In a sliver of retail space along Broadway in Tarrytown”™s downtown shopping corridor is a small boutique business that is rapidly making a big name for itself ”” Posh Pretzels.
“It is a little store, but it is awfully busy,” said AnnMarie D”™Erasmo, owner and driving force behind the Tarrytown confectionary at 7 Broadway.
Since opening last December, the store has garnered national attention. Building on a steady flow of walk-in customers and large custom orders, D”™Erasmo has propelled Posh Pretzels to outsized recognition, earning her television appearances and large corporate customers like NBC, The Ritz Carlton and Hampton Hotels.
Traveling from Tarrytown to Hollywood, her pretzels landed in the Oscar swag bags ”” their taxable contents were valued at about $168,000 ”” handed out to winning and losing nominees at this year”™s Academy Awards. Like the gold-plated Oscar statuette, her gift-bag pretzels were coated with actual gold flakes ”” and yes, gold is edible, D”™Erasmo said.
The single mother of two school-age children is a one-woman show running her business from front to back.
“Since I”™ve opened I”™ve done almost 55,000 pretzels by hand, and that”™s just what I was able to calculate for certain,” she said. “No one makes them but me.”
Not only the brawn behind the venture, D”™Erasmo has had to get creative as a first-time small-business owner. She has relied on personality to market her products in lieu of an advertising budget, which is how her pretzels found their way into jewelry displays at Bergdorf Goodman and Oscar-night swag bags.
“I just picked up the phone and called them,” she said. “I thought, if I am the head of that company I am working either really early in the morning or really late in the day, so I would call at six or seven in the morning and got them right away.”
That determination and perseverance has paid off for D”™Erasmo. After less than a year in business, she is looking to build a dedicated staff, instead of relying on seasonal help from college students and is nursing dreams of expanding her business.
“I must have at least five to 10 people every week asking me why I”™m not in the city,” she said. She envisions opening stores in high-end locations in Manhattan and the Hamptons and selling her poshly decorated pretzels on first-class flights and in chic nightclubs.
Her labor of love can still be a challenge, D”™Erasmo said.
“There have been moments where I thought, what am I doing? This is crazy, it”™s never going to last,” she said. “Then I go back to the gut feeling of this is going to be fine, I have to stick with what I know and I know people enjoy this ”” I just have to get it out more.”
The story of Posh Pretzels begins at D”™Erasmo”™s kitchen counter in her Tarrytown home, where an affinity for chocolate-covered strawberries, bananas and pretzels led to confectionery concoctions popular among her friends and colleagues. For 10 years she dabbled in commercial ventures from home with her pretzels, selling large quantities to Stew Leonard”™s grocery stores, friends and family and at times eyeing various retail locations before finally taking the plunge.
“I never owned a business, I knew nothing about business. All I knew is that I loved making pretzels and people liked eating them,” she said. “People would always say to me you should have a business and finally I bit the bullet and did it.”
D”™Erasmo said she spent about $20,000 to get the business up and running, including rent and extensive renovations to her retail space. She later invested an additional $10,000 in inventory, furnishings and the development of her website, poshpretzels.com.
She made her first retail sale before her store was open for business or even had a cash register. That sale to a curious passerby inspired a compliment on Facebook from her first customer. D”™Erasmo credits that glowing Facebook review for the “out-the-door” lines of customers she had over the Christmas holiday during her opening month.
“That was it, I was sleeping here Christmas week,” she said. “I sold out of everything that I made, I couldn”™t make them fast enough.”
Corporate orders are already coming in for the upcoming holiday season, she added.
Self-marketing has been a major key to her success. From networking through social media to hand-delivering samples to Manhattan offices, she has forged a name for herself by relentlessly pursuing exposure for her products.
She has also benefited from the support of fellow entrepreneurs and professional support programs like SCORE of Westchester, a nonprofit group of retired executives that advises small businesses ”” but she has largely had to go it alone, she said.
“Anything that I”™ve done up until now has been me ”” while I am stocking a shelf I”™m making calls on the phone at the same time. While I am unloading and making whatever pretzel of the day, I am Googling and answering emails.”
Posh offers dozens of classic and eclectic flavors of pretzels, from creamsicle to dark chocolate-covered ones, as well as specialty items like chocolate-dipped bacon strips and toffee-covered marshmallows. But the true draw for the boutique is her willingness to connect with customers and customize their orders, whether it is one pretzel or several pounds, D”™Erasmo said.
Customers can buy a single pretzel for $1.50 to $3, depending on toppings. Custom and pre-arranged selections are sold in packaged gift boxes or platters ranging from $5 to $160.
She acknowledges that she is selling a niche product and that stores like hers come and go frequently. Customers when they enter have commented that they can hardly believe a store like hers can stay in business. But that has not dampened her optimism.
“It is definitely a lot of work, but I like doing this ”” so it doesn”™t feel like work,” she said. “The struggle for me is that there are not enough hours in the day.”
