History of Raghunandan Kamath
Raghunandan Kamath was born in 1954 in Mulki, Karnataka. Raghunandan was the youngest of all seven siblings. Being a son of a fruit vendor, they barely managed to fulfill their basic needs. He used to spend all his day under the trees and playing mischief whenever he had a chance. Raghunandan was 15 when he and his family moved at 12-12 ft kholi (chawl) Juhu, Mumbai. After failing twice in his board exams, he worked with his brother and father in their restaurant. They used to sell pav bhaji and homemade icecreams. The idea behind selling them was the customers having pav bhaji, and after eating spicy, they would go for dessert.
Raghunandan Kamath:- From being a fruit vendor’s son to building a business worth 300 crores
Idea behind Naturals
Raghunandan always had an eye on making ice cream flavors more than just chocolate and Vanilla. After splitting the property between seven brothers, Raghunandan decided to start his ice cream venture with his share. He began developing ideas more than just selling Vanilla and chocolate flavor ice cream. At that time, his significant competitors were Kwality Wall’sWall’s and Vadilal. But they only used to sell chocolate, and Vanilla flavored ice creams. Naturals offer 20 ice cream flavors for the whole year, and the rest of the flavors are provided seasonally.
Rise of Naturals
After making errors and trials, Kamath’s hard work finally paid off. He started his venture, natural ice cream, for the first time at Vile parle, Mumbai. He had four Staff and ten ice cream flavors. He took the help of his fathers to pick up the ripped fruit and add his ingredients to make the best flavor of ice cream.
Today, Naturals are the only word of mouth when it comes to ice cream. Starting with ten flavors today, Naturals sells over 125 flavors, out of which 20 are offered throughout the year, and the rest of the flavors are seasonal. At present, Naturals have over 135 stores in India, out of which Naturals own eight our time Pvt. Ltd, and the rest are handed over to the franchise. Their production facility is situated in Charkhop, Kandivali, in Mumbai. Their production team supplies products every day to its stores which is unique in the ice cream industry.
Inspiration from Maa
Kamath Got inspiration from his mother that there is no quick recipe for good food. She always used to take enough time to prepare a good meal. He applied the same theory to natural ice cream with their deep research. He invented an ice cream with unconventional flavors such as gulab jamun, gajar ka halwa, etc. Naturals always had a good sense of using unpopular fruits to make it into a popular and most loved flavor of ice cream.
No marketing expense
Raghunandan says, “I never had to spend a single penny on advertising strategies.” They believe on the mouth to mouth marketing. Kamath knew that he had one of the best flavors made of seasonal fruits. Naturals slowly became popular among the locals and film stars. Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar advertised their brands on various platforms.
According to the KPMG survey, Naturals has been listed at ten brands customers in India. Naturals’ net worth had jumped around 300 crores in FY 2020 from INR 115 in 2015. Today, Naturals has given us the best flavors of ice cream. Raghunandan Kamath has proved that success is defined by hard work and the dream you wish to make true. Self-belief and hard work will always earn you victory.
Article Proofread and Edited by Shreedatri Banerjee
