Sonesta International Hotels Corporation has struck a promotional partnership with Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, the self-described largest Italian ice concept in the world, to run a series of free-sampling activations at hotels in Miami, Philadelphia, and Jersey City this summer. The campaign is timed to coincide with soccer matches drawing international travel to those markets.
Under the arrangement, Rita's branded Treat Trucks will station outside select Sonesta properties during specific match windows and distribute 200 complimentary custom Italian ices per event to both hotel guests and members of the surrounding community. The companies did not disclose the total number of activation dates, the financial terms of the partnership, or the retail value of product being distributed.
The promotion reflects a broader tactic among hotel operators to convert high-traffic sporting events into on-property foot traffic and brand-awareness moments. For Rita's, the truck-based model offers direct consumer sampling in dense urban corridors where visiting soccer fans — many traveling internationally — may have limited prior exposure to the Italian ice segment. Rita's operates primarily along the U.S. East Coast and in Sun Belt markets, making Miami, Philadelphia, and Jersey City geographically core to its existing footprint. For context on how foodservice operators are increasingly leveraging major sporting events to drive trial, see our coverage of stadium and venue foodservice trends and hotel F&B activation strategies.
Sonesta, headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts, operates a portfolio of hotels across multiple brands and price tiers. The Rita's tie-in positions the company's urban properties as community gathering points during a summer that several host cities are marketing heavily around international soccer. Limited-time, zero-cost sampling activations have gained traction in the hospitality sector as a low-friction alternative to traditional loyalty incentives, particularly for drive-by foot traffic that may not convert to room bookings. Neither company provided attendance projections or post-event conversion metrics.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
