Naturals Ice Cream is a Mumbai brand that makes ice cream with only fruit, sugar, and milk. In the 40 years since it was founded in 1984, it has widened its presence with flavors made from fruits native to India.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1984 (Juhu, Mumbai) |
| Founder | Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath (died May 2024 at 70; the next generation took over) |
| Revenue | ₹374 crore (FY2024 = fiscal year ended March 2024), net profit ₹45 crore |
| Production base | Charkop (Mumbai) |
| Ingredients | Only fruit, sugar, and milk (says it uses no artificial flavoring or preservatives) |
| Products | Always more than 20 flavors |
| Awards | Tender coconut flavor named to Taste Atlas's world top 100 ice creams |
Sitaphal (custard apple), tender coconut, jackfruit, muskmelon, black jamun (Java plum). All are fruits grown in India, each with its own season. Since the fruit is used as-is, some flavors can only be made during that particular time of year.
A typical ice cream maker sources fruit puree or concentrate year-round and offers the same lineup all year. Naturals does the opposite, rotating flavors to match the season's fruit. Rather than smoothing things out with inventory, it builds its production around the season.
This is inefficient. Production planning is hard, and a popular flavor is unavailable for most of the year. On the other hand, the fact that it can only be eaten during that particular time draws people in. It became a Mumbai institution because of this structure.
Founder Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath was born into a family that sold mangoes in Mangalore, Karnataka. His eye for judging fruit, developed growing up, became the foundation of this business.
It started in February 1984 from a roughly 200 square foot shop in Juhu Koliwada, Mumbai (production is now in Charkop). What set it apart was making ice cream from fruit, sugar and milk alone, with no artificial flavors or preservatives. Revenue for FY2024 (fiscal year ended March 2024) was ₹374 crore, with net profit of ₹45 crore. Kamath died in May 2024 at the age of 70, and the next generation now runs the business.
For anyone wanting to use Indian fruit in Japan, this is a company that knows what's harvested and when. Sitaphal and jackfruit have limited distribution in Japan, but there may be potential for them as processed products.
Also, rotating the lineup with the season is close to an approach Japanese regional confectioners and dairies have long taken. It's an example showing that even in urban India, offering a seasonal product can be chosen over the same lineup year-round.
MORE
Kwality Wall's (India) | HUL separated frozen from ambient distributionCoffee Day Enterprises (Cafe Coffee Day) | The pioneer of Indian cafés, now smallerEverest Food Products | 42 spice blends, and a 2024 recallCG Foods India | Sidestepped Maggi with instant noodles eaten without boilingVeeba | Brought foodservice-grade quality control straight into retailUdaan | The largest B2B e-commerce platform supplying small shopsSOJAPAN
We support Japanese companies entering India, from market research through local partner development, test sales, and import.