Rita's Opens Its First Mall Operation<b></b>

Philadelphia-Italian ice chain Rita's recently openedits first 12-month operating franchise inside a shopping mall. Thenew store, located in the Ocean County Mall in Toms River, NewJersey, is the chain's 224th location.

"This is an exciting new opportunity for Rita's,"says Bob Tumolo, president and founder of the chain. "Thisdemonstrates our evolution as the industry leader and ourcommitment to meeting our customers' needs."

Rita's Northeastern locations are six- or seven-monthoperations, opening en masse on the first day of spring and closingin early fall, allowing franchisees to take advantage of the warmspring and summer months. "We're excited to see how thisnew location performs, not just six months out of the year, but12," Tumolo says. "We're confident that the demandfor our product will carry itself the entire year, making shoppingmalls a great new point of distribution for us and an importantpart of our growth strategy."

The new store is situated in a stand-alone kiosk and featuresthe same products as traditional Rita's locations.-Rita's Italian Ices