Philly Pretzel Factory featured in the Public Online

Philly Pretzel Factory was recently featured in the Public Online discussing the new location coming to Chambersburg! The group of owners that is working on the expansion of the brand in Pennsylvania is Matt Giacobbe and Steve Zappa along with three other active duty and retired military veterans. They are anticipating working with and hiring veterans in Pennsylvania as well as supporting the veteran community with their businesses. 

Check out the article here. 

Group of vets bringing Philly Pretzel Factory to Chambersburg

By MARCUS RAUHUT, @MarcusRauhutPO

A group of veterans-turned-entrepreneurs are bringing a Philly Pretzel Factory to Chambersburg.

The franchise, scheduled to open soon inside the Chambersburg Walmart, is owned by five active duty and retired military members.

"This seemed like something to do that was fun and enjoyable and something we could do to give back to fellow veterans," said Matt Giacobbe, one of the owners. "Three of the five of us are from Philly and we thought about soft pretzels. We thought about how we could come up with a business plan of vets helping vets."

Giacobbe, who has served 27 years in the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, said the business model is built around helping veterans, whether that means presenting checks to veterans organizations or hiring military members or their families.

"I think our hiring strategy has proven very successful in our first store," Giacobbe said.

Their first location held its grand opening Friday in Lebanon. The store, which employs several National Guardsmen, presented a donation to the Pennsylvania Veterans Foundation.

Among the five business partners, each has their area of specialty, according to Steve Zappa, who retired in 2010 after 34 years in the Army National Guard.

"Some are good with construction, some are good with banking, some are good with marketing," he said. "Each have their niche we're good at and we all have each other's back."

Philly Pretzel Factory was founded 15 years ago by two college buddies.

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