Fruitflowers, Brooklyn

At baby showers, birthday parties, and get-togethers, Susan Ellman and Ellen Davis's edible fruit arrangements created a buzz. Fueled by the well wishes of their friends and bouquet recipients, the two started Edible Delites, Inc., a small business operating out of their kitchens, in 1984. In the last three decades, the business has blossomed into a multifranchise, coast-to-coast organization. Fresh and chocolate-dipped fruit arrangements pepper the United States, from the rooms of nursing homes to the hoods of accidentally sideswiped cars.