Photo: FLLewis/Media City G — Baskin-Robbins 1201 South Victory Boulevard Burbank June 3, 2014
The Baskin-Robbins at 1201 South Victory Boulevard in Burbank , the one with the drive through window, has been a favorite of the locals for ages. The ice cream is still yummy, but if you plan to try to redeem one of those Baskin-Robbins coupons at this location, beware of scoop drama. I experienced it first hand last Sunday, June first. I dropped into this scoop shop with a coupon I had cut out of the advertising publication, ClipperMagazine. My husband, a huge ice cream lover, was with me. 
A smiling young woman behind the counter offered to help us. My husband ordered a two scoop sundae and I showed our scooper the coupon that stated: “Buy any one sundae and get a second sundae of equal or lesser value for 99 cent.” After she had scooped the ice cream into a cup I commented on the “small size” scoops. They looked more like colored marbles than ice cream scoops. The Baskin-Robbins employee told us they only use “kids scoops” in their sundaes.
Several months ago we had sundaes here, they were made with the regular scoops. We told the scooper that. She checked with another employee and he confirmed “only kids scoops in the sundaes.” For that reason we changed to ice cream cones with double regular size scoops. However, when we tried to use the “buy one cone and get a 2nd cone of equal lesser value for 99 cents” coupon, the employee refused to honor it. Again, she claimed only “kid size” scoops could be used with the coupon. Gee, the coupons say nothing about scoop size or whether it had to be a single, double, or even triple.
During an e-mail exchange yesterday, franchise owner, Varuzh Tirityan, blamed the error on the employee:”… you as a consumer have that choice to get kids scoops or regular scoops on a cone/cup, if you have been misinformed by one of my employees I do apologize for that. You do have a choice on the scoop size when purchasing a cone or a cup.” Also, Tirityan said: “All of our Sundaes, Splits and Beverages are made with 2.5 oz. scoops (some people refer them as kids scoops or fountain scoops.” He says this is a Baskin Robbins Standard recipe.
We are not the only ones surprised to hear that this is a policy practiced at this BR site. Here’s a two star review about the scoop shop posted on Yelp yesterday. “I ordered a 3 scoop sundae and when the girl behind the counter put the last scoop in the cup, I said “wow those are very small scoops” and one of the other girls said “our sundaes are made with child size scoops” Can someone show me where it says on the sign that says $4.99 for a three scoop sundae that they are child size scoops?” The franchise owner pointed out that the menu board in the store says the sundaes are made with 2.5 ounce scoops. Perhaps, the menu board should be changed to say “kids scoops” in the sundaes. That’s a clearer description of the scoop size and one that most folks would get right away. 
Today I opened up a ClipperMagazine and the above Baskin-Robbins ad, with coupons, was inside. Again, the 99 cent coupons do not have a restriction on scoop size or number of scoops. A clarification needs to appear in these ads for the benefit of customers and apparently employees as well. Also, some kind of offer needs to be made to customers who were forced to buy the lower priced smaller scoops with the coupons by shop employees. Baskin-Robbins needs to make this right.
