At Rita’s, “Ice Custard Happiness” is our way of life. We’re passionate about delivering super-friendly guest service and providing our guests with a cool, smooth, delightfully happy treat experience. If you’re looking to build memories, celebrate special moments, mark traditions, or simply need a pick-me-up, our fresh, tasty treats are guaranteed to do the trick. The best part? We take great pride in serving them to our community—and always with a side of happy.
At Rita’s, “Ice Custard Happiness” is our way of life. We’re passionate about delivering super-friendly guest service and providing our guests with a cool, smooth, delightfully happy treat experience. If you’re looking to build memories, celebrate special moments, mark traditions, orsimply need a pick-me-up, our fresh, tasty treats are guaranteed to do the trick. The best part?We take great pride in serving them to our community—and always with a side of happy.
Each shop is individually owned and operated by someone from your community, making it an honor to serve you as our neighbor.
Our famous Italian Ice is made fresh daily at each location. With a rotating selection of over 95 mouthwatering flavors, we’re practically guaranteed to have your favorite!
Our business is treats. Our mission is happiness! Let us serve you up a big, fresh, delicious helping of each!
Bob Tumolo, a former Philadelphia firefighter, opened a small Italian Ice business on his front porch in a suburb of Philly. That first shop, named after his wife, Rita, was created to offer the best-tasting, highest-quality Italian Ice. Today, Rita’s is in over 30 states, serving up Ice, Custard, and Happiness to millions of loyal fans.
Every year we celebrate the first day of spring by giving away free Italian Ice. That’s right, for over 25 years we’ve treated each and every Guest to a free Italian Ice. It’s a Rita’s Tradition. Just our way of kicking off the season—and spreading a little happiness.
Every year we celebrate the first day of spring by giving away free Italian Ice. That’s right, for over 25 years we’ve treated each and every Guest to a free Italian Ice. It’s a Rita’s Tradition. Just our way of kicking off the season—and spreading a little happiness.
Yes! There really is a Rita! The story of Rita’s 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. Bob opened the first Rita’s in Bensalem, PA, and named the business after his wife, Rita.
Since each Rita’s location is individually owned and operated, employment requirements (including age) will vary by location. Many stores accept Treat Team members as young as 14 years of age.
In order to obtain employment as a Treat Team member at a Rita’s location, please contact the store directly and fill out an application. To locate a Rita’s near you, please use our store locator.
Our Italian Ice is made fresh onsite at each location every single day. Rita’s has a strict freshness policy and to ensure our Guests receive only the freshest product, we discard all unused Italian Ice 36 hours after it was made.
With more than 60 flavors to choose from, it’s just not possible to make each flavor every day. We do try to rotate our flavors and to offer as much variety as possible so that there’s always a flavor that appeals to your taste buds. Since some flavors are more popular, they may appear more frequently in the rotation.
We encourage you to sign up for our Cool Alerts Favorite Flavors of the Day program, or call your local Rita’s and ask for the flavors of the day. At the same time, inquire when your favorite flavor will be available. To locate your closest Rita’s, please use our store locator.
To ensure everyone receives the tastiest, freshest Rita’s treats, our products can only be sold by our Franchisees from authorized locations.
The majority of our locations open in March and close at the end of September. All Rita’s locations are required to be opened on the first day of March and stay open until the third Sunday in September.
Rita’s shopping mall locations and many of our stores located in warmer climates are open year-round!
Since each location varies, we recommend that you contact your local Rita’s directly to obtain their operating hours. Please use our store locator to find the Rita’s location nearest you.
Although our hours may vary from store to store, the minimum hours of operation are:
March to Thursday before Memorial Day
Sun – Thurs ˜ 12:00pm – 9:00pm
Fri & Sat ˜ 12:00pm – 10:00pm
Friday before Memorial Day to Labor Day
Mon – Sun ˜ 12:00pm – 10:00pm
Tuesday after Labor Day to October 31
Mon – Sun ˜ 12:00pm – 9:00pm
November to February 28
Mon – Sun ˜ 12:00pm – 8:00pm
Unfortunately, we are not able to ship our products at this time.
Mango is Rita’s most popular flavor of Italian Ice. Coming in at number two is our famous Cherry Italian Ice, followed by Swedish Fish®.
Please contact your closest Rita’s directly to request event and community sponsorship. As each Rita’s is franchised, our Franchisees are able to work directly with community groups, schools, and sporting organizations to form partnerships and develop programs. To find your nearest Rita’s, please use our store locator.
For iPhone™
Right-click the download link, and select Save target as.
Choose a location, and click Save.
Browse to the location you chose, and double-click the Rita’s Jingle file. This will open iTunes™ and start playing the file.
Sync your iPhone™ with Itunes™, to copy the ringtones to your phone.
The Rita’s Jingle should now be available to select as an option in the phone’s sound settings menu
For Android™
Right-click the download link, and select Save target as.
Chose a location, and click Save.
Copy the file to the /Media/Audio/Ringtones/folder on the memory card in your phone (create this folder if it does not exist).
The Rita’s Jingle should now be available to select as an option in the phone’s sound settings menu.