Challenge of The Mind

Luis Acevedo

Mr. Skipper

Encounters 7th

March 6, 2022

Baskin-Robbins

Introduction 

Burt Baskin was a very good businessman alongside his partner Irv Robbins and together they made a well-known ice cream franchise known today as Baskin Robbins. they're famously known for having their slogan of 31 flavors. In reality, they have over 1,300 unique flavors of ice cream (Emma Roberts) but their slogan is that you can have a different flavor, one for each day of the month but is there more? behind the creators or the flavor maybe even the whole entire franchise. Baskin-Robbins is the largest chain of ice cream specialty stores in the world. Since their humble beginnings in 1945, they’ve expanded to over 2,800 locations throughout the United States (Emma Roberts). Baskin-Robbins is now known as one of the biggest ice cream chains worldwide where is over 2000 locations in the United States and 5800 worldwide they also have 1000 or more different flavors of ice cream not to mention many people forget that Burt Baskins and Irv Robbins believed that you should have a sample of a flavor until you find the flavor that you want they also have some classic flavors like mint chocolate chip or cookies and cream.

Early life

There are a lot of mysteries behind the story of the creators of Baskin-Robbins. For example, why did they start separately and then combine to make one big business also how they were brothers-in-law Irv Robbins went to serve in the military after. Returning from his time in the military he needed a way to provide for his family which was his wife and his son. He wanted to start in the family business so he found a nice rental building in California where he started an ice cream shop. A little bit later he found himself with Burt Baskins. The man who would become a king of ice cream began his career selling men’s fashions in a small shop in Chicago with his father, but life took an unexpectedly sweet turn for Baskin in 1941 when he started dating Shirley Robbins Not only did Baskin meet his future wife, he also met his future business partner, Shirley’s brother Irv Robbins. Irv was starting out in the family business, ice cream, having opened his own shop in Glendale, Calif., in 1945. In 1948 they merged into the enterprise that would become the giant we now know as Baskin-Robbins (More Than the Flavor of the Week).

Beginning of Career

Irv Robbin didn't start off owning a really big company he work a different ice cream shop and he would stay up late after hours and that small business and started mixing different candies or fruit into the ice cream mix to create exotic new flavors. The way he wanted to advertise it at first didn't work out as well he would go around different retail stores and put up posters to come to try his new exotic flavors but it didn't take even a couple of fo hours or at the most days so that, somebody else would come and take those posters down after putting up flyers and posters in the different retail stores he got moderate success. At the beginning of World War II Irv Robbin went to fight in the military there he decided that he was going to open his own ice cream shop(Emma Roberts) so when he got back home he had to provide for his family which consisted of his wife and his first kid he wanted to open up an ice cream shop but he didn't have any luck finding a store it wasn't until he went to Los Angeles where he found a store that was for rent there was in the perfect location for an ice cream parlor. So with $3,000 he'd saved from his military pay and another $3,000 from an insurance policy, he opened his first store-SnowBird-on December 7, 1945 (Entrepreneur). People ran to his new store to try all of the different and exotic flavors of his 21 flavors of ice cream. After seeing the success Irv Robbin decided to open up two new stores and eventually with his cousin Bert Baskin. 

Significant Accomplishments

Baskin-Robbins was at its time the most successful ice cream business in the world. Ice cream was thought of as a dessert item that you would get at a restaurant but Burt Baskins and Irv Robbins did not see it that way. They built up the biggest ice cream shop together. One of the ways that Baskin-Robbins was very successful was by the two creators starting separately and later joining forces. They did this because they wanted to get their own ideas of how a business should be run. Then they can both bring them together and work as one. Together, Burt and Irv revolutionized the way Americans thought about and consumed ice cream, thanks to three key innovations (More Than the Flavor of the Week). First, they just sold ice cream to create a familiar environment. Then they created all of the variety of flavors to make the customers feel more welcomed and like they have more options for ice cream. they became a very big company and people to look up to if you were just starting off the small business. They had success because people saw it as something new and fun. Their third innovation was franchising. “The first franchise restaurant in America opened in the 1850s, so the concept was not completely new, but Baskin-Robbins turned franchising into something better. By providing a standard product from a central location to all of their restaurants. The standardized product meant you knew exactly what you were getting, no matter where you got it.” (Burt Baskin). And that's how Baskin-Robbins became the biggest ice cream franchise in its time afterward. A couple of years later they sold their company but then the name Baskin-Robbins is the title of all of the shops and they made a legacy for themselves.

Impact on the World

Baskin-Robbins became a well-known ice cream franchise because of their accomplishments and what they did to the ice cream industry. Many people thought of ice cream as something you would get after eating at a parlor or a restaurant. It was considered a dessert but the creators of Baskin-Robbins did not see it that way. They teamed up and made the best-known ice cream shops in the world. The people would have never thought something that was a dessert would be able to be bought and a high-quality standard such as Baskin-Robbins. The revolutionary ice cream industry, although the two creators started separately, ̈Eventually combined and made what is now known today as one of the biggest ice cream parlors in the world.¨But perhaps their most important innovation was their dedication to differentiation. In other words, Baskin-Robbins has a lot of flavors(Burt Baskin). In his later years, Irv Robbins had a son. Irv Robbins said that when he grows up he would be to the air ice cream Empire but this didn't go as planned his son learned more about dairy farms and how they treat the cows he became vegan and refused to take over his dad's business. With no heir to the ice cream cone throne, his father was forced to sell the company to an outside buyer, United Fruit (Scott. Jessica). Ever since 1970 Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins had no longer owned Baskin-Robbins. United fruits have taken Baskin-Robbins to the place and that it is now. Most of the reasons Baskin-Robbins is really well-known today is because of United fruits. The true owners started gaining popularity and made a well-known business throughout the United States and different parts of the world. United Fruit took Baskin-Robbins worldwide and made it well-known to every single household that it was the best ice cream shop that you could go to.

Conclusion

To top it all off Baskin-Robbins although having two different creators both had a pretty good understanding of each other's achievements. Having its ups and downs, Baskin-Robbins have been through a lot of different changes and now it has grown to be one of the biggest ice cream parlors in the whole world. Some people would say it's the best ice cream shop in the world and apart from its 31 flavors and many others or special things they do on certain days for example on your birthday you get free ice cream at Baskin Robbins the most successful ice cream parlor and well known in the world. The story of Baskin-Robbins is truly an amazing one. From their early lives, all the way to that end Burnt Baskins and Irv Robin have created an amazing company together and it has gone to become one of the biggest worldwide.

Works Cited

“Burton Baskin & Irvine Robbins.” Entrepreneur, 10 Oct 2008, www.entrepreneur.com/article/197604, 6/12/21.

”Burt Baskin: More Than the Flavor of the Week.” legacy, 17 December 2013, www.legacy.com, Accessed on 16/11/21.

“Burton Baskin & Irvine Robbins.” Entrepreneur, 10 Oct. 2008,                 www.entrepreneur.com/article/197604, Accessed. 6 Dec. 2021.

Scott Jessica. ”The Untold Truth Of Baskin-Robbins” Mashed, Dec. 2019, www.mashed.com/177683/, 18 Nov. 2021