Baskin-Robbins, new China partner plan 100 shops

SHANGHAI, July 31 (Reuters) - Baskin-Robbins, the world's largest chain of ice cream specialty shops, said on Thursday it has signed on a second partner in China that will open 100 new stores in the country in the next decade.

Baskin-Robbins, whose new franchise partnership with Shaanxi Stellerich will operate in eastern and northwestern China, said it was also looking for more partners.

"It takes time to understand the local market. Once we feel comfortable, we'll expand fast," Chief Brand Officer Srinivas Kumar told a news conference in Shanghai.

Baskin-Robbins competes with foreign-owned ice-cream chains such as Dairy Queen, owned by Warren Buffett, and General Mills' (GIS.N) Haagen-Dazs in wooing Chinese youth drawn to western tastes. Competitors such as Unilever Plc (ULVR.L) and Mengniu (2319.HK) sell ice cream through retailers in China.

"China is going to be bigger than the United States, there's no question," Kumar told Reuters.

Baskin-Robbins, founded by ice-cream enthusiasts Irv Robbins and Burt Baskin in 1945, operates 5,800 shops globally, with about half in the United States.

It entered China in 1993 and currently operates 40 stores with its original franchise partner, mostly in Beijing.

The chain, which also has shops in India, Japan and Indonesia, is looking to expand into new markets such as the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore, Kumar said.

Dunkin' Donuts, a sister company of Baskin-Robbins, said in January it planned to enter China and open 100 shops in the Shanghai region alone in the next 10 years. (Editing by Edmund Klamann)