May 6, 2008 12:14 pm US/Pacific
Baskin-Robbins Co-Founder Dies At 90
Irvine Robbins, co-founder of the Baskin-Robbins chain that famously offers 31 flavors of ice cream, has died. He was 90.
Robbins died Monday at his home in the desert community of Rancho Mirage, said his daughter, Marsha Veit of Mount Kisco, N.Y. He had been in ill health for some time, she said.
Generations of kids trooped to Baskin-Robbins stores to buy ice cream flavors like Pralines 'n Cream, Daiquiri Ice and Pink Bubblegum.
Robbins was born on Dec. 6, 1917, in Winnipeg, Canada. His father, a traveling salesman, later owned a dairy in Tacoma, Wash.
Robbins caught the ice cream bug as a youngster working in a store that sold ice cream and cottage cheese made from the dairy's surplus milk.
"He noticed that when people went into the ice cream store, they turned happy," Veit said. "They bought a cone and got a smile on their face."
Robbins opened his first ice cream store in Glendale, Calif., on Dec. 7, 1945, following his discharge from the Army. He used $6,000 from a cashed-in insurance policy his father had given him for his bar mitzvah.
Robbins offered 21 flavors at the store.
"In light of what Baskin-Robbins was to become, that first store was incredibly amateurish," according to a biography written by Veit. "It was called 'Snowbird' because Robbins couldn't think of anything else. The opening was delayed for a day because the paint on the floor hadn't dried."
His cousin Sybil Hartfield bought $39 of the first day's sales of $53, according to the biography.
His brother-in-law, the late Burton Baskin, opened his own ice cream store in neighboring Pasadena a year later.
By 1948, Baskin and Robbins had six stores. A year later, they had more than 40, and together they bought a production facility in Burbank.
Eventually, they joined forces to create Baskin-Robbins. They also decided to sell their stores to managers, pioneering the franchise concept for ice cream stores.
As corporate policy, employees were allowed to eat all the ice cream they wanted.
"I don't want my employees stealing," Robbins said.
While the company advertised that it offered 31 flavors, in fact it has created more than 1,000 flavors, according to its Web site.
Some were short-lived and created to mark specific events, such as Lunar Cheesecake for the moon landings and Valley Forge Fudge for the 1976 bicentennial.
When the Beatles were to arrive in the United States in 1964, a reporter called to ask whether Baskin-Robbins was going to commemorate the event with a new flavor.
Robbins didn't have a flavor planned but quickly replied, "Uh, Beatle Nut, of course."
The flavor was created, manufactured and delivered in just five days, according to the Web site.
Robbins was dedicated to upholding the quality of his ice cream regardless of the cost, his daughter said.
Baskin-Robbins was sold to United Fruit Co. in 1967, and Robbins continued to work for the company until retiring in the 1970s.
Today, Baskin-Robbins is part of Dunkin' Brands Inc. and has more than 5,800 franchises worldwide.
In addition to his daughter, Robbins is survived by his wife, Irma; a daughter, Erin Robbins of Grass Valley, Calif.; a son, John Robbins, of Soquel, Calif.; sisters Shirley Familian and Elka Weiner, both of Los Angeles; five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
