History
Originally posted on March 20, 2025 @ 9:09 pm
The Food That Built America Recap for Empire of Convenience
-This week’s episode of The Food That Built America is titled Empire of Convenience and focuses on convenience store foods, namely from places such as 7-Eleven.
-Ice houses were popular back in the day to sell ice to homes, stores and businesses to keep food cold.
-In Texas, a man named Jody Thompson was working at one of these companies and feared that companies like this would become obsolete in the advent of refrigerators. Several models would be released. causing Jody to wonder if his job was in jeopardy.
-A man named Johnny Green also worked at one of these ice houses and would offer people snacks and drinks in addition to their ice. One day, a man asked to buy drinks and watermelon in addition to his ice. This gave him the idea to turn this into a business.
-This is a success, so he tells Jody about this idea. He loves it, so they decide to give it a shot.
-During this time in the 1920s, grocery stores did not exist, so people had to go to several places to buy food. Johnny and Jody decided to work on this and find ways to make the idea of buying food and ice at the same place.
-Six months into the experiment, the men see this is a success. They decide to expand this to all the ice house locations that Jody owns. It is a risky move, but they are willing to take a chance on it.
-However, there is some pushback because other mom and pop shops are feeling the competition. Since the ice shop is selling groceries, the mom and pop shops are losing business.
-By 1928, Jody was losing customers and money. He needs to think of a way to build his business and has a light bulb moment when getting gas for his car….at a newly minted gas station. He decides to add gas pumps at his stores in hopes of saving his business, partnering with local gas station owners.
-This ends up working well since people decided to get gas and food at the same time. He would buy out competing ice houses and make more gas and grocery stations.
-He would start selling beer at locations, which was a popular drink due to the Great Depression.
-Before long, these stores are all over Texas and also selling non-perishables, including canned goods and cookies.
-By the 1940s, the company is a huge success and continuously growing. However, the supermarket is now a new novelty, giving him steep competition.
-It isn’t until someone stops by after hours to buy milk and butter. Jody agrees to sell it to him and realizes that making his stores open 16 hours a day will give him a leg up in the competition.
-The store would be open from 7am-11pm and be called 7-Eleven.
-By the 1950s, 7-Eleven is expanding nationwide. It was one of the first true national chains in America. It sold everything from chips to band-aids to dog food, having anything and everything someone could need.
-Jody’s son John is now taking the reins and following in his father’s footsteps as they celebrate their 300th store opening.
-At the same time, a man named Omar Knedlik is struggling in his own business. He is working at a Dairy Queen franchise and his soda fridge broke. He put them in the freezer, which would lead to him inventing one of the most iconic treats of all time….the Icee.
-Omar wants to capitalize on this accidental treat and invents a machine to make the drink uniform. He uses the ice cream machines as inspiration and before long, the drink is a hit.
-In 1961, Jody dies of cancer. John is now in charge and is determined to keep the company in business, despite competition popping up nationwide. He wants to add something to keep the store in business and give it something the competition doesn’t have. Since they have to do a billion dollars in sales, they have to quickly come up with new ideas.
-John would then meet Omar, who would introduce him to the Icee. He is skeptical at first, but once he tastes it, it is love at first sip. They agree that if John buys the machines, he can make his own version of the drink….which would lead to the invention of the Slurpee.
-The Slurpee is a HIT and appeals to the youth of America.
-Despite the Slurpee success, John is only halfway toward his goal. He notices customers are coming in early and that people they offer coffee and people want it to go. They decide to capitalize on this and offer the coffee in Styrofoam cups and tops for convenience. It is a hit since people were always on the go.
-This gets John to his goal and expands across the country. The stores are popular, but a bit outdated. John now must figure out how to modernize the stores to keep up with the competition.
-Dennis Potts is offered 32-ounce cups for soda and decides to use them for fountain sodas. It is a hit, so John decides to market it as the Big Gulp.
-This would allow John to surpass his billion-dollar goal yearly.
-The convenience store is now worth TRILLIONS!
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