Success Stories

Extra Innings (softball/baseball training franchise)
NWJ Jewelers (retail jewelery franchise)
Repicci's Italian Ice (retail Italian ice franchise)

Repicci's Italian Ice

Repicci’s Italian Ice is a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based manufacturer and retailer of Italian ice. According to founder Frank Repici, the company is blessed with an almost unlimited target market. “We sell anyplace with people and sunshine,” he says.

With a successful five-year track record behind him, Frank decided it was time to increase his scope of operations. He suspected franchising was the best way to grow his business. But she wanted to confirm his suspicions by getting input from a franchising consultant. “When we met Bob Pirtle, we were impressed with his knowledge and sincerity and felt very comfortable that his experience would take us in the right direction—helping us to develop and promote our business concept to franchisees.

“For us, the key consideration is determining how to go to market with something that makes us—and our franchisees—money. Bob really helped us out in this regard. We were planning to continue producing our product through our central manufacturing facility and then sell through distributors. After a thorough strategic analysis, Bob recommended we eliminate our distributor intermediary and make our products as close as possible to the retailers. This would help us reduce shipping costs and keep more of the revenue ourselves. In 2004 Bob helped us double our revenue without increasing expensesy by rethinking our approach,. Profitability skyrocketed and, as a result, we were in a much stronger position to attract franchisees.”

“We were also in the dark about just about every aspect of becoming a franchisor. But International Expansion Experts has been generous with their time and insights and our comfort level with franchising keeps growing steadily. Plus, Bob is easy to work with and extremely credible. To be honest, we were comfortable with them from the outset.”

Today Repicci's Italian Ice has 30 franchised locations throughout the US and contines to grow. About his success Frank shares: "My life has changed. I am busier than I thought I would ever be, but I derive great satisfaction from helping my franchisees become successful business owners."