fast food franchise industry restaurants founded redondo beach california 1994 headquarters pasadena california united states number of locations 175 products pretzels parent levine leichtman capital partners website wetzels.com wetzel s pretzels is a pasadena california based franchise of fast food restaurants . the first wetzel s pretzels location opened in 1994 at the south bay galleria in redondo beach california . currently wetzel s pretzels has almost 300 locations in the united states puerto rico canada india 1 philippines lebanon and the middle east . 2 contents 1 history 2 investors 3 philanthropy 4 locations 5 products 5.1 foods 5.2 beverages 6 references history edit this section may have been copied and pasted from http articles.latimes.com 2012 nov 18 business la fi himi wetzel pretzel 20121118 dupdet copyvios possibly in violation of wikipedia s copyright policy . please remedy this by editing this article to remove any non free copyrighted content and attributing free content correctly or flagging the content for deletion . please be sure that the supposed source of the copyright violation is not itself a wikipedia mirror . september 2016 in 1994 rick wetzel and bill phelps were working in marketing at nestle usa . on a business trip to seattle the colleagues though not friends at the time started kicking around the idea of pretzels as a new snack food business . an eavesdropping stranger told them soft fresh baked bread pretzels were really tasty . the pair got excited and started mapping out a business plan that night at a bar . they wrestled with finding a name that could be trademarked . everything phelps wanted had already been taken . wetzel who had been teased in the schoolyard with hey wetzel you pretzel kept his mouth shut . a friend who was a marketing consultant finally pointed out the obvious for a name . the chain expanded quickly and in 1997 hollywood movie producer john davis came in with 1 million raised from angel investors . only after opening a company owned flagship store at disneyland in 2001 did the pair realize they had made it . it was one of the top retailers in all of downtown disney per square foot phelps said . 3 in 1996 wetzel s began franchising their brand and now has a co branding relationship with cold stone creamery juice it up swensen s and more . 4 investors edit los angeles private equity firm levine leichtman capital partners inc. bought a majority stake in the company in 2007 for an undisclosed amount . phelps still owns a 20 % share while wetzel holds a smaller stake . 5 6 philanthropy edit wetzel s pretzels along with rick caruso of caruso affiliated each donate 7 500 to the beyond the bell program of the los angeles unified school district . 7 locations edit as of the end of 2015 wetzel s franchise fast food restaurants had 269 us locations ; 2 in canada ; 19 worldwide ; and 8 owned by the company for a total of 298 . 2 products edit foods edit pretzels consisting of several different flavors such as ... wetzel s original buttered hand rolled baked fresh and lightly buttered & salted . wetzel s original non buttered hand rolled baked fresh and lightly salted without butter . sinful cinnamon a sweet sinful treat coated with cinnamon & sugar . almond crunch slightly sweet with a crunchy almond topping . sour cream & onion mild sweet onion flavor and a hint of sour cream . cin a yum coated with melted cinnamon butter then topped with sweet glaze . they also have baked cheese pretzels like the cheese meltdown fresh baked pretzel topped with hot melted cheese . grateful garlic hot melted cheese with a light garlic flavor . pepperoni twist fresh baked cheese pretzel topped with pepperoni slices . jalapeno cheese melt big juicy slices of jalapeno and hot melted cheese . jalaroni fresh baked cheese pretzel topped with pepperoni slices and big juicy slices of jalapeno . they also have other pretzel items such as ... wetzel dog fresh baked pretzel wrapped around an all beef hot dog . cheese dog hot baked cheese melted over our all beef wetzel dog . wetzel bitz bite sized pieces of our fresh baked pretzel topped with your choice of butter & salt or cinnamon & sugar . kid s bitz half size portion of our popular wetzel bitz . they have tasty dips for pretzels and wetzel dogs as well such as ... cheese jalape o cheese pizza sauce caramel cream cheese beverages edit frozen lemonade sold in a variety of flavors . frozen granita a frozen version of the italian dessert . 8 references edit wetzel s pretzels . franchiseindia.com . retrieved 12 november 2015 . a b wetzel s pretzels . entrepreneur . retrieved 12 november 2015 . wetzel pretzel founders are rolling in dough . los angeles times . retrieved 8 november 2014 . wetzel s pretzels franchise . the franchise mall . retrieved 12 november 2015 . levine leichtman capital partners acquires wetzel s pretzels . retrieved 8 november 2014 . wetzel s is sold to let even more dough roll in . los angeles times . retrieved 8 november 2014 . city news service 9 july 2015 . wetzel s pretzels rick caruso donate 7 500 to cover lausd deposit at trump club . los angeles daily news . retrieved 12 november 2015 . wetzel s pretzels . menu . retrieved 8 november 2014 . v t e fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the united states chicken chains coffeehouse chains pizza chains hamburgers a & w back yard big boy burger king carl s jr. checkers rally s cook out fatburger five guys freddy s fuddruckers the habit hardee s in n out jack in the box johnny rockets krystal mcdonald s roy rogers shake shack smashburger sonic steak n shake wayback wendy s whataburger white castle asian l & l hawaiian barbecue manchu wok panda express pei wei asian diner pick up stix sarku baked goods au bon pain auntie anne s bruegger s cinnabon corner bakery cafe dunkin donuts einstein bros. great american cookies honey dew donuts krispy kreme mrs. fields nestl toll house panera bread pretzelmaker pretzel time shipley do nuts tim hortons t.j. cinnamons wetzel s winchell s beverages argo tea biggby coffee caribou coffee bean & tea leaf coffee beanery dunn bros gloria jean s jamba juice juice it up orange julius peet s planet smoothie robeks seattle s best coffee smoothie king starbucks teavana tropical smoothie cafe tully s frozen desserts baskin robbins ben & jerry s braum s bruster s carvel cold stone culver s dairy queen dippin dots fosters freeze friendly s golden spoon graeter s h agen dazs handel s kiwi yogurt maggiemoo s marble slab menchie s pinkberry red mango rita s sweet frog tastee freez tcby tropical sno tutti frutti yogen fr z yogurtland hot dogs hot dog on a stick nathan s famous portillo s wienerschnitzel mexican style tex mex baja fresh cafe rio chipotle del taco el pollo loco freebirds green red burrito moe s pancheros qdoba rubio s taco bell taco bueno taco cabana taco del mar taco john s taco mayo taco time wahoo s fish taco noodles fazoli s noodles & company sandwiches arby s atlanta bread blimpie capriotti s charley s cos cousins d angelo daphne s erbert & gerbert s firehouse subs great wraps jason s jerry s subs jersey mike s jimmy john s lenny s sub mcalister s deli miami subs mr. hero newk s eatery penn station port of subs pdq potbelly quiznos rax runza sandella s schlotzsky s steak escape subway togo s tubby s tudor s biscuit world which wich seafood arthur treacher s captain d s h. salt esquire ivar s long john silver s skippers seafood & chowder house defunct bresler s ice cream brigham s burger chef carrols d lites druther s henry s hamburgers hot n now hot sam pretzels naugles red barn sandy s zantigo this us based restaurant or restaurant chain article is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wetzel % 27s pretzels & oldid 742452853 categories retail companies established in 1994companies based in los angeles county californiafast food chains of the united statesrestaurant chains in the 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