In order to continue my ethnographic study, I will need to both conduct an interview with two employees at Rita's, as well as create an annotated bibliography in order to list my sources and describe their importance. One of the sources that I intent to use is a website known as "The Franchise Mall." Apparently its intent is to show people how to buy a popular franchise, but it also has numerous articles from the past six years or so talking about numerous things, from business information and statistics to articles talking about the newest store opening, or the first Rita's opened in a particular state. The first article posted on this website was posted on March 17, 2004, and gave a brief history about the store from the first shop which was opened in 1984. These articles will aid me, because I believe it will be important to give some history and/or background information about the franchise before the interview. I might be able to ask the manager some questions about either the history of the entire establishment or the history about the Rita's on College Avenue.
It says that the founder was a fireman who felt like starting a small business for fun. So he bought a used Italian ice maker from someone who advertised it in the newspaper and set up shop in Bensalem, PA. He didn't expect to make a whole lot of money, but his business was popular enough to make 3.5 times more than what he expected for his first year. I wondered how well the sugar-free Italian ice sold for, and apparently it only accounts for 1 to two percent of Rita's sales.
This article will give me great information about the humble beginnings of Rita's, and should help me compare the success Rita's knew in the beginning to the success it experiences now.
http://www.thefranchisemall.com
more specifically:
http://www.thefranchisemall.com/news/articles/10593-0.htm
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I think this is a good source to use, I've never heard of the franchise mall before. Seeing it for the first time I thought that it was a very good source in which you can see how much Rita's actually earns. This might be useful for interviews, like asking the manager why he chose Rita's versus another ice cream chain that earns more money.
ReplyDeleteMichelle Lee