Franchise Focus

What 35 years as a Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard franchisee taught this entrepreneur

Mitch Cove inked a deal with Rita's Italian Ice and Frozen Custard in 1989, never guessing his career move to frozen treats would span 35 years. Today, he runs three stores in the Pennsylvania market.

Photo: Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard

August 4, 2025

From his early days growing up in Philadelphia, Mitch Cove had a sweet tooth for "water ice," a local frozen delicacy now known as Italian ice. While a CPA by trade, he felt a pull toward the frozen treat industry, looking for a way to supplement his income.

It was the summer of 1989 when his wife spotted a franchise advertisement for a small, budding company called Rita's Italian Ice and Frozen Custard. Taking a leap of faith into an unproven franchise model, Cove couldn't have known that this single decision would lead him to trade in his calculator for a scooper, launching a journey that would span 35 years and multiple locations, eventually even bringing his son into the business.

"I liked what I heard, and it looked like a really exciting opportunity," Cove said, "but since Rita's had no track record of franchising, I really didn't know what to expect from them. Little did I know that two years later I'd be opening up my second franchise location and leaving my accounting career for good."

He signed his franchise agreement with Rita's in the fall of 1989 and had his first store open by June of the next year. The second opened in Spring of 1992. A third location was opened with a partner in Spring of 1994, and Cove also purchased a company owned store with another partner that same year.

Cove eventually worked his way up to owning eight stores. Today he has three in Pennsylvania. One of those was purchased this year with his son, Brandon, a technology consultant who wanted out of his corporate job.

"We're looking to grow," Cove said. "He's injected a lot of enthusiasm, tech savvy, (and) an analytical approach that frankly I wasn't really applying to my shops."

Cove, 63, said he did have an exit strategy at some point, but that's now put on hold because Brandon has infused a new energy into the franchise.

Photo: Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard

Operations

Cove's seasonal shops open in early February and close late October, sometimes into November. He said his stores are strongly affected by the weather and close over the winter months.

"As the years and decades have evolved, it seems like the temps and the weather is more mild late into the fall than it had been historically," Cove explained. "Because of that, because we're getting some nicer days in October even, we're extending our season longer than it used to be in the past."

Cove said staffing is always a challenge, as most of the franchise's staff consists of high schoolers and college students. The key is finding people to work the day parts when kids are in school and cannot work.

Rita's as a franchise offers its franchisees strong marketing support at the local level. In the Philly market, franchisees created an advertising and marketing co-op for the 140 shops in the area. Those franchisees pool resources and have hired an ad agency. With corporate input, the co-op put together a comprehensive marketing plan for the entire season.

That consists of outdoor advertising like billboards and bus shelters, radio spots, digital marketing with television ads.

"People really connect with Rita's in our market," Cove said. "A lot of them have very emotional ties, and when people have special events in their lives — kids after the ballgame, or after a special event — then they bring the family to Rita's for a sweet treat. But, what we do is, whether it's schools or churches, we'll host fundraising events. We'll go out and bring Rita's to events that are out where people are. We've hosted quite a few interactive community events in our shops."

Over the course of Cove's 35 years with the brand, he's worked with a number of different corporate ownership groups that have taken over Rita's, but overall "corporate provides excellent support," Cove said. "I think one of the most important things that they do is make sure that our supply chain is consistent, and they provide the create pieces for us to promote."

Cove added that the brand has a strong corporate support team with franchise consultants who uphold the standards that are maintained by the individual Rita's shops. They hold the franchisees accountable.

"The frozen treat business can be very intense at times," Cove said. "We can have incredible spikes in sales from one day to the next based upon weather."

Rita's innovation includes the early adoption of an intranet for operational and marketing materials, ordering for products and communication.

Third party delivery has also been added to the shops.

"They've really stayed on top of new developments in the industry where if we were individual operators we wouldn't have the time or awareness to do that," Cove said.

COVID was challenging for Rita's. Without the ability to operate their shops, franchisees had no income coming in, marking the difference between staying in business or not.

Cove said Rita's was allowed to keep their shops open during the pandemic though they operated under a number of restrictions.

"Rita's really provided a lot of great leadership and guidance in helping navigate the challenges of being able to keep shops open and put in place protocols that were safe that created the right environment for us to keep the windows open," Cove recalled, adding that he worried for the first time that his business might not be able to continue, especially in the early months of the pandemic.

If Cove had been an independent operator, he doesn't think he would have been able to survive the pandemic.

Photo: Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard

Standing out

The key focus of Rita's is speed of service. The stores were designed specifically for efficiency with minimal movement of its team members. The stores have smaller footprints than traditional QSRs by design and costs less to operate.

"Our Italian ice flavors are made every day at the shops. We have a 36-hour freshness policy. By tomorrow night, we have to get rid of it," Cove said. "The guest is guaranteed the freshest product."

Cove added that the custard is industry-standard leading.

The brand's training also helps it stand out.

"We focus on customer service and making sure that our treat team understands all of our products and is able to explain to the guests and make suggestions if they have questions," Cove said.

The frozen treat business has historically had lower sales volume than traditional QSRs, and Cove said because of the way the system and stores are designed, Rita's is able to generate more sales than most frozen treat franchises.

Investing?

For those interested in joining a QSR franchise, Cove said to do your homework and get a list of other operators in those concepts to speak with. Also, get finances in order early.

"If you identify a specific concept or a business type that you're interested in… visit that shop, sit outside, watch it, really take in the nuances and spend a few hours there," Cove suggested. "Watch the guests, watch how the business is operated.

"Being your own boss is the greatest lesson in the world, but there's a lot of sacrifices. You've got to be willing to commit to it and sacrifice to it. I'm a worker. I love working in my business. I've been doing it for 35 years. It's really critical to know and understand the business nuances and what you're getting into."