CANTON, Mass. -- Baskin-Robbins plans to sell soft-serve ice cream. The chain plans to sell soft serve in all 2,400 of its U.S. stores by next spring. By summer's end, it will be in about half of its domestic locations, reported USA Today. The soft-serve vanilla line will be Baskin-Robbins' largest product rollout in decades.
"This helps us overcome the veto vote, say, when a child wants a soft-serve cone," Ken Kimmel, brand officer at Baskin-Robbins, told the newspaper.
The move could shake up the $13.9 billion ice cream industry and put soft-serve giants Dairy Queen and McDonald's [image-nocss] on notice, the report speculated. And it could signal forward thinking by Baskin-Robbins, which has lost market share to Cold Stone Creamery and others, Howard Waxman, editor and publisher of the Ice Cream Reporter newsletter, told the paper. "They're trying to reclaim their position," he said. "They want people to know they're back."
But after spending six decades telling the world that hand-scooped ice cream is its specialty, Baskin-Robbins walks a fine line trying to suddenly convince folks that it's now a soft-serve specialist. "It may be a great marketing opportunity, but it's a lousy brand strategy," Robert Passikoff, president of consulting firm Brand Keys, told the paper. "Selling soft serve dilutes the brand and is a credibility issue."
There's another risk: A regular soft-serve cone at Baskin-Robbins is $1.65, a lot less than the $1.99 for a hand-scooped ice cream cone.
But Kimmel said sales did well in test markets and that the majority of consumers in the tests also purchased add-ons such as sprinkles.
Baskin-Robbins has spent two years trying to modernize, including a redesign of its stores and logo.
"Brands get themselves into trouble when they lose focus of their core equity," Michael Keller told USA Today. Besides being chief brand officer at Dairy Queen, he is a former senior vice president of marketing at Baskin-Robbins.
Next month, Dairy Queen will become the first retail foodservice company to mix Girl Scout cookies into its ice cream. In June, it plans to offer the Thin Mint Cookie Blizzard, said the report. Minneapolis-based International Dairy Queen Inc. also announced that president and CEO Charles W. Mooty has begun his leadership transition and succession plan by naming John P. Gainor as president and CEO effective July 1, 2008. Mooty will retain his role as chairman through the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the company announced that Irvine (Irv) Robbins, 90, co-founder of Baskin-Robbins, has passed away. Robbins and his brother-in-law, Burton (Burt) Baskin, founded the Baskin-Robbins chain in 1945. Canton, Mass.-based Baskin-Robbins is now part of the Dunkin' Brands Inc. family of companies.
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