On a mission to reshape the pretzel experience

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[00:00] SPEAKER_03: Welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:07] SPEAKER_03: Hello, I'm Mario Tonigus, managing editor of Canada's Podcast. Today, my guest on Calgary's
[00:14] SPEAKER_03: podcast is Ashley Eman, who is the co-founder of Twigs Appretzels in Calgary. Thanks for joining us
[00:21] SPEAKER_00: today, Ashley. Thank you for having me, Mario. It's great to be here. All right, tell me about
[00:27] SPEAKER_00: Twigs and what you guys do. Yeah, for sure. So yes, I'm one of the co-founders of Twigs
[00:34] SPEAKER_00: craft pretzels, along with my two other brothers, Kirk and Mark. So we are a family business,
[00:41] SPEAKER_00: and we create bold, flavorful pretzels, twisted pretzels to be exact. And we also actually have
[00:48] SPEAKER_00: our mother involved. She is our recipe creator. So she's behind all of our, yeah, all of her four
[00:55] SPEAKER_00: unique flavors. And we launched in Calgary in 2019 into a bunch of local stores here.
[01:04] SPEAKER_00: And it's taken off ever since. So now I'm excited to say that, yeah, in 2024, we're sold
[01:12] SPEAKER_00: nationwide in most, most major retailers. So how did the idea for this come about?
[01:19] SPEAKER_00: Yeah. So back in 2018, we were actually at a Christmas dinner. One of my brothers was living
[01:26] SPEAKER_00: in the States at the time. And he had come home and said, you know what, I feel like pretzels
[01:31] SPEAKER_00: are kind of taking off in the States right now. There are flavored pretzels to be exact.
[01:36] SPEAKER_00: And there was nothing like that at the time in Canada. And just to give you a little background,
[01:41] SPEAKER_00: we're a bit of a foodie family. We love food. We'd love trying new things. Our mother
[01:48] SPEAKER_00: is baking and cooking all the time. We get dessert deliveries twice a week. I'm not kidding, twice
[01:54] SPEAKER_00: week. So it's, oh yes, it's wonderful. So anyhow, we looked at the pretzel market in Canada and
[02:03] SPEAKER_00: there was nothing like it. Nothing like seasoned baked pretzels. And so we decided to give it a
[02:10] SPEAKER_00: shot. My mom went into the kitchen. Obviously not Christmas dinner, but a few weeks later. And
[02:16] SPEAKER_00: with different recipes. And after literally thousands of iterations, we landed on our
[02:23] SPEAKER_00: buttery herban garlic recipe, which is our very first that we that we took to market.
[02:28] SPEAKER_00: Wow. What other flavors do you have? We also have a zesty-doh pickle, which is our definitely
[02:36] SPEAKER_00: one of our top sellers. And then we have a fire roasted jalapeno and smooth cheddar ranch.
[02:42] SPEAKER_03: Wow. Okay. And where does the name come from?
[02:47] SPEAKER_00: Yes. Good question. We as a team, it took us, oh gosh, I don't even know, months on months to come
[02:53] SPEAKER_00: up with the name twigs. And we just landed on it. We realized our little twisted pretzels kind of
[02:58] SPEAKER_00: look like a twig. And it kind of rolled off the tongue. It's fun. It's memorable. So we decided
[03:04] SPEAKER_03: to go for it. Yeah. Now, when you look, you look back at, you know, starting this, you know,
[03:10] SPEAKER_03: this business, I guess, and in such a, you know, small way, you know, when you look at what you have
[03:17] SPEAKER_03: now, like, blow your mind at that. Like, you also tell me a little bit about the recent air
[03:24] SPEAKER_00: Canada stuff. Yeah. Yeah. We're thrilled to announce that we've just partnered with our Canada.
[03:31] SPEAKER_00: So we are sold in their can, or we're on their economy class as well as business class.
[03:37] SPEAKER_00: And we have a resettial pickle on the B-Strow menu as well. So it's huge for us.
[03:43] SPEAKER_00: I'm actually back when we started in 2019, we had a list of goals and things that we wanted to
[03:48] SPEAKER_00: accomplish as a team. And one of them was to be an airline supplier for our Canada.
[03:56] SPEAKER_00: Air Canada was a bit nostalgic for us. We grew up flying AC. So it's very surreal that it's actually
[04:02] SPEAKER_00: happening six years, the five years later. Yeah. Yeah. It's, yeah, it's very exciting.
