As David Zelig likes to tell it, during the COVID shutdown he had time on his hands, and a hunger for pretzels in his stomach.
He and son Jeremy began to experiment, creating, testing and tweaking recipes. And in 2021, with no experience in the food business, they began to get the licenses they needed to safely sell and serve food.
Soon, as DC Pretzel Company, the Zeligs were baking artisanal soft pretzels in a shared commercial kitchen on Distribution Circle in Silver Spring. What started with sales to local wineries and breweries has evolved to direct online sales.
Products include pretzels and pretzel rolls in the classic salted original; plus garlic, onion and jalapeno flavors with savory bits mixed in and on top. David Zelig says their secret is the right ratio of whole wheat, corn and malted barley flours, water, sugar and salt, plus, he adds, “a sodium hydroxide bath before they get baked, which gives the outside of the pretzel its unique color.”
DC Pretzel is only open on weekends, with no walk-ins. Customers must pre-order online and schedule a time for pickup, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The Zeligs arrive by 4 a.m. each day and work with a commercial mixer, kneading the dough and putting it through a dough divider for cutting large dough rolls into evenly weighted dough segments. Then they use a dough molder to transform each segment into a rope of dough to twist into a pretzel.
Jeremy Zelig says he is into all parts of the business, from product development, package design and marketing to hands-on baking. “The journey is part of the fun,” he says.
Andy Hull, a military veteran who served in Germany, arrives this Sunday morning, like he does most weekends, for a dozen pretzel rolls. He calls the number posted outside the building and David Zelig comes out with Hull’s order.
“These are always very fresh, and moist, and they have figured how to do it in ways that I have never tasted before,” Hull says. “My only concern is that I will eat too many and have to go on a diet.”
Hull isn’t alone with his endorsement. “We’ve been embraced by our neighbors, many of whom are repeat customers,” David Zelig says.
During DC Pretzel’s first month online, word spread so quickly that sales soared to 1,000 pretzels on Super Bowl weekend 2023. With days like that, the Zeligs are looking to the future and a retail operation. Until then, says David, who hasn’t yet given up his day job as a government contractor, “We have plans to increase our baking capacity, expand our menu offerings and add additional days to our baking schedule.”
The Zeligs also strongly believe that their mission is twofold: to bake great pretzels and to serve the community. A recent Martin Luther King Day event led them to So What Else, a food pantry in Gaithersburg, where they now donate fresh pretzels weekly.
“You hear about poverty, you know it exists, but seeing it right here in Montgomery County really struck us, Jeremy Zelig says. “We are fortunate that we can give back.”
David Zelig nods in agreement, “Feed the body, feed the soul are words we embrace.”
DC Pretzel Company, LLC
DC Pretzel Company
2341 Distribution Circle
Silver Spring, MD 20910
202-567-1308
[email protected]
Saturday, Sunday 9 a..m-4 p.m.
