When we arrived at Posh Pretzels in Tarrytown for our interview on a rainy Friday morning, the place was in a state of controlled chaos. The shop had recently been flooded and repainted in contrasting shades of the brand’s signature pink, which offset the cheery Valentine boxes behind a counter waiting to be filled. Piled on a chair were gold boxes that opened sideways to reveal the treats that Oscar nominees will receive in their swag bags. (The pretzels have also been featured in Oscar swag bags in 2015, ’18,’19, ’22 and ’23. Last August, they were part of the American Express lounge at the US Open in Queens and the VIP area for the “Hip Hop 50 Live” concert at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, where Posh Pretzels is a clubhouse regular.) On the day we visited, deliverymen arrived with boxes of Swiss and Belgian chocolate as a worker, one of the store’s five employees, brought out finished pretzels for display cases. (Naked pretzels are delivered daily.)
And yet despite the hustle and bustle, there was owner AnnMarie D’Erasmo working away in her pink sweatpants and black top, her hair pulled back in a casual upsweep, smiling and welcoming. That’s because D’Erasmo, an Irvington resident, is one of those rare people who understands that the challenges of the workaday world are relative to surviving a difficult divorce, working two jobs while raising two children, cancer and Covid. More about all that in a bit. But first, the reason we were there – those chocolate-covered pretzels.
We had first been introduced to them over Christmas and knew we had to write about them – and have more. Simply put, they are addictive – 35 varieties covered in milk, dark or white chocolate – encrusted and stuffed with seasonal ingredients in flavors ranging from Cookie Dough to Nutella to Peanut Butter and Jelly to Red Velvet. The textured, layered product creates a balance of creamy and crunchy, sweet and savory that is almost as hard to describe as it is to resist.
And yet, D’Erasmo said, “I never intended to open a business.”
She grew up in Yonkers in a family that lost her father to cancer at 40. Graduating from the now-defunct Our Lady of Victory Academy in Dobbs Ferry and Berkeley College, formerly of White Plains, D’Erasmo knew what it was like to work hard at a young age. For 14 years, she said, she managed the Emergency Life Support Program (ELSP) at Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, part of Northwell Health. Every day on her way to work, she would pass the store at 7 N. Broadway – the store she would one day lease.
But it didn’t occur to her to do so until one October day almost 10 years ago. That was the day she signed her divorce papers in White Plains. With little left from the divorce and two young children, Alexandra and Nicolas, she got on a Metro-North train bound for Manhattan. Next to Grand Central Terminal was the real estate office that handled the store at 7 N. Broadway. For months, she had the lease papers in her possession. Now D’Erasmo signed the lease on the spot.
“I knew I would be doing pretzels,” she said. “I had done them before on and off at home.”
But she wasn’t about to quit her day job. For seven years, the woman who said she just can’t sit still worked her regular job and nurtured her “baby” around raising her children, now in college. Customers looking for party/event favors or just one delicious bite were understanding and supportive of the shop’s initially odd hours, and word of satisfied mouth soon spread. In September 2021, D’Erasmo quit her day job to devote herself to a business that produces 4,000 to 10,000 pretzels a week. They can be found in Butterfield Market in Manhattan, the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, The Market at Pound Ridge Square, Palmer’s Market in Darien, all Stew Leonard’s locations and the Village Market in Wilton.
But D’Erasmo knows you don’t make Posh Pretzels without breaking a few pretzels and Graham Crackers along the way. While she was still at Phelps, she was diagnosed with early-stage cancer. (In May, she will be cancer-free five years.) Covid forced a temporary closure. Still, D’Erasmo persisted. She has big dreams. She was invited to participate in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program to grow her company. She’d like to move to a larger space. (The current shop is 750 square feet.) And she wants to make inroads in Greenwich.
As D’Erasmo said, echoing a catchphrase her daughter came up with as a child: “The ‘poshabilities’ are endless.”
Posh Pretzels is at 7 N. Broadway in Tarrytown. For more, call 914-332-0400 or visit poshpretzels.com.
