His 'SuperPretzel' Became a Staple in Stadiums, Malls

The man who helped turn soft pretzels into a staple of American stadiums, malls, and food courts has died. Gerald Shreiber, the New Jersey entrepreneur behind the SuperPretzel brand and J&J Snack Foods, died May 9 at 84 after a string of illnesses, his family said, per the Wall Street Journal. Shreiber bought a failing soft-pretzel company at auction in 1971 for $72,000 and turned it into a snacking powerhouse that now sells nearly 2 million pretzels a day and controls about 70% of the American soft-pretzel market. Under his leadership, J&J grew into a publicly traded company with upward of $1.5 billion in yearly sales, with brands including ICEE, Luigi's Italian ice, Hola Churros, and Dippin' Dots. The company's slogan, per a past Food Dive article: "Fun served here."

Shreiber, who grew up poor in Atlantic City and married his pregnant 16-year-old girlfriend when he was just 18, built his empire on aggressive sales, free use of his branded pretzel warmers and display cases, and a focus on niche snacks rather than broad food categories, per the Journal. He was known for spotting opportunity in unlikely places, from churros salvaged from a canceled contract to a struggling ICEE business he slowly acquired, scooping up distributors one by one until he owned the entire company. At home and at work, he could be both generous and harsh, his daughter Marjorie said at his funeral, calling him a father who was deeply loving but often difficult. He's survived by his wife, three children, six grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and a brother, per his obituary.