Raghunandan Kamath: Father used to sell mangoes, son set up a company worth Rs 400 crores; Know the story of 'Ice Cream Man'

The Ice Cream Man of India, industrialist Raghunandan Kamath, sadly passed away. For a considerable amount of time, Raghunandan, 75, has been ill. It was a Saturday when he passed away at the hospital. For Naturals Ice Cream, Raghunandan set the groundwork. He will always be remembered by the Naturals family, the company said on social media after sharing news of his passing.

Mulki is the small Karnataka town where Raghunandan Kamat was born. The mangoes of his father were sold there. Raghunandan had aided his father in his work from an early age. After struggling in school, he was forced to give up on his studies. At the age of just 14, he left Mulki and went to his brother in Mumbai and started working in a restaurant with his brother. Later Raghunandan parted ways.

Raghunandan started his ice cream business on a small scale. He started his business in February 1984 with just four employees. His way of attracting customers was also unique. He would also sell pav bhaji along with ice cream. Due to this, the customers who came with the intention of eating only pav bhaji, after tasting the spicy food, also went after eating ice cream.

Raghunandan's ice cream was also amazing. He would make ice cream with just fruits, milk, and sugar. There is no adulteration in it. This increased people's trust in him and then people started coming to him just to eat ice cream. Raghunandan had also learned from his father how to choose the right fruits and preserve them, which he benefited from in the ice cream business.

When Raghunandan's ice cream business took off, he stopped the Pav Bhaji business. Now his entire focus was only on Naturals Ice Cream. He opened his first ice cream store in Juhu, Mumbai. Today their number is more than 135 and they are in different parts of the country. Naturals Ice Cream is now a company worth around Rs 400 crore.