EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Welcome to Uniquely Small Biz, a podcast where small business owners share their real stories of success, failure and everything in between.
Carolyn: Hi, I’m Carolyn McArdle and I am so excited to kickoff Uniquely Small Biz, a new podcast from Selective Insurance for small business owners to tell their unique stories. In this episode, we're focusing on something called the “pandemic pivot”, where business owners were able to make innovative changes during these unprecedented times. Join me to discuss these changes with actor, director and pretzel connoisseur, Adam Shapiro.
Carolyn: You’ve probably been watching Adam Shapiro on the big screen for many years. He was in Now You See Me and The Affair and most notably, Steve Jobs in 2015, and during the pandemic, Adam had to figure out a way to fill his time number one, and how to contribute financially to his household. It can't all be your wife, Adam. So it was during the pandemic that you launched what we now know as Shappy Pretzel. Hi, Adam.
Adam: Hi. Hi. Thanks for having me!
Carolyn: I'm so happy to talk to you. Your story is incredible.
Adam: Oh, wow. Thank you for saying that. It's been the coolest, it's a lot of pretzels.
Carolyn: It is lot of pretzels.
Adam: It's a whole lot of pretzels, which is like a dream come true for me.
Carolyn: Now, your obsession started when you were a young kid, of course, growing up in Philadelphia, you were obsessed with Philly pretzels. Yes. The soft pretzels.
Adam: Obsessed. Everybody is. I mean, it's like a way of life in Philly. It's rude to show up at somebody's house without like 12 Philly pretzels.
Carolyn: You know, it's like in the Midwest, when you go door to door with dinners for your neighbors; in Philly, you guys are doing it with soft pretzels.
Adam: It's always soft pretzels. And it's funny cause I never realized, I thought, you know, that was as famous outside of Philly as cheesesteaks and Rocky and Eagles fans booing and you know, but I didn't realize until I started a Philly soft pretzel company in LA that most people had never heard of the concept of a Philadelphia-specific soft pretzel.