Ice-cream chain Baskin-Robbins has had a strong few months despite the pandemic, and expects to open a minimum of five stores next year.

Two outlets were opened this year, and three stores in Western Australia, one more in New South Wales and one in Queensland are expected to open before the end of the year. 

Suburban stores and highly dense residential areas are trading strongly through foot traffic and deliveries, with particular success achieved through the delivery channel.

Learning to activate the digital channels was the challenge that paid off for the brand. It shifted its online orders and delivery from just 10 per cent of sales in 2019 to 35 per cent at the peak of the pandemic – dropping to a steady 25 per cent now.

Baskin-Robbins Australia GM Ben Flintoff said a previous award-winning campaign linked to the Netflix series Stranger Things paved the way for the ice-cream chain to start ahead of the curve during Covid-19.

Maximising Baskin-Robbins’ delivery channels through the Netflix campaign, which has just won a marketing excellence award, proved a valuable benchmark for performance this year.

“We were playing against an award-winning promotion in July and August, and a global pandemic, but we set our minds to beat that promotion. It was an amazing result.”

Now there’s a new campaign linked to a movie; Troll your Treat celebrates the Trolls World Tour film while fundraising for Beyond Blue and involving both digital and in-store sales.

The campaign plays on the term ‘troll’ by encouraging customers to share positive vibes on social media, one of three actions that gain a $1 contribution to the charity from Baskin-Robbins.

Customers can also go in-store and order a Troll Treat, or order online for a friend.

• Look out for the next edition of Inside Franchise Business digital magazine (Nov-Jan) which includes a full story on Baskin-Robbins’ delivery success and business innovations.