Franchisee Spotlight: Mark Naman of Philly Pretzel Factory

Notre Dame alum Mark Naman returned to the Michiana area in 2012 to work for his alma mater. Now, he's bringing one of his favorite East Coast brand's to the community, opening a Philly Pretzel Factory this spring.

Naman and his family were frequent customers of the PPF locations where they spend their summers, and wanted to bring a full-service location to Michiana so the community can enjoy Philly style pretzels like the family does every summer at the shore.

What were you doing before partnering with Philly Pretzel Factory? 
I was born in Beirut, Lebanon and lived across the Middle East until I was about ten. I moved to Maryland in the 7th grade. I went to Notre Dame where I earned both a Bachelor and Master’s degrees in electrical engineering. I moved to Chicago and worked in consulting and then moved out to New York City to work for a start-up company in 1999.

I stayed there for 10 years and was wildly successful, I even started a few other companies. I ultimately left NYC in 2012 to take a job at my alma mater Notre Dame, doing tech work at the university. I left the job in the summer of 2016.

How did you hear about Philly Pretzel Factory and why did you choose to get involved?
We loved the product and are very familiar. Our family spends the summers on the shore and visited the local PPF stores frequently. I wanted to bring it to a place where the concept doesn’t exist.

Opening in Michiana allowed us to bring a new product to a market where it doesn’t have a presence and then grow further from there. There is only one additional location in the area at the Indianapolis Zoo, but this will be the first full service stand alone location.

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