By 1970, the last territorial franchise had been awarded, and Ken McCarthy, co-founder and partner, retired from the company. Bob Farrell decided to take the concept nationwide. The novel item shown below contains the list of all the Farrell's in existence at the end of 1970 (the flip side provided the Farrell's Diet, designed to ensure you could eat all the ice cream you want without gaining weight). At this time, the only company-owned parlours were in Portland, Oregon, northern California, and the new parlour in Houston, Texas (the first company-owned parlour east of the Rocky Mountains).

This fun "diet menu" also provided a list of every Farrell's in existence for customers. This particular one is from January 1971.

At this time, a new retail growth industry had just begun to boom - the enclosed shopping center. From Farrell’s standpoint, this was a perfect vehicle for growth - a captive market of mall shoppers, less up-front capital costs to construct a parlour, and all exterior maintenance was handled by the shopping mall in exchange for a nominally higher rent. It was a win-win situation for Farrell’s. Lease agreements were signed for new parlours in:

• Woodfield Mall - Schaumburg, IL
• Franklin Park Mall - Toledo, OH
• Southridge Shopping Center - Greendale, WI
• Cinderella City Shopping Center - Denver, CO
• Town East Mall - Mesquite, TX
• Northlake Mall - Atlanta, GA
• Westland Mall - Hialeah, FL

Farrell's in Southridge Shopping Center, Greendale, Wisconsin

This represented a one-year growth of more than 50% for company-owned parlours. Even so, these parlours performed quite well initially. Woodfield led the company in weekly sales for nearly two years after opening (to quote my boss, who helped open that store, “the place opened to a line and closed to a line nearly every day for two years”). The expansion program was accelerated, with 20 additional leases signed for 1972, to open additional parlours in Wisconsin, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana...Farrell’s was going to need a cash infusion to support its aggressive growth strategy.

With this shift into high gear, the company cut the quality of its products to reduce costs. Milkshake dispensers were installed in all parlours, replacing the hand-dipped shakes that were previously offered. The premium 82/18 hamburger beef was changed to 78/22 grade (a 22% increase in fat content). Caramel topping was replaced with butterscotch. Could all this set the stage for what would happen a few years later?