Bay Food Helps New Brand Pretzelized Launch in Publix

Bay Food Brokerage has proudly served as Pretzelized’s Publix broker since February 2024. In this testimonial, we cover how we helped this newly launched brand get picked up by one of the largest food retailers in the Southeast U.S.

Here, Kelsey Skura, Director of Sales for Pretzelized, shares her organization’s experience working with Bay Food on this effort to expand its retail partnerships.

About Pretzelized

Pretzelized takes the crunchy texture and salty flavor of a traditional pretzel and combines it with the timeless appeal of other classic snacks for a new take on old favorites.

“The goal behind Pretzelized is simply to pretzel-ize everything,” Kelsey said. “We’re seeing such a huge resurgence with pretzels right now, as people are looking for fun, innovative and nostalgic-type snacks. So, with our Pretzel Crackers and Pretzels Pita Chips, we’re merging the best of both worlds into one snack.”

Pretzelized, based in Fairfield, New Jersey, brought on a sales team in January 2024 and launched products to market in April 2024. Its founders and lead executives have decades of CPG experience, having worked for other successful brands like Veggie Straws, SkinnyPop and ParmCrisps.

To date, Pretzelized has released three flavors of Pretzel Crackers and three flavors of Pretzel Pita Chips.

The Opportunity: Getting Distribution at Publix

From the start, Pretzelized had national distribution in Kroger and Whole Foods, as well as some distribution in Costco and Sam’s Club. When it came time to turn their attention to Publix, one of the largest food retailers in the Southeast, the executives at Pretzelized contacted Bay Food Brokerage.

“Some members of our team had met Gary when he was still working at KeHE,” Kelsey said of Gary Royal, Bay Food Brokerage’s Vice President of Sales. “We hadn’t worked with Bay Food at our previous company. But, we knew how experienced they were – especially with their relationships with Publix – as well as Gary being an overall enjoyable presence. So, we knew we wanted to consider working with Bay Food at our next company.”

The Pretzelized executives interviewed multiple brokerage companies to represent them at Publix, which has over 1,300 stores. Ultimately, they decided to hire Bay Food Brokerage.

“The Bay Food team has such a track-record of success,” Kelsey said. “They manage a number of prestigious and emerging brands, and we wanted to be a part of that.”

The Results: Three Products in Publix’s 1,300+ Stores

After hiring Bay Food Brokerage in February 2024, Pretzelized launched three products in Publix in September 2024.

“I think it just goes to show how entrenched Gary and Bay Food are in this business, that we just launched and we were able to create a partnership with Publix so quickly.”

Kelsey added that she has appreciated the Bay Food team’s streamlined processes, communicativeness and strong field team support.

“They’re extremely collaborative, and open to new ideas and thinking outside of the box to drive results,” Kelsey said. “Overall, especially as a new brand, we feel very well supported.”

Bay Food Brokerage represents established and emerging CGP brands at major supermarkets throughout the Southeast. Contact us today to learn how we can support you.