Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard is on pace to double its new franchise signings in 2026, with more than 30 shops inked year-to-date — a 100-plus percent increase over the same period in 2025. The expansion is being driven largely by a real estate strategy centered on second-generation restaurant conversions and purpose-built drive-thru formats, both of which reduce build-out costs and accelerate time-to-open for franchisees.
Drive-Thru Economics
According to Rita's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, drive-thru locations posted 38 percent higher average gross sales in 2025 compared with comparable non-drive-thru shops. That performance gap is reshaping how new franchisees approach site selection. Lawrence Brown, Chief Development Officer, cited the brand's smaller kitchen footprint, a cost of goods below 18 percent on average, no fryer requirements, and staffing efficiencies as structural advantages that make the model particularly well-suited to repurposed quick-service or fast-casual shells — the kind of second-generation spaces that have flooded availability in the post-pandemic market.
For equipment specifiers and prep-and-storage planners, the Rita's model is a study in minimal-equipment buildouts: a frozen-custard and Italian-ice program without a hood or fryer load simplifies ventilation requirements significantly, and the absence of a cooking battery lowers the capital equipment bar for franchisees entering the brand. Consultants working on ghost kitchen and commissary conversions may find the format instructive as operators look to match BOH complexity to menu scope.
Market Expansion
Development in the first half of 2026 spans three geographic clusters. In the Mid-Atlantic, multi-unit developer Disrupt Foods — which holds a 40-plus unit franchise agreement — announced three new locations in Brockton, Massachusetts; Clifton, New Jersey; and Newark, New Jersey. In the Midwest, franchisee Jim Myers expanded his Ohio portfolio with multiple new shops and has two additional Cleveland-market locations planned, bringing his total to nearly 10 units. In the South-Central market, Texas franchisee Kyle Wiborg opened his first Rita's in North Richland Hills and has three additional shops under construction, with plans for 10 total across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
Wiborg, who cited a finance and restaurant-industry background, noted that converting former restaurant spaces allowed him to secure drive-thru-equipped locations that support year-round sales — a key consideration for a frozen-treat brand managing seasonal demand curves. The strategy of absorbing second-generation restaurant inventory to reduce fit-out spend is increasingly common across emerging QSR and fast-casual concepts, and the 38 percent sales lift Rita's attributes to drive-thru access adds a compelling data point for franchisees evaluating site options.
Build-Out Implications
For the dealer and design-build community, Rita's growth trajectory signals continued demand for streamlined, low-utility BOH packages in drive-thru formats. With no fryer, a simplified ventilation load, and a menu built around frozen custard and Italian ice production, the brand's equipment spec is narrower than a typical QSR — but the volume of locations being built simultaneously across multiple markets creates meaningful opportunity in refrigeration, frozen-dessert equipment, and service-counter fabrication. Franchisees opening clusters of 10 or more units, as in the Texas market, represent fleet-scale procurement conversations for regional dealers and manufacturer reps tracking refrigeration and frozen-storage channel activity.
Rita's, founded in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, in 1984, now operates more than 600 locations and ranks No. 198 on Entrepreneur's 2025 Franchise 500.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
