For the owners of Ben’s Soft Pretzels, having their company’s headquarters in Goshen isn’t just about an ideal building in a good location. It’s about being a part of a community that cares.

“We love the Goshen community,” said co-owner Brian Krider (GHS ‘95). “We’re involved in Little League, we’re involved with the (Goshen High School) band…we’re involved in First Fridays. We just love this town, this community. It’s the people that make the community and Goshen has such a great community.”

Ben’s Soft Pretzels formally started in 2008 when Ben Miller from Shipshewana, Ind., who had run a small pretzel company and bakery with his wife for several years, partnered with Scott Jones and Brian Krider to establish two pretzel shops in two local malls and develop a skeleton for a network of franchises.

Since 2008, the company has grown from those two original shops to multiple franchises in the Michiana region, a contract for selling pretzels at Notre Dame sporting events, a nationwide lease agreement with Walmart stores and a contract with regional Meijer stores to add Ben’s Soft Pretzels shops to their supermarkets.

Despite quickly growing to what will become a national sales area, Brian said he wouldn’t want to work from anywhere else.

All three partners live in the area and practice “Christian-based principles and ethics and morals, and this community gives us that.”

The Goshen community’s “arms have been open to Ben’s Soft Pretzels and we try to pay everything forward with community involvement,” Brian said.

All the proceeds from Ben’s stand at Goshen’s monthly First Fridays events go to Ryan’s Place, a Goshen-based non-profit grief support organization.

Co-owner Scott Jones lost his son in a motorcycle accident in 2013, Brian said. “We wanted to do something that could help families that have lost loved ones.”

Ben’s Soft Pretzels also often partners with The Window, a non-profit organization serving individuals with limited incomes.

“One of the things that is great about this community is that we have somebody like The Window that will, no questions asked, feed kids and families without caring about a person’s background,” Brian said. “If you’re hungry, come to us, we’ll feed you. That’s what a community is about – a community is about opening their doors to the people in the community that need help.”

“ … we try to pay everything forward with community involvement …”

The three owners of Ben’s were also “blessed,” Brian said, to find a perfect building for their headquarters, one that allows them to have both a storefront pretzel shop and a franchise training space that’s located on a major thoroughfare between Goshen and Elkhart.

Krider said he plans to continue working to introduce people to the fluffy, flavorful pretzel that comes from the kitchen’s of Ben’s.

“I can’t imagine myself doing anything else than peddling pretzels.”