[04:09] SPEAKER_02: Canada's podcast is your gateway to success in the world of entrepreneurship.
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[04:19] SPEAKER_03: So, um, you always say eight pretzels as you're growing up.
[04:26] SPEAKER_00: We did. Yes. We always ate pretzels. But I never thought I'd actually have a pretzel company.
[04:33] SPEAKER_00: But you never know what life is going to bring you. And here we are.
[04:38] SPEAKER_03: Where do you think you're going to go from here like in terms of the company and the business?
[04:45] SPEAKER_00: We would love to become a household name across Canada. We're not quite there yet. We've got
[04:50] SPEAKER_00: a long ways to go. But now that we are a sold nationwide and we are in most major retailers.
[04:56] SPEAKER_00: And with the massive exposure that we're going to get from Air Canada.
[05:01] SPEAKER_00: Yeah. I think within the next few years we will be able to get to that household name brand where
[05:07] SPEAKER_00: yeah, where twigs is just kind of that go-to snack that Canadians can enjoy.
[05:13] SPEAKER_03: And sorry, where are these made like do you have specials?
[05:18] SPEAKER_03: Place that you have or just right out of the kitchen?
[05:21] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we started out of the kitchen. And then and then moved to a small commercial kitchen when
[05:30] SPEAKER_00: we initially started. But now we have a large facility in Canada that we actually produce the pretzels at.
[05:36] SPEAKER_03: What where's that? We have one in Ontario. Oh, okay.
[05:42] SPEAKER_03: So I don't know if you can put this in context. I wonder how much how many pretzels or how much
[05:49] SPEAKER_00: of this is made on a daily basis? Oh goodness. I don't want a daily basis. But an annual basis
[05:57] SPEAKER_00: millions. Millions and millions of pretzels are made every year and are heading out to consumers.
[06:04] SPEAKER_03: Okay. And now the foodie and me wants to know. So I'm take it that there's the pretzels that are kind of like
[06:13] SPEAKER_03: I you know, intertwined. I don't know how to describe it, not like a straight stick, right?
[06:18] SPEAKER_00: You got it. So ours are a little bit different. So they're actually it's almost as if two sticks are
[06:23] SPEAKER_00: combined and they're twisted. So they're they're almost like the length of a finger but are slightly
[06:27] SPEAKER_00: twisted. So they're not like the looped pretzels. Okay, interesting. Yeah, so that makes them a little
[06:32] SPEAKER_03: bit more unique as well. Tell me a little bit of your background and I cheated and I looked
[06:39] SPEAKER_03: you up on it linked in and I see you a teacher before this. I was. Yes. Yeah, I taught in Calgary
[06:47] SPEAKER_00: for close to eight years and taught also at the very beginning when we first launched twigs for
[06:53] SPEAKER_00: that first initial year was teaching and running twigs. Like evenings, weekends when we first
[07:01] SPEAKER_00: launched but soon that just became a little too much on my plate and then went full-time twigs. So
[07:08] SPEAKER_03: yes, was a teacher prior to prior to twigs. So how many years were you a teacher then?
[07:14] SPEAKER_00: Close to eight years. Oh, eight years. So it's a total elementary for them. Right.
[07:20] SPEAKER_03: To shift gears and and do this. Like what do you think?
[07:25] SPEAKER_03: Did the teaching profession, did you learn anything out of that that helped you in the business
[07:32] SPEAKER_00: that you're in now? Absolutely. Yeah, teaching is an incredible profession and but it does force
[07:42] SPEAKER_00: you to be very organized. It forces you to kind of be flexible and be able to pivot which I think
[07:53] SPEAKER_00: is a huge piece of entrepreneurship and running a business, small business. Now,
[07:57] SPEAKER_00: growing business is you can plan months and months in advance but nothing is ever and it's
[08:04] SPEAKER_00: just life in general. Nothing is ever going to go exactly as planned. They learn that with
[08:07] SPEAKER_00: businesses. Yeah, exactly. You you have to be able to pivot and if you want to grow quickly,
[08:14] SPEAKER_00: yeah, you have to be flexible and you have to really be detailed oriented. That was a huge
[08:18] SPEAKER_00: piece about teaching as well as the organization piece and the just being able to not look at
[08:24] SPEAKER_00: different angles has really helped me with with running twigs. Interesting. What would you say the
[08:31] SPEAKER_00: biggest challenge was in starting a new business? I'd say a lot of it for me in particular. A lot of
[08:40] SPEAKER_00: it was new just in terms of how to reach out to different distributors to help get our product out
[08:49] SPEAKER_00: there, how to even just bring a product to market or even just designing the vague in general.
