Spouse Buy-In: How to Decide on Franchise Ownership Together

The holidays have a way of starting big conversations about the year ahead. These discussions involve goals and aspirations for health changes, business ventures, and growth. Perhaps it's time to make a career change or find a new opportunity that excites you.

Maybe one of you can't stop thinking about franchise ownership, such as opening a Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard shop.

Becoming the owner of a Rita's franchise is an exciting prospect, but what happens if one person is more excited than the other. You might love the idea, but your spouse has fair questions about money and time. Those questions are why family buy-in matters before anyone signs. This guide shares how some Rita's couples worked through them.

Key Takeaways

• Real spouse buy-in is more than a quick "Go for it!" It means you both understand the financial risk and hard work it requires before anyone signs.
• As part of a franchise journey, you get at least 14 days with the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) before you sign or pay. Read it together.
• Answer the hard questions separately first, then compare your answers. The gaps show you where to focus.
• Plan for a full year of operating costs plus up to two years of living expenses. Decide each partner's level of investment, including both time and money.

What Does Spouse Buy-In Mean for a Franchise?

Spouse buy-in is when your spouse understands the decision to invest in a franchise and agrees with it. That agreement covers the money you will put in and the way the business will change your family's daily life. It is not a decision to be made lightly, nor is it one that can be made unilaterally.

Why does this matter so much? A franchise draws on household savings. It demands time and attention, and it can reshape your schedules for years. Even if only one of you runs the shop, you both live with the results.

One way to think about franchise ownership is that you and your partner would also be in good company at Rita's. Steve and Sue Wilkos, who own shops in Carmel, Fishers, and Bloomington, Indiana, are among the many couples who call Rita's "a family business" in Rita's owner testimonials. They add, "we get to share a lot of fun moments at work and then talk about them at the dinner table."

Why Your Spouse Might Be Hesitant

If your spouse isn't leaping at the opportunity, have a heart-to-heart about their hesitation. Most hesitation comes from a short list of fair worries.

The first worry typically involves current savings or retirement accounts. Your partner may picture the emergency fund or college savings shrinking to fund the business, and the money section below puts real numbers in front of that fear.

The Time Requirement

Time is the next concern, from missed dinners to summer weekends at the shop. Seasonality can help. Rita's works for families for multiple reasons. From a seasonal perspective, because many territories in colder areas close down for the winter months and holidays, giving business owners time to refresh and plan future moves, including hiring to free up their time. From a daily perspective, staffing needs are relatively light. A small team-sometimes as light as one person during slow periods-can easily operate a shop. In addition, many locations open at noon during the normal spring and summer season and 3 P.M. in non-peak months. This provides morning flexibility to owners who need that time to run other errands or handle other business.

Annmarie Brown and her husband opened their first Rita's in 2003 with one child. Today they have four children and three shops in Northeast Philadelphia. In the off-season, she's the homeroom mom, and the family takes vacations during the holidays. She calls it "a very manageable work-life balance to have the three stores and have a family."

"We ended up picking Rita's because of the lifestyle," she says in a 2020 interview. The seasonality "really blends well with having the family life that we wanted to have." Annmarie also says that even as often as she's in the stores, she's been able to delegate much of the operations work to managers. Owning multiple units provides additional flexibility in her day.

A Lack of Experience

Another worry is that neither of you has run a food business before. The Browns paired his accounting and business experience with her marketing and education background. "We always just thought that we would be a perfect match to go into a business together," Annmarie says.

Rita's describes its system as structured training, dedicated consulting, and ongoing operational support. While several Rita's owners come to the franchise from a place of previous food service ownership, just as many have backgrounds in other business or operations ventures.

The Risk of Failure

Then there's the fear of failure. The Federal Trade Commission's consumer guide is blunt: buying a franchise is like any other investment: there's no guarantee of success. A partner who names that risk is stress-testing the plan before any money changes hands.

How to Start the Conversation

The conversation can start small. After Sean Evans moved from the east coast to Dallas, Texas, to be closer to family, he came home and told his wife he missed Rita's. "So we laughed about it and said, 'It would be nice to have one," he recalls in his franchise review.

That idea grew into a real plan, and Sean later signed on with his cousin to open five shops. Your first talk can be just as casual, but you should follow it with a calm evening where you share your "why" and listen for questions.

The FTC franchise buyer's guide provides a great backdrop for this conversation. Because you must receive the FDD at least 14 days before you sign a contract or pay any money, there's an excellent window to realistically discuss concerns or questions. Be brutally honest with these paraphrased questions that work quite well as a couples worksheet.

Answer each question on your own first, then compare results. In those places where your answers don't match, you've found your next conversation.

Put the Money on the Table Together

Build one shared picture of your household savings and debts. Then compare it with the full cost of opening a shop.

