The smell of warm dough, salt, and cinnamon sugar fills the air. The oven beeps as another batch of fresh pretzels finishes baking. Customers sit at tables inside and outside, smiling as they enjoy the soft, golden treats.
Welcome to the Pretzel Shop!
Since July 2024, husband and wife Jacob and Meagan Albert have co-owned the Pretzel Shop in Granville, Ohio, where they serve handmade pretzels to loyal customers and curious newcomers alike. Jacob, 42, with a background in baking, manages the kitchen and oversees daily operations. Meagan, 32, with a master’s degree in business, handles the bookkeeping, food truck bookings, emails, and social media. Together, they have combined their skills into a successful family-run enterprise.
“He had some experience in a bakery, and I knew the business side,” Meagan stated. “But it was still something new.”
Originally from Pickerington, Ohio, Meagan earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and later completed a master’s in business with a focus on human resources. Her first job after graduate school was in HR relations at Eaton, a power management company in Virginia. That’s where she met Jacob, who worked in Eaton’s operations.
The couple later moved to the greater Boston area, where Meagan worked in HR for Poland Spring. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, they began to feel the strain of living far from their families in Ohio. So in early 2021, Meagan accepted a job at Regal Rexnord in Tipp City, Ohio, which brought them back home.
“I think it was just coincidental timing,” Meagan said. “But Jacob and I were looking for something still in the food and beverage space and something to do together. And everything just clicked.”
In July 2024, they officially bought the pretzel shop and soon after purchased their house in Granville, where they have been living for about a year.
The original owners used a family recipe and built a loyal following. However, the couple was looking to make a change and ultimately decided to sell the business. So Jacob and Meagan took over, but kept the recipe, menu and hours the same during the transition.
Since taking ownership, the Alberts have made small but meaningful improvements. They added outdoor seating, redid the awning and expanded hours.
“The next step we’re working toward is being open seven days a week and staying open later into the evenings,” Meagan said.
In addition to Jacob and Meagan, four part-time employees help run the shop, including two Granville High School students and two retirees. With plans to extend their hours, they are looking to hire more staff soon.
The couple also operates a food truck from Monday to Wednesday, serving central Ohio events. It recently appeared at the Granville High School homecoming parade, where a portion of the sales were donated to the school. “We feel like we give back just by being a small business here in town,” Meagan said. “But being able to physically give back with the food truck, that has been a lot of fun.”
The truck has also catered Denison University’s first day of school, weddings, birthday parties and a recent fall festival with the local arts center.
Longtime Granville resident Kevin Villiers, 62, has been a regular customer since the shop first opened.
“They’re just perfect,” Villiers said of the pretzels. “They’re not too much, not too little. It’s not overcompensated in any way. It’s just what it is. And I love that.”
But it’s not just the pretzels that keep him coming back. It’s the people behind them. “She’s doing God’s work back there and she doesn’t even know it,” he said of Meagan.
Life became even busier in April when Meagan gave birth to their daughter, Kennedy. “That’s added another layer of love and chaos into the mix,” Meagan said with a laugh. “But we’re figuring it out together.” She hopes Kennedy will grow up being part of the shop’s story. “It’ll be something she’s raised around, and that’s really cool.”
For Jacob and Meagan, the pretzel shop is more than a business. It’s a life they’re building together, one warm twist at a time. And for Kennedy, it’s a legacy rising right in the heart of Granville.
Carly Devine writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.