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Can two nice young men from Philly make a living selling Italian ice on the beaches of Florida?

That's what the founders of PhillySwirl, Max and Alex, set out to discover some 20 years ago.

In 1987, PhillySwirl's co-founders, Alex Plotkin and Max Lapin were attending Penn State University. One day Alex was leaving his dorm room and the door hit another student in the head. That unfortunate student was Max Lapin. (Talk about opportunity knocking!). After becoming friends, Alex graduated from Penn State while Max finished his last year at University of South Florida. Following graduation they enrolled together at Widener University School of Law.

Max and Alex soon tired of law school, but came up with a really sweet – if not a bit crazy – idea: Drive 1,100 miles to Tampa, Florida and start selling Italian ice!

To their delight, their simple enterprise and delicious frozen treats not only soon caught on, but captured the attention and taste buds of the entire city of Tampa. Encouraged, the partners had another big idea. Why not combine two or more of their Italian ice flavors to create something entirely new in the frozen treat world? And so "the swirl" was born. Now with so many inventive and delicious flavors to choose from, PhillySwirl has become a family favorite across the entire country!

Read more about Max and Alex's sweet story in this USA Today article