--- description: Sex, loss, grief, redemption and a Mennonite chicken farmer who made dreams come true title: This Is the Deeply Moving, Almost Unbelievable Story Behind Auntie Anne’s Pretzels image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbdd7ad197a0f5c2/69869f81810bbb3f03c9302e/174038566.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Small Business](/tag/small-business/) ## Small Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Is the Deeply Moving, Almost Unbelievable Story Behind Auntie Anne’s Pretzels by [Matt Vella](/author/matt-vella/) ## Matt Vella Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 14, 2014 11:18 AM CUT  Auntie Anne's Pretzels founder, Anne Beiler. Auntie Anne's Pretzels founder, Anne Beiler.Fred Watkins—ABC via Getty Images by [Matt Vella](/author/matt-vella/) ## Matt Vella Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 14, 2014 11:18 AM CUT The genesis of most small businesses is filled with some measure of triumph and sacrifice, the natural elements that make up the heroics of entrepreneurship. But few “how I got started” tales are quite as rich as Anne Beiler’s, the woman behind mall staple Auntie Anne’s soft pretzels. Her’s includes devastating personal loss, grief, adversity, an abusive sexual relationship, long odds, achievement and at least one wildcard that appeared in the form of a Mennonite chicken farmer capable of writing million-dollar checks. _Fortune_ [wrote about Beiler’s story](http://fortune.com/2013/07/08/auntie-annes-soft-pretzels-out-of-hard-times/ "undefined") last year (behind a paywall). Now, the site has [a video (not behind a paywall)](http://fortune.com/video/2014/08/13/how-auntie-annes-became-queen-of-soft-pretzels/ "undefined") in which Beiler talks about how she grew her soft pretzel business from a single store to a worldwide brand with over a thousand locations. Here’s an excerpt from the 2013 story: --- > “” --- For anybody even remotely interested in starting their own business (or just reading an unbelievable yarn), it’s [worth checking out](http://fortune.com/video/2014/08/13/how-auntie-annes-became-queen-of-soft-pretzels/ "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3111038/auntie-annes-pretzels/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3111038/auntie-annes-pretzels/"},"headline":"This Is the Deeply Moving, Almost Unbelievable Story Behind Auntie Anne’s Pretzels","datePublished":"2014-08-14T11:18:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:39:57.733Z","description":"Sex, loss, grief, redemption and a Mennonite chicken farmer who made dreams come true","url":"https://time.com/3111038/auntie-annes-pretzels/","keywords":["Small Business","Entrepreneurs","Fast Food","mall"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbdd7ad197a0f5c2/69869f81810bbb3f03c9302e/174038566.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt Vella","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/matt-vella/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbdd7ad197a0f5c2/69869f81810bbb3f03c9302e/174038566.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ABC's \"Secret Millionaire\" - Season Three","caption":"ABC's \"Secret Millionaire\" - Season Three","creditText":"Fred Watkins—ABC via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/small-business/","name":"Small Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3111038/auntie-annes-pretzels/","name":"This Is the Deeply Moving, Almost Unbelievable Story Behind Auntie Anne’s Pretzels"}}]}] ```