In 2007 Hayley and Ed Ricciardi moved to Surfside Beach, SC from New Jersey. In 2009 The Ricciardis were thinking of a small business to start up. Ed, growing up in the Philadelphia and New Jersey area knew how popular Italian ice can be on hot summer days. So they decided to start Ricciardi’s Italian ice. There first location was at the HWY 501 Tanger outlets. Hayley and Ed worked the kiosk 12 hours a day. We used our garage at our house as our storage area with 5 chest freezers. In June of 2009 we added 2 more locations for kiosk.
Hayley having a good sales and marketing background developed the free sample. Basically everyone gets a free sample that walks by you. It was a marketing strategy that pays off in sales. Give them a sample let them try it and they will buy.