pretzels sell for $2.25 a piece while smaller nuggets sell for $3.50. The menu also includes house-made cheese dips and sweet glazed pretzels as well as cinnamon sugar pretzels.

In addition, they are serving Sprecher Brewery Draft Root Beer from Wisconsin as well as lemonade.

The hard pretzels will sell in flavors such as wasabi-ginger and chocolate cinnamon and will be available in the store and sold wholesale to grocery stores, restaurants and bars, Given said.