Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard
Serving Culture with a Smile: How Rita’s Built a Brand-Aligned Culture
Improved
Accountability
Stronger
Collaboration
Reduced
Turnover
Client Overview
Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, founded in 1984 by a Philadelphia firefighter with his mother’s recipe, has expanded to over 565 franchise locations globally. Headquartered in Trevose, Pennsylvania, the company has a support team of 52 employees and began implementing the Fundamentals in 2020.
Why it Matters
As Rita's expanded, CEO Linda Chadwick emphasized the need to scale both operations and company culture. In a franchise system, shared language and consistent leadership are essential to prevent misalignment. To preserve the brand's family feel and commitment to customers, she partnered with CultureWise to integrate culture into leadership meetings and onboarding, ensuring long-term franchise success.
Challenges
When Linda Chadwick became CEO of Rita’s in 2017, she discovered a mismatch between the internal culture and the brand's identity of happiness. The leadership sought to grow post-acquisition but lacked a clear teamwork foundation. While values existed, they were poorly defined in actionable terms. Linda saw the need to intentionally shape the culture to avoid negative evolution.
Solutions
Linda adopted the CultureWise methodology, emphasizing Fundamentals. Leadership selected 34 Fundamentals to embody their culture. Linda demonstrated desired behaviors through weekly messages and introduced a Fundamental of the Week to boost employee engagement and accountability. Supported by CultureWise and consistent leadership, the initiative felt authentic, and CultureSuite enhanced real-time engagement, reinforcing expected behaviors.
The Culture You Need
Won’t Build Itself
We’ll give you the system, structure, and support to make it happen.