Operations
Jeremiah’s Italian Ice a ‘frozen force’ with explosive growth
With 200 franchise agreements across 70 different groups, and an additional 182 units awarded across six area representative territories, Jeremiah's Italian Ice is set for major growth. Devin Schneider, director of brand development, discusses the company's "culture of cool" ethos and carving out its path in the sweets sector.
September 1, 2021 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group
Jeremiah's Italian Ice is a chain of sweet treats celebrating its 25th anniversary and 50th store opening. The company has a planned expansion of 100 units by the end of 2022.
QSRweb reached out to Devin Schneider, Jeremiah's director of brand development, to get deeper insight on about what sets the brand apart from its competitors and how it is expanding despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Q: When formulating a concept, why Italian ice?
A:Owner and Founder Jeremy Litwack has had a lifelong passion for this refreshing treat. His love of authentic Italian Ice began in his childhood visiting the Jersey Shore with his family. The interest took root and blossomed into a vision following a venture selling Italian ice in front of the Philadelphia Mint in high school. From there, he went on to develop his own delicious proprietary recipes and eventually relocate to Florida (and) set on his goal of adding Italian Ice to the map, initially in the Southeast. Jeremy recognized that this incredibly flavorful treat has the ability to refresh and indulge at the same time, and that there was an untapped opportunity to educate and impress guests not yet familiar with the treat.
Q: What sets Jeremiah's apart from other similar concepts?
A: Jeremiah's Italian Ice extends beyond just a frozen dessert. While our frozen treats are uniquely flavor-packed and delicious, with unlimited flavor combinations to be discovered, the brand emanates an energy and culture that is bold, vibrant, and welcoming to its guests. Once a Jeremiah's Ice opens shop in a new market, they quickly become a local hub and hang-out, serving as the venue for flavorful experiences and life memories.
Q: You're celebrating your 25th anniversary this year. To what do you attribute your longevity in the industry?
A:Jeremiah's commitment to being a people-first brand has undoubtedly aided in the success and longevity of the concept. From the individual focus each guest receives to our focus on developing and enriching young team members and our commitment to community involvement, the focus on forming relationships and building culture beyond just a frozen desert transaction, has been pivotal in our longevity.
Q: What do you look for in a franchisee?
A: We're passionate about our brand and our values and we want (our customers) to be, too. Jeremiah's franchise candidates are driven business professionals who love making work a good time.
"Live life to the coolest" isn't just something we say. It's a key ethos of our brand and culture. We firmly believe in taking the time to taste all the flavorful experiences life has to offer, and we're looking for like-minded, business-focused franchisees to help us take the "culture of cool" nationwide.
An ideal candidate has an entrepreneurial spirit with either restaurant or sales and marketing experience, or experience running their own business. A combination of these traits is ideal. A focus on culture and a commitment to community with a passion for serving people is critical.
Q: On what areas are you focusing for growth?
A: Now with more than 200 units awarded across more than 70 different franchisee groups, and an additional 182 units awarded across six area representative territories, Jeremiah's has become a frozen force in the QSR space.
Focused on development in the southern United states, the brand is looking to expand its presence in Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and North Carolina where it currently has several units. In addition, the brand is looking forward to expanding its presence into new markets with franchise agreements awarded in Oklahoma, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Nevada, and Colorado.
And with this growth, we will continue to adapt and evolve to ensure we are fulfilling our guests' consumption patterns and continuing to deliver flavorful experiences to each and every customer. We are continuing to invest in research and development for limited-time offerings and new product developments that will further add to the excitement of our menu. From a technological perspective, we are continuing to develop additional ways to utilize our platforms to deliver superior customer experiences. Our loyalty program, that has grown by 100,000 users per year since its launch in 2018, will soon feature a full suite of online ordering options to our guests as we recognize how important this has become since 2020. With a current average loyalty participation of 25% in our locations — a number that almost triples industry benchmarks — we deeply value our engaged guests and want to ensure we are providing as much value to them through our Reward program as possible.
Q: How have you managed to grow during the COVID-19 pandemic as other brands have slowed growth patterns?
A:Jeremiah's Italian Ice has been grateful for the opportunity to continue to scoop up our tasty frozen treats throughout COVID and has found it an honor to serve as a comforting and familiar bright spot in the days of our guests during these otherwise uncertain times.
As a brand, Jeremiah's was very fortunate to experience relatively minimal impact to their year-over-year performance. With numerous locations even finding substantial growth during the pandemic and many others remaining relatively flat, the overall reduction of system revenue was nominal relative to the experience of other food service concepts.
The resiliency of the Jeremiah's concept has been clear throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and the brand's continued success despite a national pandemic has attracted a lot of new franchise partners.
In addition, the team's ability to implement new processes and procedures and to adapt and pivot, when necessary, helped our concept continue to thrive.
In order to continue the same momentum that led the brand to awarding 100 units during its first year of franchising, Jeremiah's completely revamped the Discovery Day process in just under two weeks to a completely virtual experience equipped with video library brand presentations and Zoom interview sessions.
The brand's ability to quickly adapt to a need to go virtual helped us award 57 units in the first six months of 2020, 23 of which were awarded during the early uncertainty of the pandemic in March and April. In fact, the brand further solidified its standing as the premiere frozen dessert concept on the market when in April, it also awarded four area representative agreements totaling 131 units.
As in any time of uncertainty, we have encountered both challenges and opportunity; however, Jeremiah's and its franchisees have remained cautiously optimistic, never letting off the gas. Signed franchises have continued to navigate the real estate landscape and have worked with the Jeremiah's team to identify opportunities for development. Open franchisees have worked with the Jeremiah's operations and marketing staff to stabilize their business and profits in preparation to move on to store two and three and so on while continuing to keep an eye out for real estate opportunities in their markets. And the brand continues to recruit new candidates in target markets to facilitate growth across the southern U.S.
Q: What's the one thing you want our readers to know about Jeremiah's?
A:From a growth perspective, we are not slowing down, surpassing yet another milestone as the brand prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary, as well as the opening of its 50th location. Proving itself a frozen force in the quick-service dessert space, the brand has successfully grown from 22 corporate units in 2019 to 50 units this year and is on track to open an additional 20 locations by year's end. For 2022, the brand is planning to double in size with the goal of reaching 100 locations by year's end.
About Mandy Wolf Detwiler
Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.
An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living.
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