Meet Raghunandan Kamath, son of Mangalore fruit vendor, who built Rs 300 crore turnover ice cream brand

There are certain cards in life that we are dealt with but it is up to us to try and make the best out of them. One of the best examples of this is Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath, the founder of the popular Naturals Ice Cream who built a multi-crore empire despite his circumstances, thanks to his hard work and dedication. 

Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath founded Naturals Ice Cream in 1984 and opened his first store in Mumbai's Juhu area. Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath's father was a mango vendor in Karnataka and he grew up assisting his father in a small village in Mangalore. Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath learned the art of picking ripe fruit, plucking it, sorting it, and preserving it. 

After learning the process of it, Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath decided to leave his father’s business and came to Bombay from Mangalore and founded Natural Ice Cream on February 14, 1984, with just four staff members and 10 ice cream flavours.

Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath was initially not sure about people coming out to taste his original ice creams. He was merely using fruit, milk, and sugar to make ice cream.

So, to entice new customers, Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath began his business by serving Pav Bhaji as the main dish and ice cream as an add-on. The store began with 12 flavours and thanks to its unique taste, it turned into a full-fledged ice cream parlour.

From his modest 200-square-foot shop in the Koliwada neighborhood of Juhu, Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath generated Rs 5,00,000 in revenue in its first year of operation. After a year, he quit selling pav bhaji in order to develop a whole ice cream brand.

More than 135 locations of Naturals Ice Cream exist now across the nation. These stores sell ice cream in 20 different flavors, including jackfruit, raw coconut, and more.

Media reports claim that Naturals Ice Cream's retail turnover is estimated to be around Rs 300 crore, in FY 2020. Since over 40 years ago, Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath has kept his ice cream's distinctive feature - that no color or chemical is added - intact. 

It was named in India's top 10 brands for customer experience in the KPMG survey.

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