Surviving while larger restaurants close, a 32 year vendor continues to feed UC Santa Barbara students

UC SANTA BARBARA, California – The longest running food business at UC Santa Barbara should have closed a couple of years ago, but the drive of owner Peter Gaum has kept Die Bretzel open and still feeding hungry students.

The stand is at the Arbor near the campus library. It's been there since 1991.

Gaum came to the campus as part of the German department team but, while looking for other income, he took over the stand when a hamburger business left. He's held the spot ever since.

During the pandemic, it was particularly hard with students learning remotely and no one coming by the stand.  "From one day to the next, nothing plus I had hundreds of thousands of dollars of  inventory that I had to throw away because I couldn't keep it for two years," said Gaum.

The return of students was a slow process, but Gaum was there with his hot lunches. "I think I'm a lot about perseverance. It's like no option to fail, that's how I operate."

While other restaurants have closed or succumbed to the economic downturn from the COVID crisis or the cost of business in general, Die Bretzel has kept the burners hot.

The stand has just what a hungry college student on a limited budget wants, apparently.  A German Bratwurst, a spicy chicken sausage, an all beef hot dog, a vegetarian hot dog, pretzels and a few other low cost food items. It's a grab and go operation with the sales tax included.

Gaum is open 10:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. He then closes down, cleans up, seals the cart until the next day. The food and drink products are taken away in coolers and on carts to his commissary. "It's hard work. I make it look easy because I have been doing it for so long but you need to put a lot of energy in and it's   physically demanding," he said.

It's often a one person endeavor but his partner Nancy Burgner is there on busy days to move the line and they still have time to talk. "We're quick, we're friendly,  we chat with them," he said.

One customer stops by even when he's not ordering for the day. Niko Pravikoff is a UCSB student and says, "I've been going here since I first started at UCSB and  my roommates told me about it and they said you gotta check out that  guy and I just kept coming back." .
 Cash is rare, most pay with a credit card or Apple pay.
Emma Schmidt is a UCSB student who likes the value and says, "it's not just like a Costco hot dog, it's pretty good for how much you pay for it."
Some customers have their favorites when they have their craving, and Luke Roberts, a UCSB professor says, "all beef with saurkraut. I have been a patron here for probably 15-20 years."

Another instructor Dwight Reynolds said, "I've been here since 1991 and I can't tell you how many bratwurst I have had!" He then proceeded to add spicy brown mustard to make it "authentically German."

In between sales, a photo is often an off the menu request.
Gaum says with a laugh, "we are like minor celebrities out here on campus!"

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