Brothers Make Pretzels With A Twist In Langhorne

LANGHORNE, PA —At the Philly Pretzel Factory, brothers Brian and Shaun Kean are baking pretzels daily —but with a twist.

The brothers, who have operated the franchise at 1506 E. Lincoln Highway for 16 years, use a little creative license as a franchisee —they make custom pretzels.

"We started making custom pretzels on Day 1," Brian told Patch Wednesday. "It draws more people in and prompted us to get more creative."

With the Easter holiday weekend, the brothers created and baked pretzels of a cross, the portrait of "The Last Supper" and even one for Easter Island.

Brian said the brothers have made hundreds of Easter pretzels.

He said, though, that only 8-10 of "The Last Supper" pretzels were made because they can take up to an hour.

The pace has really picked up recently as Brian and Shaun take turns operating the oven. Even sister Melissa, who came on during the pandemic to pitch in, has stayed to turn the business into a family affair.

"It's extremely hectic trying to accommodate all the orders," Brian said. "Easter is usually not a custom pretzel time of the year."

The custom pretzels began around Halloween in October 2006, Brian said. It started with a pumpkin-shaped pretzel.

"We didn't know it was going to take off," he said. "Pretzels are a really good product."

Brian said the duo creates and makes pretzels for sports, holidays, and even current events. While Brian doesn't believe Easter Island has anything to do with Easter, he read about it recently and decided to create a pretzel.

The brothers made Shamrock pretzels for St. Patrick's Day and will make ones to support even local high school sports teams. They've made pretzels with Disney shapes, a pork roll pretzel sandwich during the pandemic and even a pretzel that was the face of one of the stars of the "Impractical Jokers" television show after the star's wife contacted the pretzel place for a special creation.

"It's a unique way of separating us from the competition," Sean said. "If you focus on what you do well, success tends to follow. We're good at making custom pretzels so we decided to roll with it. It's our thing."