As the warm spring days transition into hot summer ones, consumers will be looking to take time out for a cool, refreshing treat of ice cream, frozen custard, gelato, frozen yogurt, or Italian ice from their favorite local shop.
Fans of frozen treats have no shortage of options to purchase their favorite flavors, including national chains like Baskin-Robbins, Ben & Jerry’s, Cold Stone Creamery, Dairy Queen, Häagen-Dazs, Marble Slab Creamery, and Rita’s Italian Ice.
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A number of local ice cream shops compete with the national chains for the frozen treat business. Sometimes these establishments are overwhelmed by the competition and shut down or, in other cases, will file for bankruptcy to reorganize to stay in business.
Related: Huge auto parts company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Sometimes, even the major national ice cream chains face challenges to staying in business.
In the first half of 2025, a franchisee of a popular ice cream fast-food chain, Dairy Queen, shut down about 30 locations in Texas over a dispute with the parent company.
Parent company American Dairy Queen pulled the franchises from franchisee Project Lonestar after it failed to remodel its locations. That meant that those locations could not order supplies from the parent corporation and would have to shut down.
“These closures are related to closures last month by the same franchise owner,” a Dairy Queen spokesperson said of the closings. “The closures are an isolated event, and we refrain from publicly sharing contract terms.”
The dispute prevented Lonestar from selling its franchise locations, which forced it to close the Dairy Queens that it operated.
Iconic ice cream shops closing
Another large ice cream operation, Thrifty Ice Cream, has been a part of Rite Aid stores since it acquired ThriftyPayless Drugs in 1996. But about 500 in-store Thrifty Ice Cream shops will disappear with the closing of Rite Aid stores in the company’s bankruptcy case.
Thrifty Drug Store was founded in Los Angeles in 1929, and in 1940, it launched its Thrifty Ice Cream shops within its stores.
The in-store Thrifty Ice Cream shops became popular in the 1970s, at the time selling scoops of ice cream for 5 cents each, but by the late 1970s, the prices began rising.
The shops remained in ThriftyPayless stores and now Rite Aid stores, but will soon be a memory after the bankruptcy case concludes.
Rita’s Italian Ice franchisee files for bankruptcy. (Photo by Frank Hammerschmidt/picture alliance via Getty Images)
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Rita’s Italian Ice franchisee files for bankruptcy
And now a frozen treat chain franchisee, Greene Family Enterprises LLC, which owns a St. Johns, Fla.-based Rita’s Italian Ice franchise, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, seeking to restructure its debts.
Related: Major trucking company files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
The Rita’s Italian Ice franchise filed its Subchapter V petition on June 9 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, listing $100,000 to $500,000 in assets and $500,000 to $1 million in liabilities, including $362,000 owed to Cadence Bank, $64,000 in unpaid taxes owed to the Florida Department of Revenue, and a $43,000 claim by Headway Capital.
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Rita’s Italian Ice, founded in 1984 in Bensalem, Pa., is a specialty dessert shop selling Italian ice, frozen custard, Gelati, Italian Ice Blenders, Gelati Blenders, milkshakes, and take-home treats, such as custard cookie sandwiches and custard pints.
Rita’s, which claims to be the world’s largest Italian Ice franchise in the world, had been owned by parent company Argosy Private Equity from December 2016 until Nov. 26, 2024, when it exited its investment in Rita’s Franchise Company LLC.
The Trevose, Pa., company revealed on Jan. 9, 2025, that private equity firm Maple Park Capital Partners purchased a majority interest in Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard.
The Italian Ice and frozen custard chain has 592 locations in 29 states and the District of Columbia, according to its website.
Related: Another major furniture chain closes stores, no bankruptcy
