'Undercover Boss' Visits Rita's Italian Ice in Holland, Michigan

The show has done some big companies like 7-Eleven, Hooters NASCAR, and White Castle. Now, 'Undercover Boss' comes to the small Lake Michigan town of Holland.

Undercover Boss is a reality series that follows high-level executives as they slip anonymously into the rank-and-file of their own organizations. Each week, a different leader sacrifices the comfort of their corner office for an undercover mission to examine the inner workings of their operation.

This Holland Business Has Seen Five Generations of Ownership

The Emmy Award-winning show debuted on CBS in 2010 and has featured major businesses like Family Dollar, Subway, MGM Grand, DirecTV, Roto-Rooter, the Chicago Cubs, and NASCAR. Next, the show spotlights a frozen dessert business called Rita's Italian Ice and visits Holland, Michigan. Rita's Italian Ice was founded in Bensalem, Pennsylvania in 1984, and has grown to 540 franchises in 31 states. Their business is (as you might guess) Italian ice frozen desserts, frozen custard, gealti, milkshakes, concrete mixers, and many other frozen treats.

A mother-daughter team opened the Holland location in August of 2019 and has been successful so far. Rita's Ice CEO Linda Chadwick visited the store in a disguise to see how day-to-day operations are being run at the ground level of the company she oversees. The executive enjoyed her visit to the Tulip City, telling the Holland Sentinel newspaper,

It's a great community, People were wonderful. The guests and the customers that came into the shop were great. I knew the franchisee, but she didn't recognize me — that's how good the disguise was.
-Linda Chadwick, Rita's Ice President and CEO

How did they get the camera crew into the store? The owners were told it was to film a made-up reality show called Starting Over. They were told CEO Chadwick was a retired schoolteacher looking to begin a second career. The broadcast date for the Undercover Boss episode featuring Holland's Rita's Italian Ice and Frozen Custard is January 28 on CBS, or stream it after that at CBS.com.