77 year old ice cream chain is getting makeover
Baskin-Robbins is making some changes.
The 77-year-old ice cream shop is changing its logo, staff uniforms and packaging to update the brand. According to the company, this is the first major update for Baskin-Robbins since 2006. It will also sell merchandise including bikes and bucket hats from a dedicated online store for the first time. And Baskin-Robbins will unveil new flavors as part of the refresh.
For years, the Baskin-Robbins logo has been pink and blue. The words “BR” and “Baskin Robbins” were printed in a blocky, childish font.
The playful font that is gone in the new logo has been replaced by a crisper version. The new branding comes in gray and pink, gray and blue, and pink and white.
In other words, the new Baskin-Robbins have grown up. It’s been a long time since the makeover.
“When we really think about the journey … it started four years ago,” said Baskin-Robbins president Jason Maceda. This included “really listening to our guests”.
Baskin-Robbins’ leadership team heard that some customers feel very attached to the brand, which they associate with childhood visits with parents or grandparents. But he also heard that there were “some opportunities to be more relevant”, Maceda said.
It’s important for brands like Baskin-Robbins to gain traction with younger consumers—not just people who remember it from their youth—so they have new customers coming in.
The company’s leadership is addressing the feedback in a few ways. In late 2018, for example, Baskin-Robbins introduced a new layout and design for some stores. These so-called “Moments” stores have more modern designs, digital menu boards, more ice cream display cases and more toppings and offerings.
As of now, there are about 70 of these stores altogether, Maceda said. This is still only a small part of the more than 7,700 Baskin-Robbins stores open globally.
While the rollout of “Moments Stores” slowed during the pandemic, Maceda said, he is “excited to be going again.”
Still, the pandemic was good for ice cream sales. Baskin-Robbins was taken private in 2020 and does not publicly disclose sales figures. But Maceda said sales grew 3.5% in 2020 and 10.9% last year. Overall, ice cream sales at US scoop shops grew 4.4% from 2019 to 2021, according to Euromonitor International.
To help keep that momentum going, Baskin-Robbins hopes to make a splash with its new looks, flavors, and merchandise.
Bike, Bucket Hat and Ube Ice Cream
The new branding draws on the company’s history, noted Jarid Grandinetti, Vice President of Marketing and Cooking at Baskin-Robbins.
Brothers-in-law Irwin “Irv” Robbins and Burton “Burt” Baskin founded the ice cream company in 1945. But they didn’t brand it as “Beskin-Robbins Ice Cream” until 1953.
“The original ad campaign in 1953 was built around circus iconography,” Grandinetti said. That campaign used pink and brown that Baskin-Robbins is reviving today.
This was also the year that Baskin-Robbins introduced the idea of 31 flavors for each day of the month. Both the new and old logos have the “31” hidden between the B and R when the letters are put together.
Today, Baskin-Robbins has hundreds of flavors in its portfolio. But there is still room in it.
Part of the refresh includes three new limited-time flavors: one is non-dairy mint chocochunk, the other is completely unwrapped, called Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice Cream, Caramel Swirl, Fudge Covered Pretzels, and Fudge and Caramel Covered Peanuts. has been created with. Grandinetti refers to that one as a “deconstructed candy bar.”
The third flavor, Ube Coconut Swirl, is made with ube-flavored swirls of coconut and ube (a purple yam commonly used in Filipino desserts) ice cream.
Totally unwrapped is April flavor of the month, while the other two will be available through spring, and may last longer depending on customer feedback.
Apart from the new flavors and its new look, the company is also bringing some swag which includes branded scrubs, sweatshirts, bucket hats and even cycles.
Bike swag might seem like an odd choice for an ice cream company. But the brand’s new tagline, “See the Yeh,” is all about celebrating the small, happy moments. And nothing says “yay” like a ride on an ice cream themed bike.
“We want to make sure we celebrate with our guests,” Grandinetti said. “What better way to do this than with some fun esoteric” items, like a bicycle, as well as clothing that can be “part of their everyday lifestyle.”
The 77-year-old ice cream chain is getting a makeover that first appeared on CNN.
