It’s a brand that’s deliciously familiar to baby boomers. Too bad their kids don’t seem to care.
Baskin-Robbins, a long-time synonym for takeout ice cream, has watched its U.S. market share melt as a generation picked up a taste for café lattes. Now, the company is retooling itself to win a younger generation with new drinks and other ice cream concoctions. It’s redesigning its stores to add a shot of entertainment, with a server preparing customized sundaes and milkshakes at a counter bar as customers watch the show.
“We are trying to bring in the younger kids as well, because they are going to be the future clientele for us 10 to 20 years from now,” says Michael Gooding, the chain’s Canadian franchise manager. “We need to start attracting them. We’re trying to make Baskin-Robbins more of a hangout.”
It was time for an update. The chain has continued to trumpet 31 ice cream flavours, even when touting a wide array of options no longer gave it an edge. While Baskin-Robbins was an innovator in introducing multiple flavours when it was founded more than 60 years ago, it’s now old hat in the industry.
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