Ben's Soft Pretzels offers a lot more than pretzels
Jul. 25—The new Ben's Soft Pretzels location at 112 Allen St. is one of a very few standalone locations in the chain.
But Ron Williams, who owns the store with his wife, Tamara, said when he announced plans for the store, "If this is a hit, there may be more coming. We're going to be unique."
The new store, where the Cold Stone Creamery and the Cup Cakery were, doesn't just sell pretzels.
The menu includes pretzel sandwiches, ice cream in cups and cones, shakes, smoothies, lemonade, "P-rizza" (pretzel-crusted pizzas) and more.
Williams said so far pretzel pockets (sandwiches) and ice cream have been the new store's best sellers.
He said, "I was not a big fan of pretzels until I got to know Ben's. It's a great product. We make a tremendous pretzel."
The downtown location, Williams said, "is great for families hanging out at the river or going to the museum. And we want to attract downtown workers for lunch. We're not just snacks. We have lunches, too."
The Amish-inspired pretzel chain, which began in a farmers market, was launched in 2008 by Scott Jones and Ben and Liz Miller.
Today, the Indiana-based chain has more than 110 locations in 10 states, selling the nearly half-pound artisan pretzels with German pretzel salt and a lot more.
Owensboro's first store opened inside Meijer's five years ago.
The Williams family bought it a year later.
Today, they have that store, the downtown store, a store in Evansville's Eastland Mall, one in Holiday World and there's pretzel food trailer, too.
Williams opened a Prizza location in Towne Square Mall in late 2019, but closed it the following March.
"It was partly because of COVID and partly because when the big chain stores left, there was little traffic," he said.
Williams said he'll be offering breakfast downtown soon "and we hope to start hosting birthday parties soon."
The downtown location has about a dozen employees.
"We hire a lot of high school and college students at our stores," Williams said.
"Before this, I had taught and coached basketball at several schools in the area since the early 2000s," he said.
Williams was principal of Trinity High School in Whitesville for the last four years of his academic career.
"It's cool to see former students," he said. "They have families of their own now."
The downtown store is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
It's closed on Sunday — except for big events, Williams said.
Keith Lawrence, 270-691-7301 klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com
270-691-7301
