It’s a wonder why a delicious milky treat should be fenced in the name of the season!! It will not be wrong to say that, especially in India, ice cream is enjoyed only in summers. Some parts of Northern India enjoy ice creams, basically locally made kulfi and falooda as a winter specialty but that percentage is almost negligible whereas in almost the entire world people consume ice cream throughout the year. In the era of lockdowns in many of the countries in Europe and in the USA ice cream sales went up unprecedentedly, India witnessed lowest ice cream sales ever, that too unprecedented.
To break this myth of ice creams only for summers and promoting the sweet delight for winters too, Firoz H. Naqvi, Editor, Ice Cream Times had a round table discussion with the young stalwarts of the ice cream industry. These stalwarts belong to the generation next of the big brands. The webinar was held to discuss a phenomenon “Why is ice cream categorized as a seasonal product in India?”
Representing their respective companies were, Amit Shah-Director: Scoops Ice creams-Hyderabad, John Simon-Director: Lazza Ice Cream-Kochi, Abhishek Narsaria- Director Rollick Ice Cream-Ranchi, Kalpit Gandhi-Director: Vadilal Ice Cream-Ahmedabad, Adil Karim- Frostee Ice cream-Cuttak.
At the onset of discussion, Amit Shah opined, “Since last 20 years, I have been associated with the ice cream industry. It is true that ice cream is seasonal in India and after summers the industry has a slack period of four months with no business in hand shifting our attention to hotel business in the background.
It is the misconception that we must not eat ice cream in monsoon or winter weather for the fear of getting infected with some infection. It is noticed that though the elders crave for ice cream, they refrain from its consumption as children at home will definitely demand the same. As their immunity is still low, they may get affected by eating it, especially during corona times. We have to change this perception into a favourable one that ice cream is a healthy product, it’s a dietary product having all the nutritious value of calcium and protein required for the growing children. The properties present in curds or yogurt, exist in ice cream too. Hence ice cream is a family product that can be enjoyed like other food products. There is no harm in it”.
John Simon took his turn to express that Southern India has warm winters. Historically speaking ice cream has always been seen as a summer treat and 50% of their sales come in these three months of summer. “We attribute non-consumption of ice cream to rainy and winter months. Of late it has been observed that sales are picking up in winters too. This trend is incorporated into international data whereby people in cold countries consume a lot of ice cream in the winter season but if it’s raining, they hold back”.
He went on to say, “Another reason for this perception is that ice cream is assumed as a discretionary-spend item and not as a necessity. Ice cream is not seen as a healthy product as it contains high fat and high sugar. But both the perceptions are undergoing change now. People are having more income levels and can afford to stock ice cream in the freezer. This trend is levelling the seasonality of the ice cream a bit. We as an association can promote the notion that ice cream is a healthy product not as a luxury and sweet item. We can infuse a lot of healthy ingredients in ice creams especially for kids and making it a healthy product. This way, the false claims of a not-so-healthy item can be changed into a nutritious product”.
Naqvi went on to ask the panelists that Europe is the highest consumer of the ice cream, where the temperature most of the time is low with thunder showers, why can’t India reach that level of ice cream consumption especially in winters?
To that Kalpit Gandhi replied, “There are few points that I agree with all the panelists. Yes, we have a lot of psychological challenges related to health issues. But one thing we need to acknowledge is that when it is really hot and dry, it is natural to have liquids to quench the thirst. It’s a global phenomenon that liquid consumption increases when the temperature soars and it almost diminishes when the season gets cooler. If we apply a similar formula to ice cream, the desire to eat ice cream in winter or the monsoon slackens automatically just like drinking less liquid during winters. Scientifically speaking the body itself doesn’t ask for ice cream in a cooler season. Secondly, ice cream cannot be blamed for the cause of a sore throat or any throat infection. In fact, ENT doctors advise having ice cream after tooth extraction or tonsil surgeries. It could be some flavours or colours that may be causing discomfort in some people”.
Comparing take-home sales in Europe, it is almost 50% whereas in India it’s just 15%.
Adding his point of view to the discussion, Abhishek cites, “Literacy rate in India is less and lesser is the awareness in the masses. Ice cream does have some immunity in it as it is made up of healthy ingredients like milk solids, fats, fruits & fruit pulp, dry fruits, some spices. Noticeably, we find that ice cream is not viewed as an after-dinner dessert. We have been unable to replace the traditional mithai with a tub of ice cream. This paradigm shift in the minds of people is necessary where they decide to have ice cream rather than some sweets. Right since childhood we heard our mothers repeatedly saying not to eat ice cream during winters. Hence the chain of information passed on from our childhood to our children’s childhood is still carried on. This chain should halt and with the help of IICMA, we can surely start a campaign to educate people that ice cream is not bad for health and promote the goodness of this sweet treat through advertisements.
The after-dinner treat is always Indian sweets, said Adil. “The first item that we picturize when thinking about dessert is something sweet, ice cream takes a last stand. This clearly indicates that our ice cream has major competition with our traditional sweets and it excels in most of the occasion.
If you scrutinize, we have ice creams in flavours of different Indian sweets. Now that’s the obsession we Indians have for traditional sweets. We are directly competing with them. Also, the takeaways have limited sales. Sweets are convenient and easy to carry home which is available in a lot of varieties, but it’s not the case with ice cream. Though we
have a lot of range in ice creams too yet the limited takeaways are acting as a major barrier.
Currently this scene is changing. We are seeing a shift as some of the companies are coming up with probiotics, high proteins, and sugar-free ice creams. With this contemporary shift and our awareness of getting health-conscious, we are slowly moving towards the new trend. Companies are coming up with new varieties of ice creams to
lure the customers, especially the millennials.
Placing a general query in front of the speakers, Naqvi asked why mothers will readily buy the confectionery kept in jars costing the same as ice cream for their children, but will not go in for the cold treat declaring it unhealthy?
To this Amit Shah jovially replies that those confectioneries are not placed in the fridge hence has won the game. The second reason for sales of ice cream is not gaining in winters is the coffee shop that has taken the wave up. The after-dinner coffee lounge has become a scenic place to chill out. At Creamstone the lounge has a capacity 100 sitting arrangement. Having a big store and surviving on ice cream is tough. We were able to promote 9 pm sales with coffees, milkshakes and then we started to give some hot desserts to our consumers because people prefer hot items in cold weathers. We have numerous customers entering the stores and all have their individual tastes.
Catering to these demands, the stores are well kept alive and this may bring about the change of eating ice cream in winters too. So, innovation will bring evolution to experience newness offered at ice cream outlets.
Abhishek is heard stressing upon, “Proper pitching with attractive jingles in the ad campaign and with the support of IICMA this is possible. Ice creams are protein providers hence it should be encouraged to eat. Many children are allergic to lactose, which means they are lactose-intolerant. Studying this market requirement, we have come up with lactose-free ice cream for those children”.
Concluding the discussion, he adds on, “The changes should be expected to be incremental rather than overnight. As an industry, we can join our ideas and come up with some brilliant solutions to be constructive during October and November month. India offers very less mobility of the products compared to the US or European trade policies. A drive to increase the volume for take-home especially ice cream should have some schemes to boost sales all year round”.