In the 1940s most American ice cream came in vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. Irv Robbins learned the trade as a teenager in his father’s shop in Washington state, while his future brother-in-law Burt Baskin made ice cream for fellow Navy men in the Pacific during World War II. In 1945 Robbins opened Snowbird Ice Cream in Glendale, California, offering 21 flavors, and in 1946 Baskin opened Burton’s Ice Cream Shop in Pasadena. They combined operations, growing to six stores by 1948 and more than 40 by 1949, when, as Huntington Ice Cream Company, they bought a dairy in Burbank so they could develop unusual flavors without relying on a supplier.
In 1953 the Carson Roberts advertising agency urged them to unite under one name, a coin toss put Baskin first, and the 31 concept promised a flavor for every day of the longest months. Early flavors included black walnut, coffee candy and chocolate mint. Stores had pink and brown polka dots, offered free samples on a tiny pink spoon, and discouraged sitting so lines kept moving. Franchising spread the format in the 1960s, the name became Baskin-Robbins Inc. in 1962, and in 1967 the partners sold to United Fruit Company for an estimated $12 million.
- Burt Baskin died of a heart attack in 1967, the year of the sale, at age 54.
- Irv Robbins lived until 2008, dying at 90, and saw the chain spread to cities such as Tokyo, Riyadh, Seoul and Sydney.
- Baskin-Robbins now has more than 7,800 stores worldwide.
- Removing seating was a deliberate break from the slow 1930s and 1940s soda fountain model.
- Former counter workers include a teenage Barack Obama and Oscar-winning director Chris Buck.
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