The Carvel Corporation is an American success story. Through hard work and luck, founder and president Tom Carvel turned a dream into a million-dollar success. Thomas Andreas Carvelas was born on July 14, 1906, in Athanassos, Greece in 1910. His family immigrated to Danbury, Connecticut, and finally settled in New York in 1920. Since he was a child, he always dreamed to own your own ice cream shop. His first break came on Memorial Day 1934 when he borrowed $15 from his future wife Agnes Stewart and bought a trailer full of custard to sell to vacationers in Westchester County, New York. He suffered a setback when his trailer got a flat tire in Hartsdale, New York, but luck was on his side. Pop Quinlan, owner of a pottery store across the street, allowed him to use his electricity to keep the cream from melting. Mr Carvel continued to sell from his broken down caravan for many years. This is how it became the first ice cream retail company in the country. Tom Carvel kept his trailer on the pottery grounds. The first year he earned $3,500.00. In 1937 he converted the trailer into an ice cream stand, and by 1939 his annual gross income was $6,000 and he became known as the "Ice Cream King of the East." Tom Carvel developed his own freezer design, known as the batch freezer. (this was just one of his other 500 registered patents, trademarks and copyrights). In 1947, under the trade name "Custard King", he sold approximately 71 freezers for $2,900 each. Shortly after selling the freezers, many buyers began to be unable to pay for their freezers. Tom Carvel discovered that poor locations and cleanliness of their stores were the cause of defaults. He was determined to make his business a success and decided to directly supervise the freezer operations. Potential Carvel Corporation franchise owners purchased equipment and supplies from Mr. Carvel and used the Carvel name. In exchange, the company helped them choose a location and taught them how to run an ice cream business. All of this was taught at Carvel College, as part of an eighteen-day course for prospective franchise owners. Through this strategy, he claims to have developed the franchise concept in 1949. Carvel Corp. is known for many of its unique elements in the industry. Tom Carvel introduced the marketing concept "Buy one, get one free" in 1936 and gift certificates in 1954.