Jeremiah’s Italian Ice Ranks in Exclusive Franchise Times Fast & Serious List

CEO Michael Keller said he and his team at Jeremiah’s Italian Ice talk all the time about what they refer to as “smart, quality growth.” For the concept serving Italian ice, gelato and ice cream, that means adding 40-50 units per year on average over the next several years. Jeremiah’s makes its Fast & Serious debut with a three-year sales growth rate of 201.2 percent, from $14 million in 2020 to $42 million in 2022. It had unit growth of 193.9 percent during that span to hit 97 locations. “We can certainly grow faster, but the reason we’re not is because we are trying to make smart choices on the franchisees we sign and making sure the sites we put them in have the best chance to succeed,” said Keller, who took over as CEO in May following founder Jeremy Litwack’s transition to chairman. Keller, a published children’s author who previously was a business development specialist for a boutique consulting firm, said a strategy that Jeremiah’s initiated recently is overhauling its franchisee approval process by paying closer attention to some things it believes are fundamental to future success. “There’s no doubt that the history of franchising is littered with some pretty bad examples of a franchise organization that grew way too fast and grew for the sake of growth and put their brand and franchisees in pretty bad situations,” he said. “We know a lot of them have blown up pretty spectacularly, so we’re definitely not going to do that.”

Find the full list here: Jeremiah’s Italian Ice Ranks 15 on Fast & Serious list