Ditsch to ditch Pretzel King name?

Following trials of the Pretzel King food-to-go concept last year, the company has revealed future outlets could remain under the Ditsch brand.

Raz Nehushtan, managing director of Ditsch, spoke exclusively to British Baker about the German bakery firm’s plans to expand in the future. He said: “We are still operating our Pretzel King outlet in London Victoria railway station. We are happy with the concept, but we feel we don’t have to roll this out under a different name, we can just have Ditsch shops operating the Pretzel King concept.

“We created some sort of awareness with Ditsch, so it may be better to run with this, rather than starting from scratch.”

Nehushtan added that if the company decides to operate the concept under the Ditsch name, it will continue to sell the range of sweet and savoury pretzel products currently found at Pretzel King’s outlets, including baguette-style filled pretzels.

 “If we do expand outside the capital, it will only be in the big cities – London locations are more adequate to run, due to price points for customers.

Ditsch’s UK estate, including Pretzel King sites, currently equates to 13 outlets. These include its two latest sites in Nottingham and Bristol, which opened towards the end of last year.

Nehushtan explained that Ditsch is looking to target its products further at supermarkets and wholesalers as part of its future plans.

The move followsa successful trial with Waitrose during the last couple of years, which has since been rolled out across 100 of the supermarket’s outlets in the last 12 months.

The Ditsch range in Waitrose consists of its original pretzel, priced at 75p, in addition to a pretzel football roll – a small roll made from pretzel dough – which the supermarket serves loose within its in-store bakery section, as well as for Waitrose’s pre-made sandwiches.

He said: “After exhibiting at Foodex last March, we are looking to attend more trade exhibitions this year and we want to attract other wholesale customers. We work with smaller firms within this market, and Waitrose is the only supermarket we supply to. There are other big retailers we are talking to, so we shall see.”