of the Australian arm following the collapse of previous master franchisee, Allied Brands. Palm Oasis Ventures was formed in October 2013, with UAE-based Galadari Brothers Group owning an 80 per cent stake, and Dunkin’ Brands Group owning 20 per cent. Galadari Brothers Group has been the licensee of Baskin-Robbins in the UAE for 35 years, where it has 500 parlours. Baskin-Robbins will open seven more stores by the end of year, two owned and operated by Palm Oasis Ventures. All stores will open under the new store design, Happy 1.0, which first rolled out in the US around two years ago. Baskin-Robbins is reportedly investing around $2 million in marketing to help spearhead an expansion of more than 200 Australian parlours over the next 10 years, however, Nigel Travis, chairman and CEO of Dunkin’ Brands, told Inside Retail PREMIUM it may surpass that target. “We said about 200 stores in 10 years, but we think if we keep on the track that we’ve started on we can probably beat that.” Travis expects around 15 per cent of the total network to be company-owned, saying the ownership of stores was one of the main reasons behind the joint venture partnership deal. “We see [the partnership] as a way to speed up our expansion across Australia. The more stores you get the more marketing you have and we can build the brand quicker and get Baskin-Robbins known right across Australia.” The rollout will be targeted throughout residential areas of Queensland and NSW, however, Western Australia has also been labelled as a big opportunity for growth. Baskin-Robbins operates a mixture of store formats, including standalone stores, kiosks, and drive throughs. Drive throughs are being considered for Australia as well as ordering online for Baskin-Robbins’ cake ranges, which launched in the US earlier this year.