How Rita’s marketing attracts guests

Guests love trying a unique, new frozen dessert franchise. The key to growth is introducing customers to the brand.

Rita’s provides extensive marketing support to help franchisees get the word out about their unique frozen dessert franchise. This includes help staging a crowd-pleasing grand opening event, planning local marketing strategies and leveraging time-tested promotional materials designed to build and sustain interest in your shop.

“You have to keep advertising to keep guests coming in, and that’s something that Rita’s really helps with. We keep our name in the front of people’s minds,” says Jordan Kasner, a multi-unit franchisee in Philadelphia.

The good news for Rita’s franchisees is that our potential guests include everyone, in all different age groups and demographics, says Senior Vice President of Marketing Lisa White.

The retail shop is just the beginning

At the end of the day, the most important marketing comes from getting people to experience the menu. While a lot of sales happen inside our frozen dessert franchise shops, the true revenue potential of the business is achieved by reaching into the community.

“We’re huge believers in community involvement, being leaders and creating relationships with local schools, businesses, sports and youth organizations,” says White. “Whether through fundraising events, catering opportunities, you name it, we like to go beyond the shops and into the neighborhoods to really build those relationships.”

Part of the genius of the Rita’s business model is its scalability. Once your first frozen dessert franchise is established, your product kitchen can — and should — reach far beyond the four walls of your store. We encourage franchisees to look at their initial retail location as a flagship. In addition to serving guests, it can serve as a manufacturing hub that provides frozen treats for catering and for satellite locations. Street fairs, ball games and other community events provide opportunities to generate additional sales while also introducing the brand to new guests.

“We do a lot of vending events. We have carts, we go onto different boardwalks or corporate events, we do a lot of street fairs. We’re always looking to expand,” says Joe DeAngelis, a multi-unit franchisee in New York who continues to expand. “If you have the systems in place, it’s not that difficult to keep it going.”

Rita’s guests love the brand

Those loyal fans also help spread the word even further to their friends and family.
“We’ve grown organically on our social media, and that really shows the brand love that people have for us,” says White. “Our product is so visual, and people love taking and sharing pictures of the treats that they get at Rita’s.”

And whether we’re introducing ourselves in a new market or building on our beloved brand name in our core Northeastern markets, that quality product helps drive loyal, repeat business, because ultimately, our ices and custards make people happy.

“When people hear the name Rita’s, it gets their taste buds going,” says Kasner. “That’s why I think people come. They know it’s going to be a pleasant experience and that they’re going to get a really great-tasting treat. It makes them happy.”

A family of five dressed in blue shirts, the kids in tye-dye, hold branded cups of Rita's frozen treats in front of a Rita's window. A red and white striped awning illustration decorates the left side of the photo where a cartoon flower is drawn in red

This information is not intended as an offer to sell a franchise. We will not offer you a franchise until we have complied with disclosure and registration requirements in your jurisdiction. Contact Rita’s Franchise Company, LLC, located at 1210 Northbrook Drive, Suite 310, Trevose, PA 19053 to request a copy of our Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). RESIDENTS OF NEW YORK: This advertisement is not an offering. An offering can only be made by a prospectus filed first with the Department of Law of the State of New York. Such filing does not constitute approval by the New York Department of Law.