End of rocky road for Baskin-Robbins in Thailand as all stores shuttered
US-based ice cream brand Baskin-Robbins has announced it is shutting down its business in Thailand after suffering losses over the past 10 years.
Baskin-Robbins entered the Thai market in 1996 under Golden Scoop, a subsidiary of retail operator and master franchisee Mud & Hound.
Mud & Hound owns Thai and international brands including Au Bon Pain, Dunkin’ Donuts and Greyhound Café.
Baskin-Robbins generated only 1% of the company's revenue of 2.170 billion baht in 2021 compared to around 3% in 2020, according to Mud & Hound.
The number of Baskin-Robbins branches in Thailand also plummeted from 10 at the end of 2021 to four in 2022.
The remaining branches – at Siriraj Piyamaharajkarun Hospital, K Village, Siam Paragon and The Walk Kaset Nawamintra – were shuttered as of press time.
A brand upgrade that included importing ice cream ingredients from the US failed to stem losses, which accumulated to over 128 million baht over the past 10 years. The past three years of Covid also hit sales.
Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin (1913–1967) and Irv Robbins (1917–2008) in Glendale, California.
It is the world's largest chain of ice cream speciality stores, with more than 8,000 locations, including nearly 2,500 shops in the US and over 5,000 in other countries. Baskin-Robbins has stores in nearly 50 countries.
Related stories:
Taste the ice creams in shapes of China's cultural relics
Chinese people go hot and cold over ice creams
Cannabis, kratom ice cream 'wows not just consumers but also justice minister'
