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Our History
The Rita's Italian Ice Story
The story of Rita's Italian Ice dates back to the sweltering summer of 1984 when Bob Tumolo, a former Philadelphia firefighter, decided to open a small Italian Ice business to augment his income. Tumolo opened his first store in Bensalem, Pa. and named the business after his wife, Rita.
Bob and his mother, Elizabeth, set to work – making their product fresh daily. They collaborated to perfect the flavors and consistency of the frozen treat. The mother and son team added chunks of fresh fruit to the recipes and threw away any unused product after 36 hours. The Italian Ice, also referred to as water ice, was a big hit with Philadelphians, who are arguably the most discriminating water ice eaters in the United States.
Although Bob began by selling the “made fresh daily” Italian Ice from a small porch window, he and his brother John had opened three stores in the Philadelphia area by 1987. Soon, customers started approaching Tumolo, wanting to know how they could own a Rita's Water Ice. In 1989, Tumolo started franchising the business, and by 1996, Rita's had grown to more than 100 stores in nine states.
Rita's first location in Bensalem, Pa.
A New Day for Rita's
In May 2005, a new era in the evolution of Rita's was ushered in with the sale of the franchise system to McKnight Capital Partners, a private equity group led by Jim Rudolph and his brother Bill. Having owned and operated 48 of the nation’s highest-performing Wendy’s restaurants for more than 20 years, Jim knew that the potential for the Rita’s franchise business was endless.
Jim immediately embraced the transition of “franchisee turned franchisor” and took the helm of the largest Italian Ice concept in the industry as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Leveraging his knowledge of the franchising world, his belief in the importance of staff development and a passion for delivering service excellence to franchise partners and guests alike, Rudolph immediately developed an aggressive growth plan to take Rita's to the next level.
Spreading Happiness
Under Rudolph's leadership, Rita's continued to see unprecedented growth: the number of franchise agreements awarded doubled from 109 in 2005 to 219 in 2006 and the number of new store openings per year has dramatically increased from 33 stores in 2005 to 68 in 2006 and to 100 in 2007. Rudolph, with help from Rita's franchise partners and staff at the Cool Support Center (Rita's corporate headquarters) grew the chain and continued to build the thriving concept.
From a single store on the porch of a home in Philadelphia in 1984, Rita's Ice has grown tremendously. In 2005, Rita's had more than 300 locations and in November 2007, Rita's opened its 500th location in Mooresville, North Carolina. Rita's marked a special milestone in 2009 when the concept celebrated its 25th anniversary.
Rita's celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a special celebration
at location at 1227 Bristol Pike in Andalusia, just outside Philadelphia.
State and local dignitaries, franchise partners and guests joined
Rita's Vice Chairman, Jim Rudolph to mark Rita's silver anniversary.
Growing Stronger
In December of 2011, a controlling interest in Rita’s was sold to Falconhead Capital, LLC. Founded in 1998, Falconhead is a leading investment firm focused on operationally-intensive control investments in small to lower middle-market companies. Falconhead takes a proactive operating approach to value creation by targeting transactions in niche growth verticals where they can leverage their substantial financial, operational, and strategic resources to help businesses pursue growth opportunities and other value building strategies.
With over $500 million of aggregate capital commitments, Falconhead's Funds are managed by an investment team that collectively has extensive experience in both operations and finance. Falconhead's limited partners include a number of leading public and private pension funds, banks, foundations, and endowments.
Falconhead is pleased to be able to add Rita’s to its current group of portfolio company’s focused on consumer leisure and lifestyle vertical industries in the US and the world. Unlike many traditional investment firms which rely on financial engineering to produce returns, Falconhead has generated superior returns by helping to build and grow great businesses. Falconhead employs a team of dedicated professionals, all of whom have extensive experience developing and supporting new growth strategies, strengthening management teams, recruiting high quality board members and supporting technology improvements and upgrades.
Around mid-December Rita's announced the appointment of Jonathan Fornaci to President and CEO. Fornaci brings more than 20 years of operational, retail, franchise chain and brand experience to his new role with Rita's Italian Ice.
Thomas Christopoul, Executive Chairman of the Board of Rita's noted that "we are energized and excited to have someone with Jonathan's experience take the lead of this brand, and we look forward to watching his vision for this promising system come to fruition."
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Cool Treats
