Blimpie Subs & Salads, Vero Beach, Fl
Three teenagers met at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, N.J. Throughout their high school years, they become close friends and began talking about the possibility of starting a business. Like many great entrepreneurs, they had no idea what business to be in, but only that they wanted to go into business together.
Armed with a collective business itch, Tony Conza, Peter DeCarlo and Angelo Baldassare started buying women’s hosiery wholesale and selling it to family members and friends. The consummate salesman in the group branched out, selling pots and pans door-to-door. The quiet thinker tried his hand at over-the-counter trading on Wall Street. And the third entrepreneur was successful running church hall dances.
A few years pass and one of the young men asked the others a fateful question; “Hey, have you guys heard about those sandwiches they call submarines?” The next morning, the trio leave their homes in north Jersey and head down the Garden State Parkway to Point Pleasant, a little shop serving long, strangely-shaped sandwiches. It was lunchtime and the place was packed. By the time they got to the fresh meat slicer, they had begun to understand all the fuss. A young man behind the slicer was taking orders, cutting fresh Italian bread down the middle and placing the fresh meats on the bread before sliding the sandwich down to the dressing station. There, another added shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, diced onions, oil, vinegar and spices. The three men stared, mouths watering, waiting to chomp these so-called submarines.
At that moment, the three young men with entrepreneurial dreams realized they were on to something very special.
On April 4, 1964, the three men opened for business on Washington St. in Hoboken. The consummate salesman worked the slicer. The quiet thinker manned the dressing station. And the third entrepreneur took the cash. By the time the door closed at 9 p.m., $295 had been rung up – with sandwich prices ranging from 35 to 95 cents. Although exhausted, the business partners still had to clean up and get ready for the next day. That’s when the quiet thinker faced the reality of the moment and of his future.
800 US 1
Vero Beach, FL 32960
Phone: (772) 794-2294
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