Burt "Butch" Baskin (December 17, 1913 December 24, 1967) was an American businessman who co-founded the

Baskin-Robbins Baskin-Robbins is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake speciality shops owned by Inspire Brands. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin (1913–1967) and Irv Robbins (1917–2008) in ...

ice cream parlor Ice cream parlors (American English) or ice cream parlours (British English) are places that sell ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and/or frozen yogurt to consumers. Ice cream is typically sold as regular ice cream (also called hard-packed or hard s ...

chain in 1946 with business partner and brother-in-law

Irv Robbins Irvine Robbins (December 6, 1917 – May 5, 2008) was a Canadian-born American businessman. He co-founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor chain in 1945 with his partner and brother-in-law Burt Baskin. Early life Robbins was born in Winnipeg ...

Early life

Burt Baskin was born in

Streator, Illinois Streator is a city in LaSalle and Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River approximately southwest of Chicago in the prairie and farm land of north-central Illinois. As of the 2020 censu ...

, on December 17, 1913, to Mr. and Mrs. Harry Baskin. His father was Harold Baskin, a Russian-Jewish immigrant who had arrived in the United States in 1925 and who owned a clothing store. He graduated from Streator Township High School in 1931 and from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

in 1935 and was a member of the

Zeta Beta Tau Zeta Beta Tau () is a Greek-letter social fraternity based in North America. It was founded on December 29, 1898. Originally a Zionist youth society, its purpose changed from Zionism in the fraternity's early years when in 1954 the fraternity be ...

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.

Business career

Burt Baskin owned a men's store in the

Palmer House The Palmer House – A Hilton Hotel is a historic hotel in Chicago's Loop area. It is a member of the Historic Hotels of America program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Palmer House was the city's first hotel with elevators ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and married

' sister Shirley in 1942. He had enlisted in the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

. He served with Patrol Wing 1 (Later renamed Fleet Air Wing 1) in

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Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

, in 1942–43, was released from service early in 1946 and came to California, where Robbins had been operating Snowbird Ice Cream in Glendale. Robbins convinced him that selling ice cream was more fun than selling men's ties and shirts, and within a couple of months he opened Burton's Ice Cream at 561 So. Lake in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

. 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 Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' 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 " franchising" was underway. In 1949, with more than 40 stores, Baskin and Robbins purchased their first dairy in Burbank, 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:

, 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 Company The United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) was an American multinational corporation that traded in tropical fruit (primarily bananas) grown on Latin American plantations and sold in the United States and Europe. The company was formed in 1899 fro ...

for an estimated $12 million in 1967. Robbins stayed involved with the company for 11 more years and retired in 1978. Twenty-five 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 and Irv first met in 1941 when Burt began dating Irv's sister, Shirley Robbins, whom he married in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

, in 1942. He served as a Lieutenant Commander of Naval Reserve in the South Pacific during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Burt and Shirley had two children: Edie and

Richard Baskin Aaron Richard Baskin (born December 1, 1948)''Harlan Daily Enterprise'"Actor's Songs Do Not Please Nashville Set"/ref> is an American film composer and producer, best known as the writer of several songs for the Robert Altman film ''Nashville'', a ...

. Baskin died from a heart attack at his home in

Studio City, California Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 192 ...

, on December 24, 1967, a week after his 54th birthday. He was interred at Home of Peace Cemetery.

References

External links

Baskin-Robbins website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baskin, Burt 1913 births 1967 deaths American food company founders United States Navy personnel of World War II American people of Russian-Jewish descent Fast-food chain founders People from Glendale, California Businesspeople from San Diego People from Streator, Illinois United States Navy officers University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni 20th-century American businesspeople People from Studio City, Los Angeles Burials at Home of Peace Cemetery Baskin-Robbins family Military personnel from California Military personnel from Illinois