Philly Pretzel Factory plans to add water ice and soft-serve ice cream to menu

Over the coming year, Philly Pretzel Factory will begin selling soft-serve ice cream and water ice at some of its stores in a push to expand the company's dessert offerings.

The Bensalem-based franchise has 175 stores in 14 states — including about 100 in the Philly area — and wants to give customers more mix-and-match options throughout the day.

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"The one thing about soft-serve and water ice is they are evening products," Philly Pretzel Factory CEO Dan DiZio said. "Most people go to dinner and the business is about 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Our pretzel business is historically a morning business. We open around 6 a.m. and close by 6 p.m."

Since co-founding Philly Pretzel Factory in 1998, DiZio said he's often considered adding to the menu. In the past, he's held off because making pretzels from scratch every day is demanding work. He didn't want to overload franchisees, who own the vast majority of the company's stores, until the company had a strong plan and data to support an expansion.

"We always thought water ice would be a good fit, and we've done combo stores with ice cream in the past," DiZio said. "We had some stores with Ben & Jerry's that did well. It always felt natural."

Philly Pretzel Factory President Marty Ferrill, who formerly worked in research and development for Rita's Italian Ice, drew on his experience to help develop in-house recipes.

"We're going to have the basics — the mango and the cherry and all — but we really think we can get creative with some unique flavors," DiZio said. "The plan is to blend the water ice flavors with the soft serve, which we'll have in vanilla and chocolate. And then there's our pretzels for dipping."

Some Philly Pretzel Factory stores used to offer hard ice cream, but DiZio said it was a challenge selling it to big groups because it's difficult for employees to scoop while staying on top of pretzel orders.

To help with the transition to soft-serve, Philly Pretzel Factory announced last week that it acquired Bucks County-based Cone Guys. The Bristol company, founded in 1994, manufactures five ice cream cone varieties that are sold nationwide. Its most popular product is the pretzel cone. Others include cones made with chocolate chip cookie dough and M&Ms.

DiZio said Cone Guys co-owner Mike Williamson is retiring and recently wrote him a letter inquiring about Philly Pretzel Factory's interest in purchasing the company.

"We went over there, liked the operation and thought, 'What a good fit,'" DiZio said.

DiZio did not disclose the terms of the acquisition. He said he plans to retain Cone Guys' staff at their production facility and will seek ways to expand the business, in addition to using the cones to serve ice cream at Philly Pretzel Factory stores.

Philly Pretzel Factory is already testing its ice cream and water ice separately at its New Jersey locations in Voorhees and Haddon Heights. In Philly, the first franchise that will carry them is a new location opening at Drexel University in the Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building at 3245 Chestnut St. DiZio said he has 11 stores opening soon in Florida, a fitting spot to serve water ice and ice cream with the yearlong warmer climate.

The goal is to gather data on how the new products sell at these franchises, which will give existing store owners the confidence to invest in equipment and staff to add to their locations.

"If everything goes well, I think you'll see it in a majority of stores by the end of 2026," DiZio said.

Another motivation for adding the desserts is that in new markets, DiZio believes ice cream and water ice will lead to more pretzel sales.

"Some of these other markets are still in the doughnut world, where they bring doughnuts to the office," he said. "Philadelphia people just love pretzels — and in New Jersey and New York. They'll have them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But when we go to new markets, people who didn't grow up here sometimes don't understand the love of pretzels. We hope the ice cream will be a bit of a carrot to get them in, and then what goes better with ice cream and water ice than a soft pretzel?"