Throughout the 1940s in
Southern California, Americans
Burt Baskin and
Irv Robbins independently opened shops selling
ice cream. The pair were brothers-in-law, and both had experience working with ice cream: Robbins's father owned an ice cream shop where Robbins worked as a teenager, and Baskin had made ice cream for fellow navymen in
World War II. In America at the time, consumers were very attached to three ice-cream flavors: chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, despite the efforts of another businessman,
Howard Johnson. The "31" referenced the amount of flavors, chosen to permit the customer a new flavor each day of the month; some of these original flavors included
Chocolate Mint, Black Walnut and
Coffee Candy. As they expanded, the pair began franchising their stores. In 1972, the company went public when United Brands sold 17% in an
initial public offering. The next year,
J. Lyons and Co. purchased Baskin-Robbins and all public stock. The firm then merged with
Allied Breweries, becoming Allied-Lyons in 1978. In 1994, Allied-Lyons merged with Pedro Domecq S.A, becoming
Allied Domecq. For the next year they remained under the control of Allied Domecq as part of
Dunkin' Brands, Inc., made up of them and
Dunkin' Donuts. In 2006, Dunkin' Brands was purchased by a group of private equity firms
Bain Capital,
Thomas H. Lee Partners, and
The Carlyle Group. That year, the company's "BR" logo was updated to highlight reference the number "31". In 2012, Dunkin' Brands became independent from the private equity firms. New stores opened in the mid-2010s, Three years later, the brand began selling via delivery service platform
DoorDash in 22 US cities. In December 2020, Dunkin' Brands was purchased by
Inspire Brands. Baskin-Robbins debuted an updated logo, alongside the new tagline "Seize the Yay", in 2022.
Chris Buck and
Barack Obama are two notable former employees. ==International presence==