Our Story
Smales Pretzel Bakery is currently owned by fifth-generation pretzel-twister Emma Smales and her husband Joe.
The bakery began when German-born Rudie Schaaf opened Gem City Pretzel on Warren Street in 1906, not long after he arrived in Dayton as a boy in 1885.
In 1926, his daughter, Emma Smales (the first), moved the bakery to it’s current location at 210 Xenia Ave and renamed it Smales Pretzel Bakery.
Emma Smales, Ohio’s Pretzel Queen
Smales' history twists into the city’s at every turn. A stand operated in the old downtown Arcade for years. Armloads of pretzels were ferried to neighborhood groceries and found their way into the hands of generations of school kids.
Dayton Arcade
Dayton Arcade, 1969
Charles Smales took over the bakery from his mother Emma when he returned from World War II and operated it until his son, Chuck took over in the late 1980s. Charles and Chuck expanded hard pretzel disribution to stores and bars.
Charles Smales
Emma Smales and Chuck Smales, 2016
Lawrence (Larry) Smales became owner in 2002. Lawrence expanded soft pretzel production and provided soft pretzels to local elementary schools. Lawrence passed the pretzel bakery to his daughter Emma in 2015.
Lawrence Smales and Emma Smales, 2015
Joe Middlesworth and Emma Smales
Three generations of pretzel-twisters: Charles, Tommy, Emma and Lawrence Smales.
Emma Smales and Joe Middlesworth (and Avenelle Middlesworth)