Mike DeCerbo grew up
in Attica, N.J., graduated from Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J., and worked
for his father in the heating and air conditioning industry for 20 years before
Mike decided he wanted to open his own business.
“I started looking
for a business opportunity, shopping around, comparing different franchise
opportunities,” said Mike. Unexpectedly, that opportunity would present itself
at his son’s soccer game, where he met a franchisee who was delivering pretzels
as treats. He ended up talking to the franchisee about Philly Pretzel, and
after doing some more research, Mike decided to move forward with the brand.
Mike, along with his wife Marcy, opened their first location in Manahawkin,
N.J. in 2007. Six years later, Mike will be adding another location to his
business portfolio—a store inside Manahawkin’s Walmart.
For Mike, opening a
Philly Pretzel Factory at Walmart presents a unique business opportunity. “I
think that you have a captive audience at Walmart, “ he said. “We’ll be at the
front of the store and the first thing you see when you walk in. Since we’re
already in town, people can recognize the brand, but hopefully it will
introduce our excellent product to people not familiar with PPF and get them
interested.”
Why did you choose
an opportunity with PPF?
I guess a lot of my decision was based on the cost and
the ease of operations—it’s not a whole lot compared to opening restaurant or
something like that. Overall, it’s a simple and straightforward concept. I liked
the idea of a franchise as opposed to starting something on my own. Also, I think corporate has been great to work
with. Philly Pretzel Factory already had brand recognition and marketing strategies
in place; that let us hit the ground running.
Are you involved
with any charities or do any community outreach with your business?
We frequently work
with different organizations that are doing fundraisers;, we give them gift cards
and gift baskets and do discounts for high schools. After Hurricane Sandy, a
lot of high schools were used as shelters, so we donated some products to first
responders and shelters—basically any place that was collecting donations for
people who were displaced and homeless we worked with them.
What challenges
have you overcome to get where you are now? / Are there any challenges that you have had,
in either your professional career or personal life, in getting where you are
today?
That’s hard to say. We opened in December 2007 and the economy
started to get bad in 2008. We haven’t been open in a good economy, so
hopefully business will just continue to go up from here.
