Burt "Butch" Baskin (December 17, 1913 – December 24, 1967) co-founded the
Baskin-RobbinsBaskin-Robbins is a global chain of ice cream parlors founded by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in 1953, from the merging of their respective ice cream parlors, in Glendale, California. It claims to be the world's largest ice cream franchise, with more than 5,800 locations, 2,800 of which are located...
ice cream parlorIce cream parlors are places that sell ice cream and frozen yogurt to consumers. Ice cream is normally sold in two varieties in these stores: soft-serve ice cream , and hard-packed, which has an assortment of flavors, as well as frozen yogurt, which is a low-fat alternative and tastes slightly...
chain in 1946 with his partner and brother-in-law
Irv RobbinsIrvine "Irv" Robbins was a Canadian-American entrepreneur who co-founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor chain in 1945 with his partner and brother-in-law Burt Baskin.-Early life:...
.
Burt Baskin owned a men's store in the
Palmer HouseThe Palmer House Hilton is a famous and historic hotel in downtown Chicago.-History:There have been three Palmer House Hotels at the corner of State and Monroe Streets in Chicago. The first was built as a wedding present from Potter Palmer to his bride Bertha Honoré...
in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
, and married Irv Robbins' sister Shirley in 1942. He had enlisted in the
NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
and was released from service early 1946 and came to California, where Robbins had been operating Snowbird Ice Cream in
GlendaleGlendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It lies at the eastern end of the San Fernando Valley, is bisected by the Verdugo Mountains, and is a suburb in the Greater Los Angeles Area...
.
Burt "Butch" Baskin (December 17, 1913 – December 24, 1967) co-founded the
Baskin-RobbinsBaskin-Robbins is a global chain of ice cream parlors founded by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in 1953, from the merging of their respective ice cream parlors, in Glendale, California. It claims to be the world's largest ice cream franchise, with more than 5,800 locations, 2,800 of which are located...
ice cream parlorIce cream parlors are places that sell ice cream and frozen yogurt to consumers. Ice cream is normally sold in two varieties in these stores: soft-serve ice cream , and hard-packed, which has an assortment of flavors, as well as frozen yogurt, which is a low-fat alternative and tastes slightly...
chain in 1946 with his partner and brother-in-law
Irv RobbinsIrvine "Irv" Robbins was a Canadian-American entrepreneur who co-founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor chain in 1945 with his partner and brother-in-law Burt Baskin.-Early life:...
.
Business career
Burt Baskin owned a men's store in the
Palmer HouseThe Palmer House Hilton is a famous and historic hotel in downtown Chicago.-History:There have been three Palmer House Hotels at the corner of State and Monroe Streets in Chicago. The first was built as a wedding present from Potter Palmer to his bride Bertha Honoré...
in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
, and married Irv Robbins' sister Shirley in 1942. He had enlisted in the
NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
and was released from service early 1946 and came to California, where Robbins had been operating Snowbird Ice Cream in
GlendaleGlendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It lies at the eastern end of the San Fernando Valley, is bisected by the Verdugo Mountains, and is a suburb in the Greater Los Angeles Area...
. Robbins convinced him that selling ice cream was more fun than selling men's ties & shirts, and within a couple of months he opened Burton's Ice Cream at 561 So. Lake
Pasadena, CaliforniaPasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States; and is a satellite city of Los Angeles. Famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and the Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home of many leading scientific and cultural institutions, including the...
.
By 1948, the five Snowbird and three Burton's shops had been combined into a single enterprise, and they had devised their 31st flavor—Chocolate Mint. The partners came to the conclusion that because of the new stores they had opened, they were devoting less and less time to each individual store. "That's when we hit on selling our stores to our managers," Robbins said in the 1985
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California since 1881. It is distributed throughout the Western United States. It is the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States and the fourth-most widely distributed newspaper in the United States...
story. "Without realizing it at the time, we were in the franchise business before the word 'franchise' was fashionable. We opened another store and another and another. . . ." They made an agreement with the new store owners, which became "franchise agreements" and they became the first food company ever to franchise their outlets. The idea took hold in other retail establishments, and the age of "
franchisingFranchising is the practice of using another person's business model. The franchisor grants the independent operator the right to distribute its products, techniques, and trademarks for a percentage of gross monthly sales and a royalty fee...
" was underway.
In 1949, with more than 40 stores, Baskin and Robbins purchased their first dairy in
BurbankBurbank is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The estimated population in 2007 was 107,921.Burbank is located in two distinct areas, with its downtown, civic center and key neighborhoods nestled on the slopes and foothills that rise to the Verdugo Mountains, and other areas...
, allowing them "to have complete control over the production of their ice cream, and the development of new ingredients and flavors."
In 1953, they decided to unite Snowbird and Burton's under one name:
Baskin-RobbinsBaskin-Robbins is a global chain of ice cream parlors founded by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in 1953, from the merging of their respective ice cream parlors, in Glendale, California. It claims to be the world's largest ice cream franchise, with more than 5,800 locations, 2,800 of which are located...
, deciding the order of their names with a coin toss. The "31 flavors" concept was introduced that same year to bring attention to a deep menu that featured a flavor for every day of the month.
The company had 43 stores by the end of 1949, more than 100 by 1960 and about 500 when the ice cream empire was sold to
United Fruit CompanyThe United Fruit Company was a United States corporation that traded in tropical fruit grown in Third World plantations and sold in the United States and Europe. The company was formed in 1899 from the merger of Minor C. Keith's banana-trading concerns with Andrew W. Preston's Boston Fruit Company...
for an estimated $12 million in 1967. Six months later, Burt Baskin died of a
heart attackMyocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, is the interruption of blood supply to part of the heart, causing some heart cells to die...
at 54. Robbins stayed involved with the company for 11 more years and retired in 1978 25 years later Baskin-Robbins had become the world's largest chain of ice cream stores, with 5,500 outlets around the world.
Personal life
Burt Baskin was born in
Streator, IllinoisStreator is a city in LaSalle and partially in Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River approximately southwest of Chicago, Illinois in the prairie and farm land of north-central Illinois. According to the 2000 U.S. census the population of...
on December 17, 1913, to Mr. and Mrs. Harry Baskin. He graduated from Streator High School in 1931 and from the University of Illinois in 1935 and was a member of the
Zeta Beta TauZeta Beta Tau is a historically Jewish, presently nonsectarian international fraternity. Today the merged Zeta Beta Tau Brotherhood numbers over 130,000 initiated Brothers, and over 80 student chapter locations...
fraternity. Harry Baskin had immigrated from Russia about 1925, married in about 1902 and moved to Streator in 1905 or before. The Baskin family operated a clothing store in Streator until Harry retired in 1942. His family was already famous for blood pudding.
Burt and Irv first met in 1941 when Burt began courting Irv's sister, Shirley Robbins, whom he married in
Tacoma, WashingtonTacoma is a mid-sized urban port city in and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park...
in 1942. He served in South Pacific as a Lieutenant Commander of Naval Reserve in the
South PacificOceania is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The term "Oceania" was coined in 1831 by French explorer Dumont d'Urville...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Burt and Shirley had two children: Edie and Richard.
Baskin died of a heart attack at his home in Studio City, California on December 24, 1967.
His interment was located at
Home of Peace CemeteryThe Home of Peace Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located at 4334 Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles, California. There are a number of famous rabbis buried there, and, amongst others, a few celebrities from the entertainment industry are interred here:...
.