Baskin-Robbins is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake specialty shop restaurants owned by Inspire Brands. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in Glendale, California. It claims to be the world’s largest chain of ice cream specialty stores, with more than 8,000 locations, including nearly 2,500 shops in the United States and over 5,000 in other countries. Baskin-Robbins sells ice cream in nearly 50 countries.
The company is known for its “31 flavors” slogan, with the idea that a customer could have a different flavor every day of any month. The slogan came from the Carson-Roberts advertising agency (which later merged into Ogilvy & Mather) in 1953. Baskin and Robbins believed that people should be able to sample flavors for free until they found one they wanted to buy.
In 2006, the company’s “BR” logo was updated such that it doubles as the number “31” to represent the 31 flavors, with the “31” formed by the parts of the letters “BR” which are rendered in pink, in contrast to the rest of the logo which is rendered in blue. The company has introduced more than 1,300 flavors since 1945, including the 2019 addition of vegan and non-dairy flavors. The company has been headquartered in Canton, Massachusetts, since 2004 after moving from Randolph, Massachusetts.
Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by brothers-in-law Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins from the merging of their respective ice cream parlors, in Glendale, California.
Burt Baskin learnt about ice cream while he was in the military during World War II. He somehow obtained some equipment and started making ice cream for other soldiers. He even got a little experimental with it when he started using some tropical fruits. After the war he wanted to continue with his ice cream business so he opened up his own parlor in California.Irv Robbins had been in the ice cream business his entire life. When he was a teenager in 1930s his father had a store and he managed the ice cream counter that was contained inside of it. He too entered the military during World War II. As soon as he returned he used $6000 to open his own ice cream parlor in California.During his time in the military Burt Baskin married Shirley Robbins who was Irv Robbins’ sister making them brothers in law. In 1948 they decided to combine their company and call it Baskin Robbins.The Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlors started as separate ventures of Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins, who owned Burton’s Ice Cream Shop (opened in 1946) and Snowbird Ice Cream (opened in 1945), respectively. Snowbird Ice Cream offered 21 flavors, a novel concept at that time. When the separate companies merged in 1948, the number of flavors was expanded to 31 flavors.
