David Smith, the owner of Kentucky's first Pennsylvania-based dessert shop Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard on Christian Care Way in Bowling Green, helps Becky Crane and her grandchildren Adaleigh, 8, and Sofia Mendez, 5, pick out their frozen custards and Italian ice treats on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. (Grace Ramey/photo@bgdailynews.com)

For two decades, David and Erin Smith have lived without their favorite dessert stop. Now, the Bowling Green couple has done something about it.

The Smiths opened last week on Christian Care Way near Living Hope Baptist Church a Rita’s Italian Ice and Frozen Custard location, bringing to Bowling Green the sweet treats they enjoyed while growing up in Pennsylvania.

“Rita’s was our go-to destination for treats,” Erin Smith said. “I was surprised when we moved here that there wasn’t a Rita’s.”

The Smiths, along with Erin Smith’s mother, Christine Hillard, have now filled that void in Bowling Green’s dessert restaurant offerings.

Together, they are owners and operators of a Rita’s franchise that is not only new to Bowling Green but is the first in Kentucky.

It’s also a first for the Smiths, who have no experience in the restaurant business but said they believe in the Rita’s products enough to gamble on opening one here.

David Smith, in fact, was willing to give up a 30-year career in automotive refinishing to start serving up Italian ice, frozen custard and the myriad concoctions made from those base ingredients.

“It was emotional at first because I put my heart and soul into doing quality work,” David Smith said Monday in between waiting on customers. “But I can do that here.”

He is such a fan of the Rita’s products that David Smith said he and his wife looked into opening one of the restaurants shortly after moving to Bowling Green in 2002.

“But they didn’t offer franchises back then,” he said.

Not only does Rita’s offer franchises now but it has grown from a single location in Bensalem, Pa., to a chain with more than 600 locations across 30 states.

“It’s very popular,” said Erin Smith, who was working at the new Rita’s Monday while on fall break from her job as a special education teacher. “People know about it from the Northeast and from down in Florida.”

Erin Smith said she, her mother and her husband started looking into the franchise “about a year ago” and finally landed at what she sees as a great location that’s near busy Campbell Lane.

The 1,500-square-foot space in a building that’s also home to a State Farm insurance agency has indoor seating for 14 people and will eventually have some outdoor seating.

“We like this space,” Erin Smith said. “It was a bank branch, so it already had a drive-through, which is hard to find.”

Although the new Rita’s isn’t visible from Campbell Lane, Erin Smith is confident customers will seek it out after sampling a product mix that includes a custard/Italian ice blend called a Gelati, another blended treat with fruit and other toppings called a Blendini, and custard cookie sandwiches.

“Once you taste it, you’ll find the location,” she said.

“People have been very excited about the products,” David Smith said. “I think we have some regular customers already.”

One of those regulars, Bowling Green resident Renee Hale, said: “We found Rita’s by accident while on a family vacation in Chattanooga, Tenn. When we heard that one was opening in Bowling Green, we were excited.

“We love the product, and it’s at a price point that families can afford.”

Erin Smith said the local Rita’s now has 14 employees and is open from 1 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 1 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 1 to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

While this Rita’s is brand-new, the Smiths said they are already looking into expanding the franchise by opening another location in a different part of town.

“We opened the first Rita’s in Kentucky,” David Smith said. “We’d like to open the second one as well.”

– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.