Natural Ice Cream

Natural Ice Cream, d/b/a Naturals, is an Indian ice cream brand owned by Mumbai-based Kamaths Ourtimes Ice Creams Pvt. Ltd.[2] It was founded by Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath who opened its first store at Juhu in Mumbai in 1984.[3][4][5][6]

Natural Ice Cream
Product typeIce cream
OwnerKamaths Ourtimes Ice Creams Pvt. Ltd.
CountryIndia
Introduced1984[1]
MarketsIndia
Tagline"Taste the Original"
Websitenaturalicecreams.in

The chain recorded a retail turnover of ₹300 crore in the financial year 2020, up from ₹115 crores in 2015.[3][7] The ice creams are manufactured by Kamaths Ourtimes Ice Creams and retailed by its subsidiary company Kamaths Natural Retail Pvt. Ltd.[8]

The 2017 rebranding effort, which established the ‘Taste the Original’ tagline, was aimed at setting it apart from similar named brands popping up.[9]

Market

As of April 2022, the chain has 18 directly-owned stores and 119 franchised stores across 11 states.[10] The stores are present in the states of Maharashtra, West Bengal,[11] Karnataka, Goa,[12] Telangana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,[13] Chhattisgarh, Gujarat,[14] Rajasthan[12] and Delhi NCR.[15][16][17][18]

Production and trade

The brand's only production facility is situated in Charkop, a suburb of Kandivali in Mumbai, India.[18] The company supplies to its own stores every day.[11] The company spends less than 1% of its sales revenues on advertising, relying mainly on word of mouth to attain revenues.[12]

On completing two years, the brand launched an experiential concept store in Juhu named Naturals Now, which serves freshly churned ice cream straight out of the churner.[19]

Products

Starting with around 10 flavours, today Natural Ice Cream has 125 flavour options, of which 20 are offered throughout the year.[20] The set of flavours change according to seasons. Some of the seasonal flavors include litchi, fig, jackfruit, Muskmelon and watermelon.[21] A custard apple flavor is also purveyed by the brand.[21][22][23]

Awards and recognition

In 2006, the brand received Corporation Bank's National SME's Excellence Award in the Food and Agro Industry.[24] In February 2009, a Natural Ice Cream store located in the Juhu Ville Parle Development scheme placed in the Limca Book of Records for the largest ice cream slab, which weighed 3,000 kilograms.[25] The brand was awarded as Best in Customer Service - Regional Retailer Of the Year in 2013.[26][27] In 2014 the brand received the gold medal for most innovative ice cream flavour (cucumber) in the Great Indian Ice Cream Contest.[28] In 2016, Natural Ice Cream was awarded for home grown concept in food service by Coca-Cola Golden Spoon Awards[29] and also received IMAGES Most Admired Food Service Chain of the Year in the Ice-cream & Dessert Parlours category.[30] It was named as India’s Top 10 brand for customer experience in a KPMG survey.[3]

See also

References
  1. Divekar, Aditi (22 January 2019). "Naturals Ice Cream plans expansion, steps out of its comfort zone". Business Standard.
  2. "Mumbai: Natural Ice Cream Eyes UAE, Southeast Asia Entry". Daijiworld Media. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  3. Karelia, Gopi (20 July 2021). "Naturals Ice Cream: How a Fruit Vendor's Son Built a Rs 300 Crore Empire". The Better India. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  4. "How Raghunandan Kamath made Natural Ice Cream a 50 crore business". The Economic Times. 9 January 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  5. Aziz, Nuzhat (16 July 2008). "Today: Passion fruit". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  6. "Recipe for Success: Century and more for Kamath, natural ice cream king". FNB News.
  7. Suneera Tandon (15 October 2014). "Natural to invest Rs50-75 crores to add 100 ice-cream parlours". Mint. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  8. "Rating Rationale - Kamaths Ourtimes Ice Creams Private Limited". CRISIL. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  9. "Natural Ice Creams looks to add another 125 stores in next five years". 16 January 2019.
  10. Roy, Shobha (3 April 2022). "Naturals ice cream brand looks to expand its presence in south India". The Hindu Businessline. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  11. "The story behind Natural Ice Cream's success". Business Today. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  12. "Ice-cream company Natural to open its first store in Delhi by Diwali". The Economic Times. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  13. "Successful, naturally!". The Week. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  14. "Natural Ice Cream". Zomato. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  15. "Natural ice cream to open first store in Delhi on Oct 15". The Indian Express. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  16. "Natural ice cream eyes 100 outlets, opens first store in Delhi". News18. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  17. "Food & Grocery retailer iOrderFresh inks strategic tie-up with Natural Ice Cream in Delhi NCR". The Economic Times. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  18. "Natural Ice Cream enters Delhi, to go national". Business Standard. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  19. "Agro & Food Processing, India's first News portal for food industry". Agro & Food Processing.
  20. Madhok, Diksha (20 November 2014). "This ice cream company conquered mithai-loving Indians with figs and custard apples". Quartz. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  21. Nair, Roshni (1 February 2015). "(Ice) cream of the crop". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  22. "How this idea has changed Mumbai". Hindustan Times. 15 July 2008. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  23. "Raghunandan S. Kamath: The ice-cream man". One India One People Foundation. March 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  24. "National SMEs Excellence Awards". Naturalicecreams.in.
  25. "Natural Ice Cream Enters Limca Book of Records". Daijiworld Media. 27 February 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  26. "Retailer Customer Service Awards 2013". Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  27. "Recognising the best in Customer Service". Indian Retailer. June 2013.
  28. "Here's the scoop on some exciting new ice-cream flavours". Mid-Day. 25 February 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  29. Indiaretailing Bureau (25 February 2016). "Coca Cola Golden Spoon Awards 2016". Indiaretailing.com. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  30. "Awards". India Food Forum. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.