Who was Raghunandan Kamath, the ‘Ice Cream Man of India’?

Raghunandan Kamath, the founder of the ₹400 crore worth Naturals Ice Cream, who was popularly referred to the ‘Ice Cream Man of India’ died after a brief illness in a Mumbai hospital on Saturday (May 17).

His demise was announced on X, formerly Twitter, by Naturals Ice Cream on Saturday (May 18). “Our thoughts on the sad demise of our patron and founder of Naturals Ice Cream, Late (Shri) Raghunandan Kamath. Indeed a very sad and unfortunate day for us,” the company said in a brief statement on X, while sharing a photograph of a smiling Kamath.

Humble beginnings

A man of humble beginnings, Kamath’s journey as an entrepreneur began four decades back in 1984 when he left his village Mulki in Karnataka’s Mangalore, for Bombay mat the age of 14. All he had besides a strong determination, was an idea to develop his own ice-cream brand using fresh fruit pulp as the main ingredient, instead of fruit flavours.

He started working at his brother’s restaurant for a brief period, earning enough to live in a tiny room in Juhu. After a disagreement with his brother, he left the job and began selling ice-cream, in dozen flavours, with pav bhaji at his Juhu Koliwada eatery. It started with four employees and twelve flavors. He made ₹1.5 lakh in sales in year one!

His skills at selecting quality fruits, which he acquired at a young age while assisting his father, a mango vendor back home, came in handy. His clever marketing strategy to combine quality ice-cream with pav bhaji, Mumbaikars’ favourite delicacy, worked wonders.

The ice-cream he sold used natural ingredients including fresh fruit pulp, dry fruits, milk and sugar, without any preservatives, colouring agents, chemicals or other additives.

'Ice-Cream Man of India'

In the next decade, Kamath opened five more outlets of Naturals Ice Cream in Mumbai, and his offering got linked with Juhu, Mumbai's suburb and came to be known as ‘Ice Cream of Juhu Scheme’.

Soon, the popularity of his Naturals Ice Cream grew beyond the borders of Mumbai, as he opened 100 more outlets. By 2020, Naturals Ice Cream had outlets in 135 locations across the country, even as Kamath earned the popular epithet of the 'Ice Cream Man of India' with his firm’s worth soaring to reach an estimated ₹400 crore.

His famous clients were Amitabh Bachchan and cricketer Vivian Richards. Naturals' famous Tender Coconut flavour is listed in the Top 100 most iconic ice-reams in the world by Taste Atlas, according to the company. Naturals Ice Cream was also included in India's top 10 most trusted brands in a survey conducted by KPMG in 2018.

Kamath breathed his last at Mumbai's HN Reliance Foundation Hospital. He is survived by his wife and two sons.