John Davis is a player, a green-lighter of gargantuan film budgets, a scion of Hollywood royalty. The proud producer of such movies as The Firm and Doctor Dolittle, Davis has worked with Hollywood's A-list: Tom Cruise, Meg Ryan, Denzel Washington. Even his Los Angeles office is a Tinseltown landmark, located in the gleaming glass tower that Bruce Willis saved from Euro-trash terrorists in Die Hard. The surrounding neighborhood -- erected on what was formerly a studio back lot in Century City -- is awash with famous tenants. ABC, Bear Stearns, and SunAmerica have offices there. So does Warren Christopher, the former secretary of state.
But despite its affluent workforce, Century City is short on fine dining. So when the pangs of hunger interrupt Davis's wheeling and dealing, he usually heads next door to the Century City Shopping Center. On one such excursion in 1996, a woman proffering a tray of plump, warm pretzel pieces accosted him. Davis sampled one -- and became a devotee of Wetzel's Pretzels and a regular patron of that outlet. "A hot, fresh pretzel is my favorite kind of treat," Davis says. "I like things that are healthy and not that fattening. I'd rather have a pretzel than a Krispy Kreme doughnut any day."
Over time Davis's hunger turned into curiosity. "I wondered who owned this company and if I could get a piece of it," he recalls. "It was the classic Warren Buffett-Peter Lynch thing of 'invest in what you know and love.' "
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