Swedish immigrant, Carl A. Swanson (1879–1949) was working in a grocery store in Omaha when he came into contact with John O. Jerpe, owner of a small commission company. Their partnership helped local farmers sell their products to distributors and offer a commission to the farmers. Swanson would eventually buy the company from Jerpe and rename it, C. A. Swanson and Sons. After Swanson's death, the sons took control of the business, and by 1950, the brothers began manufacturing frozen oven-ready chicken and turkey pot pies in aluminum trays that could be heated in a conventional oven. Swanson executive Gerry Thomas visited a company that specialized in food for airlines. His suggestion was to create an aluminum tray with three compartments: one for frozen turkey slices and the other two for side dishes. In the early days, the peas could get slightly burned and shriveled. The beef was more in the jerky category. All with a dash of metal flavor. With increasing numbers of televisions sold, Swanson decided to call their meals "TV Dinners," first sold in 1953. Others followed the trend, most notably Banquet and Morton. One year later Swanson sold over 10,000,000 frozen dinners, which in turn led to a boom in the manufacture of folding "TV Trays," eliminating the annoying thigh burns.
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