How a mango seller’s son built Rs 300 crore ice-cream company from…, name was…

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Raghunandan Kamath, the son of a humble mango seller in a small village in Karnataka, established Naturals Ice Cream, which has today grown into a company valued over Rs 300 crore.

Raghunandan Kamath, the founder of Naturals Ice Cream, passed away in May last year. (File)

Building a thriving business from scratch with limited resources, and without advertising your brand is an impossible task for most people, especially for someone without any academic background. However, Raghunandan Kamath, the son of a humble mango seller in a small village in Karnataka, achieved this gargantuan task, and established Naturals Ice Cream, which has today grown into a company valued over Rs 300 crore.

Who was Raghunandan Kamath?

Born in a sleepy little village in Karnataka’s Mangaluru, Raghunandan Kamath’s father was a fruit vendor, and young Raghunandan grew up helping his father sell mangoes in his native village. Growing up, Raghunandan Kamath was not interested in studies, and quit school at 14, following which he started working at a small eatery run by his older brother.

At an early age, Raghunandan had learned the subtle art of plucking ripe fruit and persevering it, and had the idea of making ice cream from natural ingredients using real fruit pulp.

In 1984, a year after leaving studies, Raghunandan Kamath moved to Mumbai in search of better opportunities, and it was here that he began his journey towards establishing a highly-successful ice cream company.

The birth of Naturals Ice Cream

Raghunandan started out with a small ice cream parlour in Vile Parle in suburbs of Juhu scheme, with only six workers, including himself. The outlet served 12 flavours of ice cream, all made from natural fruit pulp like mango, jackfruit, watermelon, and soon gained popularity among locals and tourists.

While Raghunandan Kamath reportedly never relied on advertisements to promote his brand, his ice cream made headlines when in 1986, West Indian cricketing legend Sir Vivian Richards showered praises on his product, giving instant recognition to Kamath’s ice cream parlour.

In 1994, Kamath opened five more outlets in Mumbai as demand for his mouth-watering ice cream kept growing, even though, according to him, he never used any advertisements or promotion to promote his brand, instead relying on his ice cream’s unique natural taste to attract customers.

Over the years, Kamath’s Naturals Ice Cream has grown into one of the largest ice cream makers in India, offering 125+ ice cream flavors at over 165 outlets across 15 cities in the country. Naturals Ice Cream is currently valued at around Rs 300 crore, a true achievement, considering it was established as tiny ice cream shop by a man who had nothing but his perseverance and hard work to back his dreams.

Raghunandan Kamath passed away in May last year following a brief illness. He was 75.

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