Rita’s on Track to Double New Franchise Signings in 2026

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Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, the world's largest Italian Ice conception with much than 600 locations, is gathering connected beardown franchise momentum and is connected way to treble its 2026 caller store signings. Fueled by entrepreneurs seeking an established, scalable franchise with aggregate paths, Rita's has experienced a 100 percent summation successful franchise ownership inquiries compared with 2025.

"We're seeing tremendous involvement from entrepreneurs who privation a proven franchise backed by a recognizable marque and an operating exemplary designed for semipermanent growth," said Lawrence Brown, Chief Development Officer of Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard. "Combined with smaller room footprints, debased COGS (<18% connected average*) nary fryer requirements and staffing efficiencies, the model's existent property flexibility allows franchisees to participate and accommodate to section markets portion benefiting from a straightforward concern cognition built to scale."

Driven by the brand's existent property strategy, including second-generation edifice conversions and drive-thru locations, beardown portion economics and increasing franchise involvement successful markets wherever families are moving, the marque is expanding extracurricular of its halfway Mid-Atlantic marketplace to the Midwest and South-Central United States.

Development enactment during the archetypal fractional of 2026 highlights the brand's continued momentum:

• Mid-Atlantic: Multi-unit developer Disrupt Foods (40+ portion franchisee) announced plans to unfastened 3 caller locations successful Brockton, Massachusetts; Clifton, New Jersey; and Newark, New Jersey.

• Midwest: Multi-unit franchisee Jim Myers opened aggregate Ohio locations, with 2 further shops planned for the Cleveland marketplace this year, bringing his full to astir 10 units.

• South-Central: Franchisee Kyle Wiborg opened his archetypal determination successful North Richland Hills, Texas, and has 3 further shops nether operation on with plans to unfastened 10 full passim the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

Drive-thru improvement continues to beryllium a important maturation driver. According to Rita's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, drive-thru shops generated 38 percent higher mean gross income successful 2025 than comparable non-drive-thru locations.*

"Coming from a concern inheritance and having acquisition successful the edifice industry, I recognized the imaginable of the marque instantly and the maturation accidental it presents successful the rising frozen dainty category," said Texas franchisee Kyle Wiborg. "Converting erstwhile edifice spaces has allowed america to unafraid large locations with drive-thrus that presumption america good successful our marketplace to thrust income year-round."