Anne F. Beiler

Last updated

Anne F. Beiler
BornJanuary 16, 1949 (1949-01-16) (age 75)
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation(s)Businesswoman, author, motivational speaker
Known forFounder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels
Board member of Museum of the Bible
Spouse
Jonas Z. Beiler
​
(m. 1968)​
Children3
AwardsEntrepreneur of the Year (Inc. Magazine) [1]

Anne F. Beiler (born January 16, 1949) is an American businesswoman and founder of Auntie Anne's pretzels. [2]

Contents

Early life

Beiler was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, one of eight children born into an Old Order Amish family, on January 16, 1949. When she was three years old, her parents made the decision to join the Amish Mennonite church, meaning that, though the family retained many Amish practices, such as farming and using a horse and buggy, they were allowed limited use of modern amenities, such as electricity. [3] She did not graduate from high school, instead leaving her studies after completing the 8th grade, as most Amish children did in that time. [4]

Career

In 1987, Beiler started making hand-rolled pretzels at a market stand in Maryland. She then rented a stand in February 1988 in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, and called it Auntie Anne's Pretzels. The Beilers decided to tweak the recipe and found success. Anne had no previous business experience and only an eighth grade education, but she had eight stand alone stores and her first Auntie Anne's Soft Pretzels store in a mall after a year. The only advertising the company had was the rave reviews from their customers. [5] In 1989, the first Auntie Anne's franchises opened throughout Central Pennsylvania. [6]

Written works

In 2002, Beiler wrote a story book style autobiography entitled Auntie Anne: My Story with illustrations by artist Frieman Stoltzfus. [7] In 2008, Beiler penned a memoir with her nephew, Shawn Smucker, entitled Twist of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels published by Thomas Nelson Inc. [8] Her third book, co-authored with Emily Sutherland, entitled, The Secret Lies Within: An Inside Out Look at Overcoming Trauma and Finding Purpose in the Pain was released by Morgan James Publishing in 2018. [9] In 2021, she released Overcome & Lead, which she also co-authored with Emily Sutherland, detailing the leadership lessons learned while building the international Auntie Anne's Pretzel franchise. [10]

Speaking

Beiler delivered a speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention on September 3, 2008. [11]

Personal life

Beiler has two sisters, Fi and Becky, [12] and is married to Jonas Z. Beiler, an author and family counselor, by whom she has three children, daughters LaWonna (born 1971), Angela Joy (1974–1975), and Joy LaVale (born 1976). [13] [14] [15] [16] Her middle daughter, Angela Joy Beiler, died at 19 months old, in a farming accident involving a Bobcat tractor driven by Beiler's sister Fi on the family's property in Pennsylvania. [17] [18] Jonas and Anne married in 1968, when she was 18 years old and he was 21. [19] [20] Like Beiler, her husband was raised in an Old Order Amish family. [21] By LaWonna, she has three grandchildren, and through her seven siblings, she has more than thirty nieces and nephews. [22] [23] Dyslexia affects several members of her family. [24]

Beiler describes, in her memoir, her church's pastor having maintained secret sexual relationships with her and her sisters, [25] and that he had also molested her daughter LaWonna. [26]

Beiler holds two honorary doctorates, one from Elizabethtown College and another from the Eastern University, both schools located in Pennsylvania. [27] [28] Like most Amish children in her time, she did not complete high school but she did go on to obtain her G.E.D. at the age of 50. [29] [30]

Beiler also serves on the board of directors for the Museum of the Bible, affiliated with David Green, the founder of Hobby Lobby, which opened in 2017. [31]

Anne Beiler's autobiography "Twist Of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels" [32] is currently being adapted into a feature film biopic, produced by Called Higher Studios and written by Mark Charran and Beth Goldberg.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gap, Pennsylvania</span> Census-designated place in Pennsylvania, United States

Gap is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community in Salisbury Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a ZIP code of 17527. The population was 1,931 at the 2010 census. U.S. Route 30 passes through the town, which is also the terminus for four Pennsylvania highways: 772, 741, 897, and the heavily used 41, which leads toward Wilmington, Delaware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania Dutch</span> Ethnic group of the eastern United States

The Pennsylvania Dutch, also referred to as Pennsylvania Germans, are an ethnic group in Pennsylvania, USA, Ontario, Canada and other regions of the United States and Canada, most predominantly in the US Mid-Atlantic region. They largely originate from the Palatinate region of Germany, and settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. While most were from the Palatinate region of Germany, a lesser number were from other German-speaking areas of Germany and Europe, including Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Saxony, and Rhineland in Germany, Switzerland, and the Alsace–Lorraine region of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pretzel</span> Baked pastry shaped into a knot

A pretzel is a type of baked pastry made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot. The traditional pretzel shape is a distinctive symmetrical form, with the ends of a long strip of dough intertwined and then twisted back onto itself in a particular way. Today, pretzels come in various shapes, textures, and colors, but the original soft pretzel is still one of the most common pretzel types to date.

