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Fun Facts

You might know a lot about ice cream, but here are some things you might not know about
Baskin-Robbins®.

star There are more than 5,800 Baskin-Robbins locations around the world, with more than 2,700
nationwide.
   
star Baskin-Robbins international locations feature flavors of ice cream popular to the tastes of each country, such as Red Bean and Green Tea.
   
star Japan has the most Baskin-Robbins locations—over 850—outside the United States.
   
31 - derful flavors as seen in esquire
star Baskin-Robbins "31®" was created to represent a different ice cream flavor for each day of the month. The “31 Flavors” concept was introduced into marketing efforts in 1953.
   
star Today Baskin-Robbins® colors are pink and blue, but the original colors were brown (representing chocolate) and pink (representing cherry), and our famous polka dots represented circus balloons.
   
star The company founders, Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins, were brothers-in-law. Burt married Irv’s sister Shirley in 1942.
star Both Burt and Irv served during World War II. Burt was a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy serving in the South Pacific. Irv was a Staff Sergeant in the Army, stationed in California.
   
star Burt owned a 1931 Rolls Royce Phantom II, the world’s first 100 mph passenger car.
   
star Burt Baskin once met a man who told him, “Whoever thinks of all these flavors must be plumb nuts!” “Congratulations,” said Mr. Baskin. “You just invented a new flavor: Plum Nuts.”
   
star At the height of Beatlemania, just before the Beatles' first U.S. tour, a reporter from The Washington Post called Irv Robbins and asked what new flavor would honor the Beatles. The truth was, Baskin-Robbins had not invented a Beatles flavor. Caught unprepared, Mr. Robbins replied, "Uh, Beatle Nut, of course." It was created, manufactured and delivered in just five days.
pralines'ncream ice cream
star Following a trip to New Orleans, Irv and Irma Robbins were enjoying some souvenir pralines at home when inspiration hit. They rushed to the kitchen, mixed the pralines with Vanilla ice cream and a caramel ribbon—and Pralines ‘n Cream was born. It was such a hit that stores all over the country began running out. Advice columnist Dear Abby pleaded in print for its return. Headquarters received petitions with hundreds of signatures. And in Santa Barbara, students picketed local stores until Baskin-Robbins delivered a special production run of the flavor. It has been a permanent flavor ever since.
star Irv originally wanted to open his first Snowbird store in the San Francisco Bay Area. On a trip to Los Angeles to talk with suppliers, he noticed a “For Rent” sign in a store window down the street from the Forest Lawn Cemetery. That store became the first Snowbird store, and then the first Baskin-Robbins store.
   
star Ernie Robbins, Irv’s father, convinced Burt and Irv to first open separate stores rather than go into partnership together, so they could each experience what it was like to make their own decisions. That decision lead to Irv opening Snowbird and Burt opening Burton’s.
Baskin - Robbins chocolate mint ice cream
star The top 5 selling Baskin-Robbins ice cream flavors are Vanilla, Chocolate, Mint Chocolate Chip, Pralines 'n Cream and Chocolate Chip.
   
star Jamoca® Almond Fudge was first developed to be made from coffee brewed on the premises of each of the fifteen
manufacturing facilities.
   
star All Baskin-Robbins chocolate ice creams originally were comprised of an exclusive blend of three cocoas.
star The creation of Very Berry Strawberry ice cream was initially created with a special strawberry created and grown exclusively for Baskin-Robbins.
   
star Since 1945, we’ve created more than 1,000 unique and delicious ice cream flavors.
   
star Throughout the years, we’ve honored important American events and cultural trends by introducing premium ice cream flavors, such as Lunar Cheesecake, Sesame Sweet, Beatle Nut and Green Monster Mint.
   
star In 1976, during America’s 200th Birthday Celebration (and Baskin-Robbins’ 31st birthday), President Ford enjoyed a quart of Valley Forge Fudge created just for the occasion.
   
star “Here Comes the Fudge” ice cream was named after a popular segment on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In TV show.
   
star Baseball Nut™ commemorated the Dodgers move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958.
   
star “Astronut” and “Lunar Cheesecake” were named in honor of the NASA space missions that took place in the 1960s, but were only introduced after the astronauts came home safely.
   
star One of Baskin-Robbins’ most popular flavors was actually created by comedian Steve Allen. “Steverino” Ice Cream was invented as a gag for the Steve Allen Show, but proved to be very popular in stores. It was loaded with fresh fruits, nuts and Fern Candy. In the first month it was offered, Steverino Ice Cream sold over 1 million scoops, a new volume record for the industry.
star Gold Medal Ribbon® was introduced for the 1980 Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid, NY.
   
star Baskin-Robbins franchisee, Mitch Cohen of New York, currently holds the Guinness World Record for scooping 19 ice cream cones in one minute.
   
star On May 18, 2000, Baskin-Robbins achieved the Guinness World Record for the “World’s Largest Ice Cream Scoop Pyramid” by using 3,100 scoops of ice cream.
   
star The Guinness World Record for the largest cup of ice cream is currently held by Baskin-Robbins. Created on September 13, 2005 in celebration of the company’s 60th birthday, the enormous scoop of vanilla ice cream weighed in at 8,865 pounds!
spacer
french vanilla ice cream
   
star Howard Hughes once became quite fond of Baskin-Robbins Banana Nut ice cream, so his aides tried to purchase a bulk shipment for him. Sadly, they discovered the flavor had been discontinued. They put in a request for the smallest amount the company could provide for a special order, 350 gallons (1,300 Liters). It was shipped from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, where Hughes lived at the time on the top floor of the Desert Inn. That’s the hotel he bought after they tried to evict him. A few days after the order arrived, Hughes announced he was tired of Banana Nut and only wanted French Vanilla ice cream. The Desert Inn ended up distributing free Banana Nut ice cream to casino customers for a full year until the 350 gallons were gone.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hughes)
star The favorite Baskin-Robbins® flavor of Bing Crosby and Justin Timberlake was, and is, Daiquiri Ice.
   
star Famous former Baskin-Robbins scoopers include presidential candidate and Illinois Senator Barack Obama, TV hosts Leeza Gibbons and Rosie O’Donnell, Chef Bobby Flay, actresses Julia Roberts, Taryn Manning and Chandra Wilson, actors Eric Dane and Randy Quaid and New York Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes.
   
star Sean “Diddy” Combs got his first break by starring in a Baskin-Robbins® commercial at the age of two.
* The trademarks mentioned herein are held by their respective owners and no association or sponsorship with Baskin-Robbins is intended.