There are many businessmen, who have had a humble beginning and strived hard to establish themselves. But there is one common thing between them and that is their passion towards their dream and never letting it go. One such man is Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath, the founder of Naturals Ice Cream.
Lovingly hailed as the Ice cream man of India, Raghunandan Kamath had a humble beginning. From a small village in Karnataka to the city of dreams, Mumbai, and then to his multi-crore business, Mr Kamath had an inspirational journey. Raghunandan Kamath passed away on May 17, 2024, after a brief illness, and his last rites took place on May 18, 2024, at Amboli, Andheri West.
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Read on to learn how the son of a fruit vendor became the man behind one of the most popular ice cream brands, Naturals.
Born in 1954 in the small village of Mulki in Mangalore, Raghunandan was the youngest of seven siblings. The family had a very humble life as Raghunandan’s father was a mango vendor and earned a very meagre amount, barely able to sustain the needs of his seven children and wife. Soon he fell in love with fruits and learnt the art of picking ripe fruits. He would differentiate between perfectly ripe mangoes and not-so-perfect mangoes.
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Raghunandan was not very good in academics and his family sent him to Mumbai to help his elder brother, who had a South Indian restaurant in the city. The financial conditions were still bad and he used to live in a chawl in Juhu. While working in his brother’s restaurant, he got the idea of serving a unique dessert, with a blend of fruits in it. However, since he was the youngest in the family, his idea was turned down.
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After working with his brother for 10 years, Raghunandan parted ways with him and decided to start his own venture. However, it was a daunting task for him as he lacked the capital to begin his business. However, his wife, Annapurna, supported him, and he borrowed Rs. 4 lakhs from his friends and relatives and bought a 250-square-foot outlet in Juhu. It was the first outlet of Naturals Ice Cream, launched in 1984, and was called the ‘Ice Cream of Juhu Scheme'.
When Raghunandan Kamath began the first outlet of Naturals, there were hardly any ice cream outlets, and only rich people went to have desserts. So to increase his customer base, Raghunandan started selling pav bhaji and followed it up with his special ice creams. Within no time, his ice creams gained a huge fanbase due to the natural fruits in them.
Raghunandan wanted to go beyond the usual flavours of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate and served a variety of flavours like Jackfruit, tender coconut, custard apple, and mango. Within a year, Raghunandan stopped serving pav bhaji and only focused on ice cream. In the first year, his business earned a turnover of just Rs. 1 lakh, but despite being disheartened, he kept on working hard.
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Despite the rising popularity of his ice cream, Raghunandan faced many challenges. For example, in 1994, one of his key staff members quit his job and set up his own ice cream unit. Realising the competition in the market, Raghunandan decided to multiply the outlets of his brand and bought another outlet in a suburb of Mumbai. With 15 to 20 people working in the ice cream making, Raghunandan opened five franchises of Naturals in Mumbai.
With 135 outlets across the city, today, Naturals Ice Cream reached an annual turnover of over Rs. 300 crores. Not just this, the determination and confidence of Raghunandan paved the way to his success and in 2021, KPMG listed Naturals among the top 10 brands.
Despite being such a huge brand, not a single penny was spent on its advertising. Yes, you read it right! The popularity of Naturals happened through word of mouth. Speaking about the same in an interaction with the Economic Times, Raghunandan stated:
“In 1986, I was watching The Sunny Days, a TV programme anchored by cricketer Sunil Gavaskar. During the interview, Vivian Richards, the former West Indian cricket captain, mentioned that he had been to the Natural Ice Cream outlet and liked the Sapodilla (chikoo) and custard apple ice cream. It was such a thrill, such an unexpected back-thumping for us.”
Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath’s vision transformed a small business into a multi-crore venture. Despite his poor academics, he achieved his dream and gave us a reason to rejoice through every scoop.
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