CRANBERRY TWP — Penguins fans lucky enough to be heading to the playoff game tonight can support a Cranberry Township business by enjoying a popular snack.

Philly Pretzel Factory on Route 228 has the contract to make all the pretzels sold at the Consol Energy Center.

Cliff Armstrong, who owns the Cranberry franchise with his wife, Vickie, and with partners Kim and Ken Hannigan, said his pretzels also provide salty sustenance for fans attending college sports, arena football games, concerts and other events at Consol.

For the Penguins, who square off tonight for the second game against the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, six employees twist up about 2,500 pretzels and pretzel sandwich buns for each home game the day before the event, Armstrong said.

“We're all Penguins fans,” Armstrong said. “It's been a good experience overall.”

He said pretzel products for the Consol Energy Center account for 20 to 30 percent of his profits. The rest comes from customers who come into the shop.

“We're the official pretzel of the Pittsburgh Penguins,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong and his employees provide delivery of the warm, chewy snacks to the Consol on game day. He said he occasionally comes across players in the arena's hallways, who he said seem like nice guys.

“You just bump into them and you're like, ‘Oh. It's you,'” Armstrong said. “I don't ask for autographs. I'm sure they get hounded enough.”

Armstrong said he provides the glossy pretzels in the glass cases at the Consol's refreshment stands as well as the pretzel sandwich buns used in the arena's private boxes during Penguin and other games.

“We keep a close eye on quality and freshness,” Armstrong said.

He said one high cost of winning the Consol contract is paying the fees to advertise Philly Pretzel Factory products in the arena.

And although the hockey playoffs will mean a lot of twisting and baking, he is as excited about the Penguins' march toward the Stanley Cup as any fan.

“I hope they go all the way,” Armstrong said. “We need another cup.”

Marty Ferrill, president of Philly Pretzel Factory, said from corporate headquarters in Philadelphia that the franchise has three stores in the Pittsburgh area.

He said the home office, which administers 100 independently owned stores from Delaware to North Carolina, appreciates Armstrong's and Hannigan's efforts in getting the Consol contract.

“We were ecstatic,” Ferrill said. “For us, it was great for us to provide pretzels for a whole group of people who might not have gotten to try them.”

Ferrill also recognizes the irony of the Philly Pretzel Factory providing pretzels for the game against the Flyers, who are longtime rivals of the Penguins.

“We laugh about it a little bit,” Ferrill said. “We even did some tongue-in-cheek advertising with the Penguins for a brochure. It said ‘You may hate our sports team, but you'll love our pretzels.'”

Ferrill said Consol Energy Center officials claim their pretzel sales have increased since Philly Pretzel Factory got the contract two years ago.

“It's been a good relationship,” he said.

But Ferrill demurred when asked his prediction for the playoffs.

“That's a tricky question to answer,” Ferrill said with a chuckle. “I will lose credibility on all fronts.”