baking company of south philadelphia was the first large scale manufacturing soft pretzel factory in philadelphia and the united states of america . citation needed federal pretzel baking company type family owned 1922 2000 industry commercial bakery founded 1922 headquarters original location 600 federal street philadelphia pennsylvania key people nacchio family products pretzels revenue n a usd 2010 number of employees 30 2000 website federal pretzel baking company usa philadelphia pa style soft pretzel contents 1 history 2 philadelphia soft pretzel 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit although the soft pretzel had a long european and western pennsylvania history the nacchio family developed from a small bakery to a large scale manufacturing bakery business for soft pretzels . federal kept their recipe secret . 1 federal led the way with utilizing organized vendors with push carts on numerous street corners throughout the city and further engaged amateur youngsters who wanted to earn extra cash as street vendors carrying baskets of pretzels for sale walking up and down city streets . an ongoing relationship with public and catholic schools led to sales for daily student snacks . the federal baking pretzel style became recognized by the general public as what became known as the iconic philadelphia soft pretzel for 20th century philadelphia . citation needed 1922 maria and giuseppe nacchio owned a small italian american vitalian artisan bread bakery where maria nacchio would make bakery styled soft pretzels for added variety . 2 the bakery was located in the heart of an italian american neighborhood enclave in south philadelphia . during the 1920s her son edmund saw a business opportunity in the popularity of the soft pretzel and the family recipe . he started a factory to bake them in larger quantities combining workers manual skills who would hand twist the pretzels and added a conveyor system of equipment imported from germany that moved them to a soaking solution and then through baking ovens . the structure for mass production operations thereby became established at the federal pretzel baking company . 1940 the federal government department of agriculture consulted the american institute of baking and with advanced bakers of america like the nacchio family to address the shortage of wheat flour during the world war they innovated alternative ingredients and baking techniques using corn flour as a percentage substitute composing a mix of flour s for breads and other baked goods like pretzels . 1947 the company was forwarded by the four brothers following the death of edmund in 1947 and continued by joseph carmine and anthony . 1963 the record for the largest pretzel ever baked was baked by joseph nacchio of federal baking philadelphia pa . it was 40 lbs pounds 5 feet across . this record was repeated with the largest pretzel appearing in a hollywood movie at 20 lb . 4 pretzel shown in the 1963 film production of it s a mad mad mad mad world . . 1978 first mass machine produced soft pretzel extruded at 7 per second with 60 000 baked daily by federal baking company . the original 1922 recipe continued to be used but stopped producing hand twisted pretzel with the signature overlapping knot . 3 1990 second generation daughters anna nacchio and norma nacchio conley with her son thomas opened pretzco a pretzel baking business independent of federal baking several city blocks nearby and included a backroom exhibit to document the family story as presented by the daughters of the founders . also they introduced their own modernized recipe that was less crusty and softer . 1 1992 the pretzel museum 4 opened by members of the nacchio family a partner norma conley 5 to highlight the area s preference for federal baking s distinctly shaped pretzels being baked soft and unlike the dominant more circular hard pretzels produced in western pennsylvania . three locations for the museum was first at washington and delaware avenue then 7th and markets streets next to ben franklin s historic house and finally a full design located just north of the historic district of center city philadelphia . champion hand pretzel twister helen hoff demonstrated producing 57 pretzels per minute at this first museum dedicated to the philadelphia soft pretzel . the museum was closed prior to 1995 . 2000 the family owned and operated company was continued by the various family members for four generations until it was sold to a comgolmerate business j & j snack foods corporation in the year 2000 . philadelphia soft pretzel edit a soft pretzel is doubled looped bread dough baked with a soft inside and then topped with coarse salt . the pretzels are often slathered with yellow or brown mustard . federal baking estimated it at a quart for each 200 pretzels sold . 6 during the 1900s street vendors for 80 years sold them on street corners in wooden glass enclosed cases or employed young boys to make extra cash who walked through the streets carrying baskets loaded with soft hot pretzels yelling aloud the phrase fresh pret zels 4 the soft pretzel became a recognized staple cuisine of philadelphia and an established food institutionalized for snacking at schools or as a snack at work and home or item for party trays . often the soft pretzel was considered by most to be a quick meal . see also edit pretzels references edit a b philly.com online daily news january 23 1991 pretzel recipes to die for arm twisting won t force these bakers to part with their secrets philly.com online daily news september 29 1986 south philly s first family of pretzels new york times november 13 1988 fare of the country ; philadelphia s twist on the pretzel a b the independence hall association on historic philadelphia non profit 1995 online los angeles times october 25 1992 pretzels as much philadelphia as liberty bell new york times online lead november 13 1988 fare of the country ; philadelphia s twist on the pretzel external links edit official web site phillyhistory soft pretzels a philadelphia culinary tradition published august 9 2007 v t e philadelphia area corporations including the delaware valley list of companies based in the philadelphia area philadelphia based fortune 500 corporations rank in the 2015 list comcast 43 aramark 207 crown holdings 318 delaware valley based fortune 500 corporations rank in the 2015 list amerisourcebergen 16 dupont 87 lincoln national 223 universal health services 324 campbell soup 342 ugi 349 burlington stores inc. 500 other notable philadelphia based businesses amoroso s beneficial bank chemtura day & zimmermann fmc corporation independence blue cross pennsylvania real estate investment trust pep boys philadelphia media network radian group urban outfitters notable philadelphia based professional partnerships ballard spahr blank rome cozen o connor dechert drinker biddle & reath duane morris morgan lewis & bockius pepper hamilton saul ewing white and williams other notable delaware valley based businesses actua corporation airgas alliedbarton ametek aqua america asplundh bentley systems brandywine realty trust boscov s carpenter technology cephalon chemours christiana care health system crozer keystone health system david s bridal epam systems enersys hamilton lane liberty property trust penn mutual penn national gaming rita s italian ice sei investments slm sungard susquehanna international group vanguard toll brothers triumph group unisys viropharma vishay intertechnology vwr wawa wilmington trust w. l. gore and associates wsfs bank notable delaware valley based us headquarters of foreign businesses aberdeen asset management ace agustawestland astrazeneca delaware investments glaxosmithkline ing group keystone foods sap america siemens medical shire pharmaceuticals subaru teva pharmacueticals td bank notable delaware valley based division headquarters of us corporations acme cerberus capital management centocor johnson & johnson colonial penn conseco delmarva power exelon gsi commerce ebay hercules ashland mab paints sherwin williams mcneil laboratories j & j neoware hewlett packard peco exelon qvc liberty media rohm and haas dow chemical sunoco energy transfer tasty baking flowers foods retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title federal pretzel baking company & oldid 743597754 categories manufacturing companies based in philadelphiabakeries of the united statescuisine of philadelphiapretzelshidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from march 2010articles with unsourced statements from may 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links 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