24. Pretzel Australia

Revenue: $8.08 million
Growth: 31.78%
Founders: Brittany Garbutt
Head office: Perth, WA
Year founded: 2017
Employees: 156
Industry: Hospitality
Website: pretzelaustralia.com.au

How Pretzel Australia started

Brittany Garbutt was shattered when her favourite pretzel store – and former workplace – closed. With the owner’s blessing, she revived the old recipe and put her own twist on it after months of experimentation.

Combining her love of pretzels with her education in creative advertising and graphic design, photography and illustration, she sunk her life savings into a store fitted out of a shipping container, and found a much bigger market.

Growth

Each Pretzel Australia location is entirely different, attracting cult followers keen to make the effort to visit each of the company’s 12 stores.

In the last three financial years, revenue has almost doubled for the business, from $4.8 million in 2020-21 to just over $8 million in 2022-23.

With that great growth has come engineering challenges. Industrial-scale pretzel baking is nowhere near as common as pizzas or burgers in Australia, and the reworked tech Garbutt initially relied on had limits. 

A $200,000 engineering investment led Pretzel Australia to its own specialised oven, just for perfect pretzels.

Where to next

Even with 12 stores under the Pretzel Australia banner, Garbutt isn’t slowing down. Her next stop is Singapore, expanding the brand internationally.

Then the company will start to offer a franchise model, with the intention to keep the strong, family vibe which has served it so well over the past six years.

After that, she will consider bringing in partners, or as a long-term possibility, sell on.

Pretzel Australia was shortlisted for the Retail Award category at The Smart50 Awards 2023.

Back to The Smart50 Awards 2023.