Baskin-Robbins opens AI lab to develop 'innovative' flavors

BR Korea's new Workshop by Baskin-Robbins opened in central Seoul, Monday, features an AI-driven product development system and introduces new flavors. Courtesy of SPC Group

Baskin-Robbins has launched a new store in Seoul that features the company's exclusive ice cream flavors, created by a new artificial intelligence (AI)-based product development system, according to the brand operator BR Korea, Monday.

The company on the same day opened Workshop by Baskin-Robbins on the first floor of its building in central Seoul. It is the brand's new hybrid-type store that is not only a shop but also a research lab that tests new flavors and introduces them to consumers for the first time.

The store runs an AI NPD (new product development) model, a recipe system that creates new flavors via ChatGPT and visualizes what the end product of the various flavors might be like.

The company said that the store will exclusively introduce a new "deep flavor" every month, which will be created by the system's big data-deep learning AI.

"The new store is at the forefront of our chain, introducing new flavors that are developed by next-generation technologies and confirming public reception on those innovative flavors faster than any of our stores," a company official said. "The R&D center will guide us to our future."

The new store's exclusive flavors include Wasabi, Creme Brulee, Greentea Orange Jasmine and Greentea Earl Grey. The flavors were created after the company analyzed the big data of 23 million users of Happy Point, the brand's point-reward membership program, which is also shared by other brands under the company's mother company SPC Group. A lineup of Egg Cakes in the shape of different animals, fruit and characters is another of the store's product groups unavailable anywhere else.

To further boost the store's innovativeness, the company plans to introduce within the first half of this year a new docent program featuring a clerk posing as an ice cream docent called a "doctor." Doctors will give visitors a private tour by recommending flavors based on their interests and also share stories related to the flavor choices of consumers and the company.