Franchise Review: Rita's Ice of North Jacksonville Beach, Florida

Rita's Ice is an Italian Ice shop (and much more) that has been in existence for 25 years now, since 1984. The shop is actually a chain, and is most prominent in the southeastern United States (and even some northeastern states like Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York). Rita's was started by Bob Tumolo, a retired Philadelphia firefighter looking to supplement his income. Bob opened up his Italian Ice place in Bensalem, PA, and named the business after his wife, Rita.

Nowadays, Rita's is located in several states. It boasts of several great items, notably its Italian Ice. This Ice is made in a multitude of flavors such as mango, passion fruit, lemon, watermelon, pina colada, etc. Unlike many other ices, which are flavored with sugary syrups, Rita's Ice is flavored with real fresh fruit. Rita's also offers homemade frozen custard ice cream, in flavors of vanilla, chocolate, coffee, orange cream, and strawberry.

What if you want both Italian Ice and frozen custard ice cream? Not to worry; Rita's will make all kinds of mixtures (or is that misti?) for you. For starters, there are the Gelati, which consist of a cup containing frozen custard on the bottom, followed by Italian Ice in the middle, and then a topping of more frozen custard. This is Rita's #1 selling item, and looking at my photo of it, it's easy to see why.

There are other blended items too, like the Misto, which is machine-blended Italian Ice and frozen custard. Then there are Blendini, which have everything the Misti do, but also come with cookie bits or candy chunks. And for those stopping by Rita's in the very early morning, there is the Ritaccino, a blending of Italian Ice, frozen custard, and coffee (in Mocha or Caffe flavor).

While in Jacksonville Beach recently, I stopped by Rita's Ice while taking a break from the ocean waves. The place had a few clients milling around. I decided to order a regular Gelati with passion fruit Italian Ice and chocolate/vanilla swirled frozen custard. After paying at the counter, I received my rather large cup of Ice and custard. The custard was quite smooth and good. When I dug into the passion fruit ice, I found it to really stand out in intensity and flavor. By the time I got to the end of my cup (and believe me, it took some time), I discovered the second layer of custard below. Unfortunately, by this time it had melted and mixed into the passion fruit Ice. Not one for mixtures, I'll be ordering my next Gelati with all the custard piled on top. Still, this was a wonderful Gelati, and I could definitely see coming back for more of it, or the Ritaccino.

Do you want to find out if there is a Rita's Ice by you? Check the following web sites, which are listed with my information below.

Rita's Ice
393 3^rd Street
North Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250
Phone: (904)246-1762
Web sites: www.ritasice.com/ and https://www.ritasfranchises.com/JacksonvilleBeach