Blimpie International, Inc

In 1964, three friends in Hoboken, New Jersey—Tony Conza, Peter DeCarlo, and Angelo Baldassare—opened the first Blimpie sandwich shop. The name “blimpie” was derived from “blimp”—the inflatable airships, based at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, that were a common sight in the skies over New Jersey at the time. Even more than a submarine, a blimp has a plump ovoid shape, making the name appropriate for a well-stuffed sandwich. Blimpie shops offered sandwiches akin to the familiar “hero,” filled with meats, cheeses, and salad. Sandwich prices ranged from 35 to 95 cents, considerably more than fast food hamburgers at the time, but the market accepted the product and the prices, and Blimpie’s became a national and then an international brand. As of 2011, there were more than 1,000 Blimpie locations across the United States and Kuwait. The company is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.