Candy-coated pretzels become sweet business

BELMONT — After the last of her three children head to school, Sara Deschuiteneer gets down to making magic.

With an assembly line of pretzels, caramel, melted chocolate, Reese’s Pieces, Heath Bar Crunch and other candy store favorites spread on her kitchen counter, she concocts what many of us crave: the ultimate snack experience.

“If you search the whole worldwide web for what I do, you won't find it,” she said.

Deschuiteneer is a wizard in another realm. As founder of Peeper’s Pretzels, she’s turned a mouth-watering hobby into an even sweeter business, taking orders online and by phone and delivering to stores, with requests surpassing her greatest expectations.

“I never imagined I’d be doing this,” she said. “It’s really taken off. I haven’t brought them anywhere for people to try, and had them say no.”

It’s the dream of treat-makers everywhere.

Eight months after Peeper’s Pretzels incorporated in April 2021, Deschuiteneer’s sample bags of candy-coated, chocolate-dipped, caramel-infused pretzels sell for $15 at The Country Store at Tanger Outlets in Tilton, and at The Common Man Roadside Market at the rest stop on I-93 South in Hooksett. They’re also featured locally at Brookside Pizza II in Belmont, where the indulgences got their retail launch.

“They saw me hustling at craft fairs and old home days and believed in the product,” Deschuiteneer said. Now, it’s more than a kitchen business. “It’s taking photos, altering photos for displays, meeting people and putting smiles on faces. It’s been priceless,” she said.

With help from her husband Greg Deschuiteneer, who owns A-Plus Fertilizing in Belmont, she has turned a craft into science. Together they make 150 finished pretzel treats in roughly two hours, which she delivers that afternoon. It’s a full-time job during school hours for Deschuiteneer, until lawn care season ramps up. Then she helps her husband.

At this point, professional cooperation comes easily to the couple, now 40 and 42. “We were high school sweethearts. We’ve been doing everything together since we bought a piece of land and lived in a tent for six months,” Deschuiteneer said.

They live and work at the site – a house across from Sargent Lake, where the Deschuiteneers balance the demands of Peeper’s Pretzels with caring for their two teenagers and younger daughter who has autism. Keeping a schedule and a routine is key to their success, she said, as well as their expansion plans.

“The sky’s the limit,” said Deschuiteneer. “We’re looking for any environment that’s local product-based,” plus stores including Wal-Mart, Hannaford and Shaw’s.

Getting free samples to charitable organizations has also helped. This year Deschuiteneer donated more than 500 dipped pretzels to the Lakes Region Children’s Auction and handed them to volunteers. Their gift basket raised $130.

This year their 14-year-old daughter helped sell gift bags at the Gilmanton Farmer’s Market, Belmont Old Home Day, the Belmont Craft Fair and the Paugus Bay Village Craft Fair. In 2022, Peeper’s Pretzels will be at the Hopkinton Fair and will donate pretzels to the Lakes Region Garden Club, Deschuiteneer said.

Now it’s a matter of momentum. “Daily we are dipping,” she said.

Like many cooks and bakers, her interest sprouted while helping her mother who reveled in goody-making. For years, Deschuiteneer dipped and decorated pretzels for family members and friends, birthday parties and school events. Now her commercial menu includes hot chocolate bombs, which contain marshmallows and hot chocolate mix inside a chocolate shell, for dropping in warm milk; chocolate-dipped Oreos and Rice Krispie squares; Christmas Crack – a blend of all the candy toppings on chocolate slabs; peanut butter snowmen dipped in white chocolate; and chocolate dipped cake pops. Her son recently came up with chocolate-drenched pretzels covered with pieces of Andes Mints.

Everyone asks who Peeper is. The company name was inspired by Deschuiteneer’s grandmother, who called her Peeper because she was nosey and wanted to know about everything.  

When it comes to making sales, having a little moxie doesn’t hurt.

At The Country Story at Tanger, “I walked in with my bag of pretzels and a business card, and said, ‘I think my pretzels would look really good here.’ An employee said, ‘You can leave them but it’s hard to get in.’ Once they tried it, the phone was ringing,” Deschuiteneer said. Now she drops off roughly 20 bags there each day.

Is it hard to live surrounded by goodies? Do family members sneak samples, using the dubious excuse of quality control?

“At this point, it’s not a must-have for any of us,” Deschuiteneer said. “But talking about it is making me hungry.”

For more information, visit peeperspretzels.com.