Joan Daugherty Chittister,, is an American Benedictine nun, theologian, author, and speaker. She has served as Benedictine prioress and Benedictine federation president, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women.

Donald B. Kraybill is an American author, lecturer, and educator on Anabaptist faiths and culture. Kraybill is widely recognized for his studies on Anabaptist groups and in particular the Amish. He has researched and written extensively on Anabaptist culture. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Elizabethtown College and Senior Fellow Emeritus at Elizabethtown's Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auntie Anne's</span> U.S. restaurant chain

Auntie Anne's is an American franchised chain of pretzel shops founded by Anne F. Beiler and her husband, Jonas, in 1988. Auntie Anne's serves products such as pretzels, dips, and beverages. They also offer Pretzels & More Homemade Baking Mix for those who want to make their pretzels at home. The chain has more than 1,200 stores around various locations, such as in shopping malls and outlet malls, as well as non-traditional retail spaces including universities, parking/rest areas, airports, train stations, travel plazas, amusement parks, and military bases. Their slogan as of 2010 is "Pretzel Perfect".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordan Pruitt</span> Musical artist

Jordan Pruitt Fuente is an American former singer-songwriter living in Nashville, Tennessee. She has released two albums. Her debut single "Outside Looking In" charted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 77.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Springfield Mall (Pennsylvania)</span> Shopping mall in Delaware County, Pennsylvania

Springfield Mall is a 589,000-square-foot (54,700 m2) regional shopping mall located approximately 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Philadelphia in Springfield Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located just off Interstate 476 along Baltimore Pike, near its busy intersection with Pennsylvania Route 320. It is serviced by a number of SEPTA bus lines as well as the mass transit system's light rail Media–Sharon Hill Line at the Springfield Mall station, a rarity for suburban Philadelphia shopping malls, many of which are served solely by bus routes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pretzelmaker</span> US bakery chain

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 locations in the U.S. and internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amish</span> Group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships

The Amish, formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss and Alsatian origins. As they maintain a degree of separation from surrounding populations, and hold their faith in common, the Amish have been described by certain scholars as an ethnoreligious group, combining features of an ethnicity and a Christian denomination. The Amish are closely related to Old Order Mennonites and Conservative Mennonites, denominations that are also a part of Anabaptist Christianity. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, Christian pacifism, and slowness to adopt many conveniences of modern technology, with a view neither to interrupt family time, nor replace face-to-face conversations whenever possible, and a view to maintain self-sufficiency. The Amish value rural life, manual labor, humility and Gelassenheit.

Kingdom of Simplicity is a novel by American author Holly Payne published in June 2009. It is Payne's third novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen Fuller</span> American writer

Kathleen Fuller is an American writer, specializing in Christian and Amish romantic fiction. She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas and currently resides in Geneva, Ohio with her husband, James Fuller, and three children.

Harvest of Fire is an American mystery drama television film that premiered on CBS on April 21, 1996, as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology series. The film is directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman, from a teleplay by Richard Alfieri and Susan Nanus, and story by Nanus. It stars Lolita Davidovich as an FBI agent sent to investigate an arson in a peaceful Amish township, alongside J. A. Preston, Jean Louisa Kelly, Tom Aldredge, James Read, Craig Wasson, and Patty Duke. The film won a Primetime Emmy Award for its sound mixing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abby Huntsman</span> American journalist and television personality

Abigail Haight Huntsman is an American journalist and television personality. The daughter of former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. and Mary Kaye Huntsman, Huntsman rose to prominence as a host on MSNBC and NBC News. She then became a general assignment reporter for Fox News Channel and later a co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend. Huntsman co-hosted the ABC talk show The View from September 2018 to January 2020.

Sarah Price is a Christian fiction novelist and adult and children's author of over 40 books. Much of her writing focuses on the Anabaptist heritage and the Old Order Amish. Her paternal grandparents, Sarah Marie Alderfer and Harlan Nice, were born into an Old Order Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania in the early 1900s. With her Anabaptist upbringing, Price was drawn to the culture of the Amish of Lancaster County where she has connections with Amish communities.

Anabaptists and Jews have had interactions for several centuries, since the origins of Anabaptism in the Radical Reformation in early modern Europe. Due to the insularity of many Anabaptist and Jewish communities, Anabaptist–Jewish relations have historically been limited but there are notable examples of interactions between Anabaptists and Jews. Due to some similarities in dress, culture, and language, Amish and Mennonite communities in particular have often been compared and contrasted to Haredi and Hasidic Jewish communities.

