Jennifer Schuler has stepped down from the CEO seat at Wetzel’s Pretzels, the chain’s new parent MTY Group confirmed on Tuesday.
Eric Lefebvre, CEO of the Canada-based MTY, said in an email that Schuler left the company a few weeks ago. She will be replaced by Vincent Montanelli, the chain’s COO, who will keep the same title. Because Wetzel’s is now a division within the multi-concept group, there are no division-level CEOs at MTY.
Dallas-based private-equity firm CenterOak Partners LLC sold Wetzel’s Pretzel’s to MTY Group for $207 million in a deal that closed in December. CenterOak had owned the brand since 2016.
Schuler, who did not respond to attempts to reach her, had been with Wetzel’s Pretzels for more than eight years. She was promoted to the CEO suite in February 2019 after serving as president for about a year, and, before that, CMO since 2014. She was also a franchisee, operating units at the Mall of America near Minneapolis.
Before the acquisition, Schuler had embarked on a number of initiatives for the brand.
As Wetzel’s first female CEO, Schuler shepherded a program to help bridge the gap for underrepresented franchisee candidates, who have been traditionally shut out of entrepreneurial opportunities.
Earlier this year, for example, the company launched the Access to Equity Program, which provides financial discounts, educational support and mentorship to help women and ethnic minorities move into franchise ownership.
“While our pretzels are a delicious treat, they represent something bigger to our franchisees, and that is a dream of entrepreneurship coming to fruition,” Schuler said in a statement when the program was introduced in February. “We’ve been hard at work designing this program to both level the playing field and elevate conversations within our system and across the industry about diversity and inclusion. Our franchisees make it possible to ‘Bring Pretzels to the People,’ so our top priority is providing them with the connections to capital, education and support they need to succeed.”
Also under Schuler’s watch, the chain last week developed a new brand called Twisted by Wetzel’s, a standalone concept with whimsical takes on pretzels designed to bring the snacking opportunity out of malls.
On the menu at the prototype are pretzel-based snacks, such as sugar-dusted pretzel cones filled with soft serve, Loaded Bitz with sweet or savory toppings and whole pretzels with toppings like Nashville Heat spice or maple glaze and bacon bits.
In fiscal 2022, the snack chain, which is 90% franchised, had 362 units and domestic sales of $249 million, according to sister data brand Technomic. In the Top 500 ranking, it is the second largest beverage/snack chain after Cinnabon.
Wetzel’s said another 50 units are expected to open before the end of 2023.
UPDATE: This story has been updated to reflect that the Twisted brand was developed under Schuyler's watch, but she had stepped down by the time it opened on May 10.
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