As you think through the investment, plan for a slow start, too. In many franchise journeys, it may take more than a year to break even. Some franchises never do. A general rule for franchising is to estimate operating expenses for the first year and personal living expenses for up to two years.

What the Investment Looks Like

For a Rita's Standard Shop without a drive-thru, the estimated initial investment is $315,233 to $712,542.¹ A Rita's location with a drive-thru could require between $456,858 and $915,536.¹ The initial franchise fee is $35,000 for a Standard or Express Shop.² After opening, Rita's charges a 6.5% royalty.³

Put those numbers next to your budget, and agree on what you'd cut at home if the first season runs slow.

For a spouse who worries about complexity, Rita's builds its menu on two signature treats, Italian Ice and Frozen Custard. The Rita's franchise opportunity overview says the shop setup doesn't require fryers, full kitchens, or complex back-of-house operations.

Your spouse will also want to know what the shop could earn. Read about franchise owner earning potential, then review the earnings section of the FDD together.

Who Signs and What It Means

Every owner of that company signs the personal guarantee.⁴ Rita's requires both spouses to sign the personal guarantee.

Many franchisees don't self-fund every dollar of the investment. In many cases, third-party financing through the Small Business Administration (SBA) or other lenders can make up the difference. For SBA-backed loans, the SBA personal guarantee rule says holders of at least a 20 percent ownership interest generally must guarantee the loan. Meet with a lender and a franchise attorney together, and ask who must sign and what each signature means for your household.

Decide Who Does What

With the money agreed, the next question is time, and Rita's has a few rules that shape it. One of the shareholders or individual owners of the business will need to be designated as the Designated Owner and must live within a one-hour drive of the shop, and an owner or fully trained manager must devote a full-time schedule to it.⁴ Rita's also strongly recommends that an owner be involved, not expecting to just collect mailbox money.⁴

Training is set up for two. Initial Training is free for up to two trainees. The franchisee (or an approved owner) and the manager attend.⁵ If an owner is the full-time on-premises manager, the second trainee can be another owner.⁵

Mitch Cove of Philadelphia was named 2019 Franchisee of the Year by the IFA. Like many Rita's owners, he calls Rita's "really a family business, which allows us to involve not only our spouses, but our children." To help the franchise thrive, he tells prospects to "learn the business, understand the business and be there, at least in the first few years."

Brian and Cassandra Kibler made that commitment. Both grew up south of Pittsburgh and worked for PNC Financial, and Cassandra spent about 18 years in financial services. After about 15 years of vacations in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, they opened a Rita's there in April 2019.

"We just really wanted to do something on our own," says Kibler. "Typically, we are there from open to close because we know the first two years are very crucial to whether or not you survive when bringing a new business into a market."

Most couples start from one of two setups:

• Both go all in. You train together and share the busy season.
• One spouse runs the shop. The other keeps a day job and steady income.

As part of your conversation, write down the hours each of you expects to work. If neither of you has run a shop before, don't panic. This is an excellent opportunity to lean on Rita's training and support programs. As Cassandra puts it, "You always have somebody to call."

Make the Decision Together

The decision belongs to the two of you, but Rita's process gives you checkpoints along the way. The steps to franchise ownership are designed to ensure the agreement is a great fit for both Rita's and prospective franchisees. Invite your spouse to participate in each step, from the initial discovery call to a Meet the Team Day to really experience the culture. After each step, ask each other, "What did we learn, and what do we still need to know?"

You've reached spouse buy-in when these are true:

• Your spouse can explain the investment range and the royalty in their own words.
• You both agree on the most money you're willing to put at risk.
• You've written down who does what each week.
• You both know who signs the personal guarantee and any loan documents.

Then set a decision date early in the new year. It's OK if the answer is "not yet," and a clear "not yet" with a plan is still progress.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can married couples own a franchise together?

Yes, and Rita's has many married teams among its owners. If you own the franchise through a company, every owner signs the personal guarantee.⁴

Does my spouse have to sign the franchise agreement?

Yes. The majority of franchisors, including Rita's, require spousal guarantee. Even if the spouse has no financial or equity interest in the franchisee entity, they must sign the agreement.⁴

What if my spouse doesn't support my business idea?

Ask what worries them most, and work through each concern with real numbers and the FDD. If you still don't agree, set a later decision date rather than moving forward alone.

Can one spouse keep a full-time job?

An owner or fully trained manager must devote full time to the shop, and Rita's strongly recommends on-site owner management.⁴ That leaves room for one partner to run the shop while the other keeps a day job.

Start the New Year With a Shared Plan

Spouse buy-in builds over many talks. The holidays give you time to start, and the new year gives you a natural deadline.

Take the next step together. Book an intro call with Rita's team, and bring your partner so you both hear the same answers from the start.

1. Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 7
2. Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 5
3. Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 6
4. Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 15
5. Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 11