[08:55] SPEAKER_00: That was all new to me. So there was lots of research involved, lots of asking questions and
[09:03] SPEAKER_00: something that we actually as a team, my two brothers and myself did from the very beginning
[09:07] SPEAKER_00: and I would recommend any entrepreneur out there is reach out to other founders in your specific
[09:14] SPEAKER_00: space and reach out and ask questions, get their feedback about where you're at or any challenges
[09:22] SPEAKER_00: that you're going through or any recommendations that they have. We actually did that on a monthly
[09:27] SPEAKER_00: basis the first few we still do it actually. But the first few years of running twigs and it was
[09:33] SPEAKER_00: significant in helping us guide our business and help avoid specific challenges that we didn't
[09:40] SPEAKER_03: need to go into. So what kind of people and businesses that reach out to? Just founders of other
[09:48] SPEAKER_00: CPG snack food, I don't see any specific name but CPG snack food companies. Similar stages as us.
[09:56] SPEAKER_00: So maybe only sold in Western Canada at that time and then we also did reach out to others who
[10:01] SPEAKER_00: were even launching into the States just to get their feedback. And I just yeah I would highly
[10:07] SPEAKER_00: recommend that to others that are starting businesses. It's very helpful. Before I forget, what did
[10:13] SPEAKER_00: you teach about? I taught grade two for most of my teaching career and who knows I may go back to
[10:20] SPEAKER_00: teaching in the future. I loved it. But right now with as busy as twigs is it's it's it's definitely
[10:27] SPEAKER_03: wouldn't be possible right now. So basically you started and maybe I don't know if you could
[10:35] SPEAKER_03: talk about the rest of the family but did anybody have it like a business or entrepreneurial background
[10:41] SPEAKER_00: at all? So my two brothers had a bit of business background. So Mark has a sales background. And so
[10:49] SPEAKER_00: he was highly involved in a bunch of different sales out of use. So and he naturally took the sales
[10:55] SPEAKER_00: manager role in twigs. It just fell naturally. He fell naturally into that role. And then Kirk did
[11:01] SPEAKER_00: have some business background and he's also an engineer as well. So he definitely fell into kind
[11:07] SPEAKER_00: of that operations manufacturing role and just naturally fit there. So we all we all kind of fell
[11:14] SPEAKER_00: into our specific roles. And yeah I think and even just being a family I think that's been able
[11:21] SPEAKER_00: to help us progress and move as fast as we have. Just being able to have open conversations with
[11:27] SPEAKER_00: each other and yeah just being able to kind of push us forward and fast to rate.
[11:51] SPEAKER_03: Which is our to being a family owned and family run business.
[11:59] SPEAKER_00: I think one of the big pieces was we all went in with the same goal. And we were we were brought
[12:07] SPEAKER_00: up with a pretty pretty strong work ethic. So we knew we were all going in knowing what we wanted
[12:12] SPEAKER_00: to reach at the very end of this. And I think another piece like I said is just being able to have
[12:18] SPEAKER_00: open and honest conversations with each other. And I think that naturally is siblings. You kind
[12:24] SPEAKER_00: of get there a little bit faster. So we were able to make decisions I think at a faster rate.
[12:29] SPEAKER_00: Which is great. And I think it's just fun. It's I know a lot of people are scared to jump into
[12:36] SPEAKER_00: a family business and I completely understand that. But we knew we were all open and asked from
[12:42] SPEAKER_00: the very beginning about what we all each needed out of this business. What we wanted out of this
[12:47] SPEAKER_00: business. And I think that really helped kind of form form that basis before moving forward.
[12:53] SPEAKER_03: What do you what do you like about being an entrepreneur?
