Back in Flavor : Coup aftermath: ‘Gorbachocolate’ may return to Glendale-based Baskin-Robbins’ Moscow stores as area companies see new opportunities.

Now that Mikhail S. Gorbachev is back as president of the Soviet Union, Baskin-Robbins International Co. is thinking of reintroducing “Gorbachocolate” as a summer flavor in its Moscow stores.

But other than that, the Glendale-based ice cream company has no changes planned for its Soviet operations despite last week’s failed coup attempt and the ensuing momentous political changes.

The company said it will go ahead with plans to expand its Soviet operations--it has five stores in and around Moscow. It first introduced Gorbachocolate as one of its seasonal flavors last year.

“So far, we’ve not done a thing except wait and see,” Baskin-Robbins spokeswoman Maureen McConnell said. She added that the chain’s Moscow employees sent a fax Aug. 20, the day before the coup collapsed, to report that the stores were open and business was normal.

Other companies in the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County that have business dealings in the Soviet Union had similar experiences. Some said they hoped that the changes would result in additional business opportunities for Western companies.

“We’re more encouraged now than ever before,” said Clarence Cottman, a vice president with Benton Oil & Gas Co., which is pursuing a joint venture with a Soviet company to explore and produce oil in Siberia. “Nobody got panicky, and we just have to see what the results are.”

Cottman said the developments in the Soviet Union will not interfere with plans by a delegation from the Soviet firm, the Purneftegasgeologia Industrial Assn., to visit Benton’s Ventura headquarters next month. And Benton will go ahead with plans to send its own delegation to the Soviet Union later in the month, he said.

Meanwhile, Day Dream Publishing in Carpinteria, which says it is one of the nation’s largest calendar publishers, was worried last week that a shipment of 20,000 calendars would never make it from an Indianapolis printing plant to the Soviet Union. But with the coup over, the calendars were sent Wednesday and the check for payment has cleared a German bank, said Chris Conk, Day Dream vice president.

The calendars, which feature among other things Playboy models in swimsuits, will be sold through hotel gift shops, restaurants and other stores that accept currency, Conk said.

But even with the coup over, Conk said he has been unable to get through to his Soviet business partners.

“The circuits are all busy,” Conk said. “But they’re hard to get through to even when there’s no coup.”