The Pretzel Chain That Set The Standard For Mall Snacks In The '90s

There's something about the smell of fresh-baked mall pretzels that instantly makes you crave the carb-heavy snacks whenever you pass by on a shopping trip, isn't there? When done right, they're like a great bread: Delicious even without any toppings. But some pretzel makers have become well-known for offering extraordinary and diverse add-ons to enhance the gastronomic experience. This phenomenon has been around since 1967 — well before the rise of Auntie Anne's fresh and frozen pretzels — when Hot Sam Pretzels opened in Detroit, Michigan as a division of Stamford, Connecticut-based General Host Corp (which you might know from its subsidiary, Hickory Farms). 

In the 1980s, after gaining a robust business in the Midwest and East Coast markets, Hot Sam expanded to the West Coast. At the time, the shopping mall was becoming a very popular place to meet up and grab a snack, and Hot Sam set the standard. While East Coast establishments were well-liked for their hot mustard-and-pretzel pairings, Hot Sam broke the mold, giving soft pretzels a tasty upgrade by offering toppings such as cream cheese, cheddar cheese, nacho cheese, pizza, strawberries, and even chocolate fudge. And these diverse toppings weren't only popular in the western and central U.S. regions — by 1985, they had also become a big hit on the East Coast, as the company's president, Randolph Herman, told the Los Angeles Times. The pretzel, which began as a simple snack, could now be transformed almost into a meal, in some cases.

Hot Sam's pretzels were made by a California company called J. & J. Snack Foods, which flash-froze them before shipping them to the Hot Sam locations. Once there, they were baked not in ovens, but in stoves containing spinning drums, so they could be offered hot and fresh to consumers. The cooking process took 16 minutes, which sounds like a rather long wait for a pretzel, at least by today's standards. J. & J. GM John Shiavo told the Los Angeles Times that Hot Sam leadership was aware ovens could bake the pretzels in less time, but insisted that cooking them the old-fashioned way yielded superior flavor. 

By the mid-'80s, Hot Sam was operating up to 175 locations in America, including a whopping 20 in Detroit, many on the East Coast, and 10 in California, evenly distributed between the northern and southern parts of the Golden State. The brand also had at least a couple of stores in Colorado and Arizona. Around 1997, Hot Sam was acquired by Mrs. Fields, the cookie company, after having downsized to a total of 90 locations across the country. 

Hot Sam may have also inspired Pretzel Time and Pretzelmaker, similar chains that opened in the early 1990s and were also bought out by Mrs. Fields later that same decade. Following those acquisitions, Hot Sam was merged with Pretzel Time, and all of its stores were rebranded as the latter. But even if it has become one of those vanished mall food court restaurants that's largely forgotten, true fans still remember the nostalgic Hot Sam as the OG of the mall soft pretzel. And the establishment in its original branding was even briefly featured in season 3 of the hit 1980s-set Netflix show "Stranger Things," inside the Starcourt Mall.