An Athens local is bringing an American classic, the soft pretzel, to Southeast Ohio with its own sweet twist.
This Sunday Athens new and only soft pretzel store, Bangbough Bakery Soft Pretzel,s will be opening its own store in the mall complex that also houses China King.
Magda Merbouh, an Athens native and Ohio University grad, and her husband Robert are opening Bangbough Bakery Soft Pretzels after selling their pretzels at the Athens farmers market on a regular basis.
“We taught ourselves to bake,” Magda said, “We knew we wanted to bring some type of artisan specialty to Athens.”
Robert and Magda moved to Athens from New York in 2006 and over the years have been working on their artistry.
“Our most popular pretzel is our original salted pretzel,” Magda said, “When it comes to our specialties our chocolate sourdough pretzel has somewhat of a cult following.”
Bangbough Bakery Soft Pretzels’ hours are not set yet, but Magda said the pretzel shop would most definitely be open towards the end of the week and during the weekend.
The former tenants of Bangbough Bakery Soft Pretzel’s, O’Chocolate have good news for Athens even though they have left their former location.
Stacy Peters the spokesperson for O’Chocolate said that business is thriving and that they are selling their chocolate bars wholesale in Athens, Columbus, and soon Cincinnati.
“44 Ohio Avenue is where we still make all of the chocolate,” Stacy said, “We post an online order form on our homepage a couple weeks before each major holiday…our Valentine’s Day order form is up now.”
bm471311@ohiou.edu
