How a bankrupt pretzel maker bought for $72,100 in 1971 became the quiet $1.58 billion supplier behind the ICEE at the ballpark, the Dippin' Dots at the fair and the pretzel in the freezer aisle.
An 80-year-old Ohio ice cream counter is becoming a national franchise without outsourcing its central ritual: every parlor still makes the product on site. The constraint is also the pitch.