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

There are several popular brands in India which were initially started from a small shop. But now such businesses are earning lakhs and crores. Their founders had faced many difficulties to establish their business in their initial days. But eventually, they got successful. One such person is Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath, the founder of the popular Naturals Ice Cream. But who is he and how he built his business empire?

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

After learning all this, he decided to leave his father’s business. He then came to Bombay from Mangalore and founded Natural Ice Cream on February 14, 1984, with just four staff members and 10 ice cream flavours.

However, Kamath was unsure if people would come to taste his original ice creams. So to entice customers, he began his business by serving Pav Bhaji as the main dish and the ice cream as an add-on. The store began with 12 flavours. Soon, it turned into a full-fledged ice cream parlour.

Years later, Natural Ice Cream recorded a retail turnover of Rs 300 crore in FY 2020. It was named in India's top 10 brands for customer experience in the KPMG survey.

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