Baskin-Robbins Has Way More Than 31 Flavors

How many flavors does Baskin-Robbins have? That's a slam-dunk trivia question if ever there was one, right? It's right there in the logo, hiding in plain sight: 31 flavors. Sure, that was probably a much more impressive number back when Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins opened up shop together back in 1953, but it's part of the brand identity at this point. Well, it may surprise you to know that those 31 flavors are only part of the story. While Baskin-Robbins only has 31 flavors in circulation at one time, its entire roster of flavors numbers over a whopping 1,400.

Like we said, when Baskin-Robbins first opened its doors, 31 ice cream flavors may as well have been 1,400 ice cream flavors. The idea was that you could have a different ice cream flavor every day of the month, which must have seemed like a truly Dionysian level of indulgence even in the heady postwar days of the 1950s. While there was plenty of overlap between those original 31 flavors — there was Vanilla, French Vanilla, and Vanilla Burnt Almond, for example — there was enough novelty and pizzazz (Egg Nog! Maple Nut! Cherry Macaroon!) for the new chain to catch on. The philosophy was summed up best by Irv Robbins, who reasoned that not everyone would like all of the flavors, but each flavor would be someone's favorite. (Even, we suppose, cherries jubilee.)

Baskin-Robbins is committed to introducing at least one new ice cream flavor every month — the kind of bonkers drive for innovation only a billion-dollar company can afford. Over the years, inspiration has come from many different places, such as historical happenings (Lunar Cheesecake, in honor of the Apollo 11 moon landing), pop culture phenomena (Beatle Nut, which came about when the Beatles first exploded in popularity), and good old-fashioned corporate tie-ins (U.S.S. Butterscotch, a collaboration with Netflix to recreate an ice cream flavor featured in "Stranger Things.")

Today, if you wanted to try a different flavor each day like Burt and Irv intended, you would be eating Baskin-Robbins every day for almost four years. Unfortunately, Baskin-Robbins cycles its flavors out too diligently for you to do that (unless you have access to some secret ice cream vault or something ... if you do, give us the key, pretty please?) While there are perennial classics that never leave stores, like Vanilla or Rocky Road, other limited-time offerings are a little more elusive. But if you live near a Baskin-Robbins location, you're free to try whatever new flavors are being offered, like Tin Roof ice cream or Cookie Monster ice cream, and let us know how they taste. We promise we won't get too jealous.