7-Eleven Free Slurpee Day: The Slurpee Was Invented By A WWII Veteran As you may have already heard, you can get a free Slurpee <br />at 7-Eleven today, July 11. But what's more interesting is <br />that the Slurpee's origin dates <br />back to the 1950s, and was <br />invented by a WWII Veteran. Omar Knedlik is the one to thank. <br />He used his military pay and <br />bought a Dairy Queen <br />franchise in Cofeyville, Kansas. But he didn't have a working soda fountain at the time, so he stored soda bottles in the freezer and served them semi-frozen. Customers started to <br />request the drinks, saying Omar's son, Phil told Smithsonian To keep up with demand, Knedlik <br />experimented with using an <br />old ice cream machine, <br />giving birth to the ICEE. He became the founder of the ICEE company and patented the idea in 1962. In 1965, 7-Eleven wanted to sell his product, but rebrand it as their own. Bob Stanford, director of 7-Eleven's in-house ad agency told Smithsonian
