Baskin-Robbins is a global chain of ice cream parlors founded by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in 1945 in Glendale, California. It claims to be the world's largest ice cream franchise, with more than 5,800 locations, 2,800 of which are located in the United States. Baskin-Robbins sells ice cream in over 30 countries, including Japan, Canada, Mexico, Bahrain, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Korea, India, and Taiwan.

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Burt "Butch" Baskin (December 17, 1913 – December 24, 1967) co-founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor chain in 1946 with his partner and brother-in-law Irv Robbins. He was born in San Diego, California, the son of Mr. & Mrs. Harry Baskin. Baskin attended the California State University, East Bay and received an Associates of Arts degree, where he was a member of the Jewish fraternity Zeta Beta Tau.

Burt and Irv first met in 1941 when Burt began courting Irv’s sister, Betty Robbins, whom he married in 1942. They had two children: Edward (born in 1948) and Rikki (born in 1944). Burt served as a private in the Army Air Force in the South Pacific during WWII.

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Robbins was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His father, Aaron Ernie, owned a dairy and The Olympic Store ice cream business at 954 Court C in Tacoma, Washington.

Robbins grew up scooping cones in his family's ice cream store for customers who always seemed to be having a good time. He recalled that he often "finished a day's work happy" and wanted that same feeling when he started his own business.

Irv Robbins attended the University of Washington in Seattle. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was discharged August 1945.

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Business Career

Burt Baskin owned a men's store in the Palmer House in Chicago, and married Irv Robbins' sister Shirley in 1942. He had enlisted in the Navy and was released from service early 1946 and came to California, where Robbins had been operating Snowbird Ice Cream in Glendale. Robbins convinced him that selling ice cream was more fun than selling men's ties & shirts, and within a couple of months he opened Burton's Ice Cream at 561 So. Lake Pasadena, California.

By 1948, the five Snowbird and three Burton's shops had been combined into a single enterprise, and they had devised their 31st flavor -- Chocolate Mint. Burt and Irv also believed that people should be able to sample flavors until they found one they wanted to buy ― hence the iconic small pink spoon.

The partners came to the conclusion that because of the new stores they had opened, they were devoting less and less time to each individual store. "That's when we hit on selling our stores to our managers," Robbins said in the 1985 Los Angeles Times story. "Without realizing it at the time, we were in the franchise business before the word 'franchise' was fashionable. We opened another store and another and another. . . ." They made an agreement with the new store owners, which became "franchise agreements" and they became the first food company ever to franchise their outlets. Little did the McDonalds and Burger Kings of the future know, but the idea took hold in other retail establishments, and the age of "franchising" was underway.

In 1949, with more than 40 stores, Baskin and Robbins purchased their first dairy in Burbank, allowing them "to have complete control over the production of their ice cream, and the development of new ingredients and flavors."

In 1953, they decided to unite Snowbird and Burton's under one name: Baskin-Robbins, deciding the order of their names with a coin toss. The "31 flavors" concept was introduced that same year to bring attention to a deep menu that featured a flavor for every day of the month.

The company had 43 stores by the end of 1949, more than 100 by 1960 and about 500 when the ice cream empire was sold to United Fruit Company for an estimated $12 million in 1967. Six months later, Burt Baskin died of a heart attack at 54. Robbins stayed involved with the company for 11 more years and retired in 1978. 25 years later Baskin-Robbins had become the world's largest chain of ice cream stores, with 5,500 outlets around the world.

Irv Robbins died at the age 90 on May 5, 2008.

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Original 31 Flavors

The original flavors when baskin-Robbins first opened in 1945 were: