Auntie Anne’s has opened its 50th store across the UK and Ireland at The Beacon shopping centre in Eastbourne, marking a major milestone in the soft-pretzel franchise’s regional expansion and putting it halfway towards its target of 100 locations by 2030.
The new store opened on September 12, extending the brand’s presence across high-footfall retail and travel destinations. The Eastbourne launch follows recent openings at Frasers Plus Braehead in Glasgow and Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in Dublin, alongside the brand’s move into alternative formats including container locations at Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet and Canterbury Station.
Max Burton, Managing Director of Auntie Anne’s UK & Ireland, said reaching 50 stores was “an important milestone” but added that the brand continues to see “significant headroom” for growth. “Over the past five years, we have opened 25 new locations and continued to prove that our proposition works across an increasingly broad mix of formats and destinations,” Burton said.
He added that the company’s next phase would focus on expanding into more high-footfall locations, including travel hubs, outlet destinations and other non-traditional sites, while shopping centres would remain an important part of the estate.
Auntie Anne’s has opened 25 sites over the past five years, representing a compound annual growth rate of 12%. The business currently serves more than 2.2 million customers, while five additional locations are under negotiation.
The expansion comes as the UK and Ireland business continues to build momentum. In the six months to June 30, 2026, system sales increased 10% year-on-year to £7.4 million, with three new stores opened during the period, including the Canterbury container location and two Dublin kiosks.
The Eastbourne store also reflects the brand’s emphasis on formats designed for high-footfall environments. Auntie Anne’s has traditionally operated through stores and kiosks in shopping centres and transport locations, but its container concept has enabled it to extend the franchise into outlets and travel hubs.
From a franchise perspective, Auntie Anne’s UK & Ireland acts as the master franchisee for the US-founded brand and has developed the regional network predominantly through franchised locations. Franchise partners receive support covering areas such as site selection, design and construction, operational training, supply chain and ongoing operational support.
The brand was founded in 1988 from a single stand at a Pennsylvania farmers’ market and entered the UK and Ireland in 2008. Globally, Auntie Anne’s has grown to more than 2,000 locations across more than 30 countries. Its core proposition centres on pretzels that are mixed, hand-rolled and baked fresh in-store, creating an open-kitchen experience designed to combine convenience with product theatre.
Burton said the proposition’s distinctiveness was another driver of confidence in the expansion.
“What gives us confidence is the distinctiveness of the proposition. Customers can see our teams making the dough, hand-rolling every pretzel and baking it on site,” he said. “That combination of freshness, theatre and convenience works particularly well in busy locations and we believe it gives us a strong platform as we work towards 100 stores by 2030.”
The 50th-store milestone positions Auntie Anne’s for the next phase of its UK and Ireland franchise rollout, with the business looking beyond traditional shopping centres and continuing to pursue opportunities across retail, outlet and transport locations.
