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Soft Pretzel Icon Auntie Anne’s Expands Appeal to Amusement Parks

By: Auntie Anne's |  5 Shares     136 Reads

Lancaster, PA – (May 29, 2013) – Just in time for summer road trips and family vacations, Auntie Anne's Pretzels has added amusement parks to its nontraditional venue portfolio. This spring, the 25-year-old soft pretzel icon opened locations at three amusement parks, including Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Mo. and Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, after entering into an agreement with Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. Executives with Auntie Anne’s will continue to target amusement parks as an avenue for nontraditional growth in the coming months.

“The number one objective at our amusement parks is to provide our guests with a best-day-of-the-summer experience each and every time they visit one of our parks,” said Craig Grimes, corporate vice president of food and beverage with Cedar Fair L.P. “We’ve heard the demand from our loyal guests for additional portable dining options, and after conducting extensive research, we found a partnership with Auntie Anne’s to be a natural fit. We look forward to a long and successful relationship.”

Recognizing an opportunity to further expand the brand’s appeal in locations outside the shopping mall, Auntie Anne’s can now be found in nontraditional venues including entertainment centers, military bases, colleges and universities, large retailers, and transportation sites such as airports, train stations, and travel plazas. Best known for mixing, twisting and baking pretzels to golden brown perfection all day long in full view of its guests, Auntie Anne’s first amusement park openings come on the heels of a banner company year in which it opened 73 nontraditional stores. By the end of 2013, company executives expect to open another 150 nontraditional units.

“Amusement parks represent an untapped yet sustainable growth vehicle for Auntie Anne’s, and because of our success across all venues, we’re now poised for even further nontraditional penetration,” said Brian Boycan, Director of Strategic Development for Auntie Anne’s. “The response from both consumers and the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company has been overwhelmingly positive thus far, and we’re committed to follow this blueprint in other markets nationwide.”

Auntie Anne’s, which turned 25 in February 2013, earned its 23rd year of positive sales growth in 2012 and opened its 1,000th domestic location in Elizabethtown, Ky. With Auntie Anne’s, there is no “one size fits all” store model. Instead, the company has the ability to tailor stores to better appeal to the venue and its traffic count. Auntie Anne’s typical store layouts include in-line stores, baking kiosks and satellite retail units, and they offer flexible store design prototypes to accommodate the versatile requirements of today’s traditional and nontraditional venues.

About Auntie Anne's

An award-winning franchise system that is owned by FOCUS Brands Inc., Auntie Anne's received the 2012 ZAGAT® top five most popular quick-refreshment chains honor, ranked number one in the category of hand-rolled soft pretzels by Entrepreneur's Franchise 500, and was granted the World-Class Franchise® honor (the most prestigious award in franchising) for the past seven years. For more information about the Auntie Anne’s franchise opportunity, visit www.facebook.com/auntieannespretzels, www.twitter.com/auntieannes or www.youtube.com/auntieannespretzels.

About Cedar Fair

Cedar Fair is a publicly traded partnership headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio, and one of the largest regional amusement-resort operators in the world. The Company owns and operates 11 amusement parks, four outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and five hotels. Its parks are located in Ohio, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, and Toronto, Ontario. Cedar Fair also operates the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park in California under a management contract. Cedar Fair's flagship park, Cedar Point, has been consistently voted the "Best Amusement Park in the World" in a prestigious annual poll conducted by Amusement Today newspaper.

SOURCE Auntie Anne's

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