Soft pretzel specialist Auntie Anne’s has opened its 50th site in the UK and Ireland, marking a significant milestone on the brand’s expansion journey.
The location, which opened earlier this month, is found in The Beacons shopping centre in Eastbourne. From here, it serves up a range of soft pretzels, made on site to a 30-year-old recipe, with sweet and savoury options as well as pretzel bites, pretzel ‘stix’, and pizza.
The opening marks the halfway point on Auntie Anne’s UK & Ireland’s ambition to have 100 locations in operation by 2030. The pipeline for this is building, with five locations currently under negotiation.
“Reaching 50 stores is an important milestone for Auntie Anne’s in the UK and Ireland, but we still see significant headroom for the brand,” said Max Burton, managing director, Auntie Anne’s UK&I.
Founded in 1988 from a single stand at a Pennsylvania farmer’s market, Auntie Anne’s first entered the UK market in 2008, steadily growing through franchising to operate kiosks and stores. This growth ramped up of late with 25 new sites over the past five years.
Although the latest location is within the firm’s heartland of shopping centres, Auntie Anne’s UK & Ireland has increasingly broadened its estate beyond this as it looks to target other high-footfall locations. Recent openings include Frasers Plus Braehead in Glasgow and Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in Dublin, alongside new formats such as its first container location at Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet. The container concept has since been rolled out to Canterbury Station as the brand explores further opportunities across travel hubs and other non-traditional locations.
“Our ambition now is to build on that momentum and take Auntie Anne’s into more high-footfall locations across the UK and Ireland. Shopping centres will remain an important part of our estate, but we also see major opportunities across travel hubs, outlet destinations and other non-traditional locations,” Burton added.
“What gives us confidence is the distinctiveness of the proposition. Customers can see our teams making the dough, hand-rolling every pretzel and baking it on site. That combination of freshness, theatre and convenience works particularly well in busy locations, and we believe it gives us a strong platform as we work towards 100 stores by 2030.”
Auntie Anne’s sits at number 34 on British Baker’s Bakery Market Report 2026 which ranks the top 75 out-of-home bakery operators by estate size.
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