Baskin-Robbins Cull Angers Fans

Baskin-Robbins is known for giving customers a free scoop to celebrate their birthday. But on its own birthday, the world's biggest ice-cream brand celebrated by taking away scoops, permanently, of some classic flavors. On its 65th anniversary on July 15th, Baskin-Robbins retired five flavors to its "deep freeze".

Now joining the likes of 1960s-era Lunar Cheesecake at its flavor retirement home: French Vanilla, (b. 1945), one of the first flavors launched by founders Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins; Caramel Praline Cheesecake (b. 1970), vanilla cheesecake flavor mixed with caramel and pralined pecans; Campfire S’mores (b. 1975), milk chocolate ice cream with a marshmallow ribbon and graham cracker bits; Apple Pie a La Mode (b. 1976), vanilla ice cream with pieces of real apple and crunchy pie crust and a caramel cinnamon crème ribbon; and Superfudge Truffle (b. 2007), a "decadent" chocolate fudge ice cream with chunks of chocolate ganache and toffee truffle pieces.

While flavors are available while supplies last, the biggest dismay has been over the nixing of French Vanilla, with a protest on Facebook to get the brand to reconsider. In response, the brand is steering fans to its traditional vanilla and promising new flavors shortly.

“For 65 years Baskin-Robbins has been known for fun ice cream flavors that are reflective of the times,” commented Srinivas Kumar, chief brand officer of Baskin-Robbins Worldwide.

“Over the decades we have retired some of our iconic flavors into our Deep Freeze—like Miami Ice from the 1980’s and Beatlenut in the 1960’s—but never before have five flavors gone into the Deep Freeze at one time. By retiring these great flavors we are marking Baskin-Robbins milestone birthday celebration but also making room in our flavor library for new flavor innovation.”

Baskin-Robbins recently launched Baseball Nut, a new flavor for summer, and a limited collection of premium flavors for the U.K. market. It's also going head to head in China against the likes of Mister Softee and even McDonald's.

While the brand maintains a presence on Facebook and Twitter, it's focusing more on flavor innovation than, for instance, Ben & Jerry's, which is striving to connect with fans by testing new platforms such as goosing its mobile app with augmented reality.