Ann Arbor’s Pretzel Bell puts Michigan businesses front and center in new menu

The Pretzel Bell, a beloved Ann Arbor restaurant with history stretching back to 1934, is rolling out a revamped menu that spotlights ingredients from a plethora of other Michigan businesses.

Pretzel Bell’s new “From Our Neighbors” initiative features businesses from not just the Ann Arbor area, but the entire state of Michigan. Pretzel Bell has selected Ann Arbor-based partners like Zingerman’s, Blank Slate Creamery, and Sparrow Market, as well as Manchester-based Grand River Bakery, Wyoming, Mich.-based Michigan Turkey Producers, Traverse City-based Louie’s Meats, Pinconning-based Wilson’s Cheese Shoppe, and more. There will even be some locally sourced liquor options from Detroit and Ypsilanti.

Fresh and locally sourced dishes will include parmesan-crusted walleye, a shareable porterhouse steak, and a “remastered pretzel” from Zingerman’s.

“Making the choice to thoughtfully source from local areas is super important in this menu transition so that we’re bringing really quality ingredients to the table from our community to your community,” says Pretzel Bell General Manager Carley Burkett.

Pretzel Bell’s new menus will feature a QR code that will take patrons to a website where they can learn more about the people and businesses that put the food on their plate.

“Anything that you can source locally, anything that you can provide for your community, gives you more of an investment into it,” Burkett says.

Burkett says Pretzel Bell also has plans to add similar QR codes to the myriad of Michigan memorabilia scattered around the restaurant, from which customers can glean information about the artifacts and their place in local history.

“The focus is to make sure we are catering to new and old,” Burkett says.