Hot Sam Pretzels was an American restaurant chain selling

soft pretzel A pretzel (), from German pronunciation, standard german: Breze(l) ( and French / Alsatian: ''Bretzel'') is a type of baked bread made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot. The traditional pretzel shape is a distinctive symmetrical ...

s. Julius Young opened the first outlet at

Livonia Mall Livonia Marketplace is an open-air shopping mall in the Detroit suburb of Livonia, Michigan. Opened in 2010, the center is anchored by Kohl's and Walmart. It occupies the site of the former Livonia Mall, which was an enclosed mall built in 1964. L ...

in a

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

suburb in Michigan. In 1971, the owners sold the company to

General Host General Host Corp. (formerly known as General Baking Company) was a New York-based food and food-related company. It was also the owner of Frank's Nursery & Crafts until the company's bankruptcy in 2004. History Early years and Bond Bread The h ...

, who then owned the Detroit-based retailer

Frank's Nursery & Crafts Frank's Nursery & Crafts was an American retailer devoted to the sale of lawn and garden products. It operated a chain of stores, with 170 outlets across 14 states. It specialized in products such as shrubs, trees, accent plants, flowers, and l ...

. General Host sold it again in 1986.

Mrs. Fields Mrs. Fields' Original Cookies Inc. is an American franchisor in the snack food industry, with Mrs. Fields and TCBY as its core brands. Through its franchisees' retail stores, it is one of the largest retailers of freshly baked, on-premises specia ...

acquired the chain in 1995. Mrs. Field's purchased

Pretzel Time Pretzelmaker is a chain of independently owned and operated franchised stores that specialize in hand-rolled pretzels, smoothies and cold beverages. It is a franchise brand in the portfolio of Global Franchise Group. It has more than 280 locati ...

in 1996 and merged the two chains under the "Pretzel Time" brand. The last 10 locations were converted in 2005.

In popular culture

Hot Sam was recreated in 2018 for an appearance in the mall food court of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Prod ...

'', which is set in the mid-1980s. The faux mall facades were constructed at

Gwinnett Place Mall Gwinnett Place Mall is a largely vacant shopping mall located in the Pleasant Hill Road corridor of Duluth, Georgia, in the United States. The mall is almost identical to Town Center at Cobb. For the first 16 years, Gwinnett Place was the leading ...

near

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, where the series is filmed.

References

{{Rowntree's Pretzels Restaurants in Michigan Defunct companies based in Michigan Defunct fast-food chains in the United States American companies established in 1967 Restaurants established in 1967 1967 establishments in Michigan 2005 disestablishments in Michigan Restaurants disestablished in 2005 1971 mergers and acquisitions 1995 mergers and acquisitions Defunct restaurant chains in the United States