Driving up North from Miami on the Turnpike, this Auntie Anne’s is actually one of the better food choices at the not so fabulous Fort Pierce Travel Plaza. If it weren’t for this pretzel counter’s excellent opportune location and our usual first rest stop of the trip — I would not eat here. Stopping in twice in the past two weeks the experience was very similar both times. The counter is extremely busy but they keep the line moving so that’s no biggie. But both times the supervisor was there micromanaging or almost barking at the employees. They all seemed incredibly stressed and unhappy. It was stressful for me to watch. Due to the supervisors’ almost constant meddling and double checking, orders were wrong, customers got confused and everything just seemed to take longer. While I waited in line, I actually watched him ask a customer(who was already paid and eating her pretzel off to the side with her family) to verify her order and what’s in her bag? The customer did not initiate this — the supervisor did when it seemed he lost count of his pretzels. Really? What if there really had been an extra preztle hiding/mis-packed in there? Would he have asked for it back? That’s terrible customer service! C’mon! This isn’t my first visit to an Auntie Anne’s. All I want is one of your delicious pretzels!?! They do not keep a good fresh in stock selection. It seems like they only have one or two options in the warmer ready– salted preztle nuggets and cinnamon coated regular sized pretzels. If you want anything else there’s an 8 minute wait. All of the soft drink options are fountain drinks«out of a hose» as my hubby calls it. So he skips this place all together and heads to Wendy’s across the hall for fresher brewed iced tea. Buyer beware: the counters are usually dirty and the last time I was there — they had healthy coated spots of mystery goo. This location is definitely an oddity when it comes to my usual experiences with Auntie Anne’s counters elsewhere. As far as Northbound Turnpike locations go — if you can wait another 40 minutes for a pretzel, the Canoe Creek Auntie Anne’s is 100% better! As is the whole Travel Plaza up there!