[12:58] SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love a good challenge. And I just naturally have a problem solver. So I think
[13:06] SPEAKER_00: business and being an entrepreneur you run into challenges every single day and not saying that
[13:11] SPEAKER_00: all of them are fun. But just being able to check the boss at the end of the day saying,
[13:18] SPEAKER_00: okay, I accomplished this today is a good feeling. And I think the learning I think naturally the
[13:24] SPEAKER_00: teacher I love to learn and I love to teach my students just how to be get excited about learning.
[13:30] SPEAKER_00: And yeah, entrepreneurship and businesses taught me that as well. You're you're going to learn
[13:35] SPEAKER_00: a ton at a really, really fast rate. Not take it all in, but yeah, the learning has been a lot of fun.
[13:43] SPEAKER_03: They'll ask you the question on the flip side. What don't you like about being an entrepreneur?
[13:50] SPEAKER_00: To go along with the challenges. A lot of like I said earlier, you plan as much as you possibly can.
[13:59] SPEAKER_00: But a lot of things are out of your control. And I think that's the trickiest part. It's just knowing,
[14:08] SPEAKER_00: hey, I've done as much as I can and this piece right now without my control, I'm going to do as much
[14:13] SPEAKER_00: as I can to kind of guide it in a certain way. But yeah, I'd say that's probably the trickiest,
[14:19] SPEAKER_03: the trickiest part. So if you had say one of your former students come up to you and say that,
[14:28] SPEAKER_03: you know, I heard what you've done with your company. No, no, no, no, no, I want to be an entrepreneur.
[14:34] SPEAKER_00: What advice would you get? I would say work really hard and play to your strength. I think that's been
[14:46] SPEAKER_00: a huge piece for us as a family and running twigs is, yeah, Mark fell and takes sale,
[14:52] SPEAKER_00: he just naturally is great at that. I kind of took on that financing marketing because I'm that
[14:57] SPEAKER_00: organized person and yeah, Kirk played to his strength with just, I mean, we on spreadsheet today
[15:05] SPEAKER_00: on the manufacturing operation side. So definitely play to your strength and then work work really
[15:11] SPEAKER_00: hard. Yeah. And if if something doesn't work out, I always used to say this to my students,
[15:16] SPEAKER_00: if something doesn't work out, try another way. There's there's always some way to make something
[15:22] SPEAKER_00: happen. So one way, one way probably isn't going to work, but 10 sticks in the fire and at
[15:29] SPEAKER_03: least one of them will work out. Exactly. Now, you know, obviously, you know, one of the things about
[15:35] SPEAKER_03: being entrepreneur is it's it's almost like a 24 or seven job in many ways. You're doing it or
[15:42] SPEAKER_03: you're thinking about it, etc. What do you do like for work like that? How do you keep that?
[15:50] SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Good question. I'd say that's also another challenge of entrepreneurship is
[15:57] SPEAKER_00: you can't turn it off, right? It's not it's not nine to five. It is 24, seven, seven days a week
[16:03] SPEAKER_00: and you're always and I'm assuming it's not just myself but other entrepreneurs are always thinking
[16:08] SPEAKER_00: about how like better ways that you can better your business. But in terms of work life balance,
[16:15] SPEAKER_00: to be honest, I could definitely improve on it. That's something that I tell myself every day that
[16:20] SPEAKER_00: I need to go find another hobby. And or even in the evenings, just I have a little daughter at home
[16:27] SPEAKER_00: and yeah, just really trying to spend as much as my evening time with her. I think that provides
[16:33] SPEAKER_00: balance and just really trying to take time away on the weekends. Those first few years, it was
[16:40] SPEAKER_00: really difficult to take time away on the weekends. But I quickly learned that it's necessary
[16:48] SPEAKER_00: in order to be as productive as you want to be during the week. So take time on the weekends.
[16:54] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm hoping to plant a garden in the summer. So I can spend some time outside
[17:00] SPEAKER_00: since our summers in Canada are the longest. Yeah. So hopefully that will provide some
[17:05] SPEAKER_00: some just a little bit of a break from twigs. All right, well, that's super. Well, I appreciate
[17:11] SPEAKER_00: you joining us today, Ashley. Yeah, thank you so much for having me, Mario. Really appreciate it.
[17:17] SPEAKER_03: All right, that was Ashley Eman who is co-founder of Twigs Pretzels in Calgary. I'm Mario Toneguzi
[17:23] SPEAKER_03: managing editor of Canada's podcast today with Calgary's podcast. Thanks for joining us.