2. Rick Wetzel and Bill Phelps, Wetzel’s Pretzels: The Concept of Wetzel’s Pretzels emerged when Rick Wetzel and Bill Phelps were working for a company called Nestle. While the two were on a business trip, Wetzel told Phelps about his wife’s idea, to make big, soft pretzels to sell at the mall. They drew the business plan on a napkin, sitting at a bar. In order to raise funds for their business, which was started in 1994, Wetzel sold his Harley Davidson bike, and the duo continued with their business in their spare time. To help create the recipe in Phelps’ kitchen, they brought in a partner.  For opening their own shop they convinced a mall landlord to visit their house to try their creation. The landlord liked what they created and in turn rented Wetzel’s Pretzels its first store. After a year later, Wetzel and Phelps were offered a severance package from Nestle. Several stores were opened by them before they decided to franchise in the year 1996. Now there are 250 stores in America, and it is also reported that there are stores all set to open in countries like Japan and India. System-wide sales are more than $100 million a year.