Dot's Pretzels - An accidental entrepreneur with Dot & Randy Henke

The Rural Entrepreneur’s Gold

In today's episode of the rural entrepreneurs, gold, we're going to hear a story of how some businesses aren't planned. This is a journey of an accidental entrepreneur. Sometimes ideas just happen when you least expect them, at any age, and at any time in your life. Dorothy Henke shares the journey of Dot's Pretzels and its surprise arrival and the growth to success over the last 10 years. Her husband Randy also chimed in bringing his fun side-bar comments and his perspective on this unexpected ride they've been on.
It's a pretty impressive success story from small-town America. They share how you don't have to move to the big city to find success. You'll hear how Dorothy went from trying to retire from her job in the insurance industry to working harder than ever on a job that just appeared because she said yes to doing a favor.
The tenacity and willingness to give their product away any chance they could was one of the best ideas to market their great pretzels. Almost every time someone tasted the pretzels, they were wowed and looking to find out how they could get more. It still amazes them where they are today. You can tell they enjoy reminiscing about how they got where they are today. It's amazing, that even though you think you don't know anything about running a bakery, marketing, sales, and more could build a business to 400 employees and 3 facilities.
Dot's pretzels is headquartered in Velva, North Dakota, a small town with a population of about 1400 people proving success can truly happen anywhere. They have additional bakeries in Goodyear, Arizona, and Edgerton camp. If by the end, you didn't get enough and you want more information, you can go to the Dot's Pretzels website. Be sure to look them up and follow their amazing journey on your favorite social media channel. And. next time you're lounging around or out and about with your bag of Dot's Pretzels, or eating a delicious Dot's candy bar, take a picture and tag Dot's on one of their social channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Linked-In
The podcast host Krysti Mikkonen is the owner of Rural Gold, a business located in rural South Dakota offering website development and coaching services for small to medium-sized businesses, with a special place in her heart for rural ones. She also offers coaching services to entrepreneurs and difference makers individually and in a group called The Gold Miners.