Post by Scoop on May 7, 2008 18:51:21 GMT -5
As published in the International Herald Tribune
www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/07/america/obits.php
Irvine Robbins, co-founder of ice cream chain, dies at 90
By Dennis Hevesi
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
OBITUARY
Irvine Robbins, who with his brother-in-law, Burton Baskin, started the global Baskin-Robbins chain of ice cream stores - together concocting quirky flavor combinations with names like Daiquiri Ice, Pink Bubblegum and Here Comes the Fudge - died Monday in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 90.
He died of natural causes, said his daughter, Marsha Veit.
The company name could have been Robbins-Baskin. Although it was Robbins who opened the first store, in Glendale, California, on Dec. 7, 1945, and it was three years more before he and Baskin became partners, they took a carefully familial approach to deciding who would come first in the name of what eventually became a vast international enterprise: They flipped a coin.
"They worked closely on everything," Veit said. "They would come up with ideas for flavors based on what was happening at the time."
The company's famous "31 flavors" (essentially one for each day of the month, but actually 34 when chocolate, vanilla and strawberry were included) have varied, numbering more than 1,000 over the years, according to its Web site.
One day in 1964, Veit said, he received a phone call from a reporter for The New York Post, asking what flavor Baskin-Robbins was planning to introduce to celebrate the Beatles' arrival for their appearance on Ed Sullivan's television show. Caught unaware, he came up with Beatlenut, and then scrambled to find a flavor with nuts in it to match. Two days later, it was in all the company's stores. By then, there were about 650 Baskin-Robbins stores.
In a 1976 interview in The New York Times, in which he said he ate three or four scoops a day, Robbins said that Americans had become adventurous in their ice cream choices. "They're not embarrassed to ask for some of these wild flavors," he said. "I think we've had a little bit to do with making it more acceptable."
At the time, Robbins was still chairman of Baskin-Robbins, although the company had been sold to United Fruit in 1967, the year Baskin died. When Robbins retired in 1978, the chain had more than 1,600 stores in the United States, Canada, Japan and Belgium. Baskin-Robbins is now part of Dunkin' Brands, with 5,800 stores in 34 countries.
"We were in the franchising business before the word was popular," Robbins said.
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Dec. 6, 1917, Robbins was the son of Aaron and Goldie Chmelnitsky Robbins, immigrants from Poland and Russia.
As a teenager, Robbins worked at a retail store connected to a dairy. He soon realized that he could double or triple sales with playful labeling: "Super Banana Treat" replaced a sign that said "three scoops of ice cream, a slice of banana, two kinds of toppings."
www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/07/america/obits.php
Irvine Robbins, co-founder of ice cream chain, dies at 90
By Dennis Hevesi
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
OBITUARY
Irvine Robbins, who with his brother-in-law, Burton Baskin, started the global Baskin-Robbins chain of ice cream stores - together concocting quirky flavor combinations with names like Daiquiri Ice, Pink Bubblegum and Here Comes the Fudge - died Monday in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 90.
He died of natural causes, said his daughter, Marsha Veit.
The company name could have been Robbins-Baskin. Although it was Robbins who opened the first store, in Glendale, California, on Dec. 7, 1945, and it was three years more before he and Baskin became partners, they took a carefully familial approach to deciding who would come first in the name of what eventually became a vast international enterprise: They flipped a coin.
"They worked closely on everything," Veit said. "They would come up with ideas for flavors based on what was happening at the time."
The company's famous "31 flavors" (essentially one for each day of the month, but actually 34 when chocolate, vanilla and strawberry were included) have varied, numbering more than 1,000 over the years, according to its Web site.
One day in 1964, Veit said, he received a phone call from a reporter for The New York Post, asking what flavor Baskin-Robbins was planning to introduce to celebrate the Beatles' arrival for their appearance on Ed Sullivan's television show. Caught unaware, he came up with Beatlenut, and then scrambled to find a flavor with nuts in it to match. Two days later, it was in all the company's stores. By then, there were about 650 Baskin-Robbins stores.
In a 1976 interview in The New York Times, in which he said he ate three or four scoops a day, Robbins said that Americans had become adventurous in their ice cream choices. "They're not embarrassed to ask for some of these wild flavors," he said. "I think we've had a little bit to do with making it more acceptable."
At the time, Robbins was still chairman of Baskin-Robbins, although the company had been sold to United Fruit in 1967, the year Baskin died. When Robbins retired in 1978, the chain had more than 1,600 stores in the United States, Canada, Japan and Belgium. Baskin-Robbins is now part of Dunkin' Brands, with 5,800 stores in 34 countries.
"We were in the franchising business before the word was popular," Robbins said.
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Dec. 6, 1917, Robbins was the son of Aaron and Goldie Chmelnitsky Robbins, immigrants from Poland and Russia.
As a teenager, Robbins worked at a retail store connected to a dairy. He soon realized that he could double or triple sales with playful labeling: "Super Banana Treat" replaced a sign that said "three scoops of ice cream, a slice of banana, two kinds of toppings."