Auntie Anne's Four P's…And One F

auntieAnnes_logo I love Auntie Anne’s soft pretzels (upper level at Cool Springs Mall, and in airports everywhere). You can get them plain, with salt, with cinnamon, dipped in mustard and so on. My favorite: plain (those of you who know me well are not surprised).

Auntie Anne’s founder was Anne Beiler. Her husband’s parents loaned her $6000 in 1988 to buy a pizza/ice cream/pretzel store in a Downingtown, PA, indoor farmers market. The first store opened in February and the second came only five months later. After deciding to specialize on pretzels, the first year sales were $100,000—not too bad for a $6000 investment. The rest is history. Today, Auntie Anne’s (now owned by Focus Brands) has more than 1200 locations worldwide.

As the story is told by Dinah Eng in her article, Soft Pretzels out of Hard Times (Fortune, July 22, 2013), The Anne Beiler’s success formula was p1+p2+p3=P:

p1=purpose: provide funds for free marriage and family counseling
p2=product: their pretzels are great—almost 100 million “going down” every year (if I worked at an Auntie Anne’s, I would be about 4 sizes too big for my jeans)
p3=people: a husband who stood by her through some very hard personal years; a friend who put up $1.5M for the first big expansion; employees who roll and serve great pretzels with a smile
P=profit: and lots of it because they got the three little p’s right

Actually, according to Beiler, there is an important F in the formula (p1+p2+p3+F=P) because one of her foundational values is her faith in God.

Is your enterprise foundering a bit? Why don’t you try the p1+p2+p3+F formula? Focus on the three little p’s—augmented with some F—instead of worrying about the big P. Not only will you enjoy leading more, you’ll also be more effective and the big P will come if you get the little p’s—and the F—right.

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2 responses to “Auntie Anne's Four P's…And One F”

Matt Austin says:

July 26, 2013 at 8:18 am

I think Auntie Anne’s has a great pretzel hot dog, too. And no ketchup. Good blog post, Dick. I’d never heard this story before and it’s inspiring.

Reply
- Dick Wells says:
  
  July 26, 2013 at 10:28 am
  
  Thanks, Matt. Suggest you read the entire article. She has a great story. I have ordered her book. How are things in TX?
  
  Reply