<i>Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin</i> 2021 film by William Eubank

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin is a 2021 American found footage supernatural horror film directed by William Eubank, written by Christopher Landon, and produced by Jason Blum and series creator Oren Peli. Serving as the seventh installment of the Paranormal Activity series, the film stars Emily Bader, Roland Buck III, Dan Lippert, Henry Ayres-Brown, and Tom Nowicki, and follows a group who attempt to make a documentary on an Amish community, only for them to discover the horrific secrets the town holds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pretzel Belt</span> Cultural region of the United States

The Pretzel Belt, or Pennsylvania Snack Belt, is a concentration of pretzel and snack food makers in the central southeastern region of Pennsylvania, roughly coterminous with Pennsylvania Dutch Country. The first commercial pretzel manufacturer in the United States, the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, was founded in the region in the borough of Lititz in 1861, and remains extant there today. By the beginning of the 20th century the pretzel had become a cultural institution in the region. The rise of pretzels in the region is attributed in part to their popularity with Civil War soldiers who passed through the area. In the twentieth century, the first automated pretzel machine was developed in Reading, Pennsylvania. Manufacturers also include several pretzel and chip bakeries in Hanover, Pennsylvania, which holds the nickname "the snack capital of the world", as well as other examples like Hershey, Pennsylvania, home of the Hershey Chocolate Company and Asher's Chocolate Co., in Souderton, Pennsylvania.

Twist of Faith is a 2004 American documentary film about a man who confronts the Catholic Church about the abuse he suffered as a teenager.

References

  1. ↑ "Auntie Anne Beiler – Christian Speaker – Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels, Author, and Speaker".
  2. ↑ Ilan Mochari, In a Former Life: Anne Beiler, Inc.'s Small Business Success Newsletter, September 1, 2000
  3. ↑ "12 Facts About Auntie Anne's Pretzels". mentalfloss.com. March 31, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  4. ↑ "9 Things You Didn't Know About Auntie Anne's". HuffPost. October 24, 2014. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Anne Beiler: A Twist of Faith". www.cbn.com. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  6. ↑ God has a plan Archived October 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine , Pentecostal Evangel, December 9, 2001
  7. ↑ Noble, Barnes &. "Auntie Anne: My Story". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  8. ↑ Twist of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. January 11, 2010. ISBN   9781595553409.
  9. ↑ "The Secret Lies Within Helps Trauma Sufferers Overcome Pain by Finding Their Voice". Morgan James Publishing. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Log into Facebook". Facebook. Retrieved May 19, 2021.{{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  11. ↑ "2008 Republican Convention Day 3, Sep 3 2008 | Video | C-SPAN.org". C-SPAN.org. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  12. ↑ Twist of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. January 11, 2010. p. 192. ISBN   9781595553409.
  13. ↑ Whitaker, Mark (2014). "Defying Pretzel Logic: Anne Beiler". Two Ten Magazine.
  14. ↑ "Jonas Beiler". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  15. ↑ "United States Public Records, 1970–2009," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:29WJ-LFW : May 23, 2014), Joy Laval Beiler, Residence, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States; a third party aggregator of publicly available information.
  16. ↑ "Auntie Anne Beiler". www.facebook.com. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  17. ↑ "This Is the Deeply Moving, Almost Unbelievable Story Behind Auntie Anne's Pretzels". Time. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  18. ↑ Writer, SUSAN JURGELSKI Staff. "Twists of fate for Auntie Anne". LancasterOnline. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Auntie Anne's: Soft pretzels out of hard times". Fortune. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  20. ↑ "How The Real 'Auntie Anne' Used Pretzels To Save Her Marriage". HuffPost. October 11, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  21. ↑ "Jonas Beiler". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  22. ↑ "9 Things You Didn't Know About Auntie Anne's". HuffPost. October 24, 2014. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Auntie Anne Beiler". www.facebook.com. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  24. ↑ auntieannebeiler (July 30, 2018). "Where There's A Will, There's A Way • Auntie Anne Beiler". Auntie Anne Beiler. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  25. ↑ Twist of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. January 11, 2010. p. 193. ISBN   9781595553409.
  26. ↑ Twist of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. January 11, 2010. p. 166. ISBN   9781595553409.
  27. ↑ "Anne Beiler 2017 · Truth At Work". Truth at Work. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  28. ↑ "Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels and named one of America's 500 Women Entrepreneurs". Accelerent. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  29. ↑ "12 Facts About Auntie Anne's Pretzels". mentalfloss.com. March 31, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  30. ↑ "9 Things You Didn't Know About Auntie Anne's". HuffPost. October 24, 2014. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  31. ↑ "Leadership". www.museumofthebible.org. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  32. ↑ A Twist of Faith: The Auntie Anne's Story (Biography), retrieved July 20, 2024
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.