The Federal Pretzel Baking Company of South Philadelphia was the first large-scale mass production soft pretzel manufacturer in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
.
History
The Federal Pretzel Baking Company began with the Nacchio family's small bakery, which they grew into a large-scale manufacturing business of soft pretzels, using a secret recipe.Philly.com Online Daily News January 23, 1991 "Pretzel Recipes To Die For Arm-twisting Won't Force These Bakers To Part With Their Secrets" /ref>
:1922
:Maria and Giuseppe Nacchio owned a small
Italian-American
Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
artisan
An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...
bread bakery where Maria made baked-style soft pretzels.Philly.com online Daily News September 29, 1986 "South Philly's First Family Of Pretzels" /ref> The bakery was located in the heart of an
Italian-American
Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...
neighborhood, in
South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south and the Schuylkill River to the west.Department of Agriculture consulted with the American Institute of Baking and other advanced bakers of the United States of America, including the Nacchio family, to address the shortage of
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
flour. During the
World War
A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...
, alternative ingredients and baking techniques were developed. One alternative included using corn flour as a percentage substitute to create a mix of flour(s) for bread and other bakery goods like pretzels.
:1947
:The company was founded by four brothers. Following the death of Edmund in 1947, Joseph, Carmine, and Anthony continued to run the company.
:1963
:The record for the largest pretzel ever baked was baked by Joseph Nacchio of the Federal Pretzel Baking Company. It weighed and measured five feet across. This record was repeated, with a four-foot pretzel from Federal appearing in the 1963 Hollywood film production of '' It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World''.
:1978
:First mass-machine-produced soft pretzel was extruded at seven per second with 60,000 baked daily by Federal Pretzel Baking Company. The original 1922 recipe continued to be used, but they no longer made hand-twisted pretzels with the signature overlapping knot.
:1990
:Second-generation daughters Anna Nacchio and Norma Nacchio-Conley (with her son Thomas) opened PretzCo, a pretzel-baking business independent of Federal Pretzel Baking Company. It was located several city blocks away. They included a backroom exhibit to document the family story as presented by the daughters of the founders. They introduced their own modernized recipe that was less crusty and softer.
:1992
:The Pretzel
Museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
The Independence Hall Association in Historic Philadelphia 1995 online /ref> was opened by Nacchio family member Norma Conley and partner Jean CollinsLos Angeles Times October 25, 1992 "Pretzels as Much Philadelphia as Liberty Bell" /ref> to highlight the area’s preference for Federal Pretzel Baking Company's distinctly shaped pretzels. There were three locations for the museum: it was first located at Washington and Delaware Avenue, then at 3rd and Markets streets next to Ben Franklin's historic house, and finally a fully designed museum was located just north of the historic district of the center of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
. All of the locations offered full tours of the bakery led by family member Lori Conley and family friend Helene Collins, culminating with the opportunity to twist your own pretzel. Champion hand pretzel twister Helen Hoff demonstrated how to produce 57 pretzels per minute at the first museum dedicated to the Philadelphia soft pretzel. The museum was closed prior to 1995.
:2000
:The family-owned and -operated company, maintained by various family members for four generations, was sold to a conglomerate business, J & J Snack Foods Corporation, in 2000.