Pabrai's Ice Creams to expand footprint; to set up new plant in Bengal

City-based Pabrais Fresh Naturelle Ice Creams on Sunday said it will expand its footprint to about 45 stores in the country and is planning to set up a new manufacturing plant expected to be operational by this fiscal-end, as it charts its revival plan post COVID.The company that boasts of making 100 per cent natural Ice creams without use of artificial essences and colours said, the new plant at Howrah district of West Bengal will be a one-million litre per annum ice-cream capacity plant and is expected to be operational by end of FY23.

City-based Pabrai's Fresh & Naturelle Ice Creams on Sunday said it will expand its footprint to about 45 stores in the country and is planning to set up a new manufacturing plant expected to be operational by this fiscal-end, as it charts its revival plan post COVID.

The company that boasts of making 100 per cent natural Ice creams without use of artificial essences and colours said, the new plant at Howrah district of West Bengal will be a one-million litre per annum ice-cream capacity plant and is expected to be operational by end of FY'23. It will cost around Rs 8 crore.

''We suffered a severe blow during the prolonged COVID lockdown. Revenues and number of stores dwindled due to demand slump and several stores failed to survive during the lockdown. However in 2022, we are witnessing strong demand pullback,'' Anuvrat Pabrai, CEO of Pabrai's Ice Creams told PTI.

Currently, half of its current retail stores are concentrated in Kolkata and in a few cities of Bengal, apart from some in Eastern and other major metropolises.

''We are in the midst of a major expansion. We will ramp up from 29 retail stores to about 45 by the end of the fiscal year, covering all major cities of the country. The new plant will enable us to scale our business with a greater number of ice-creams and frozen dessert flavors,'' he said.

Pabrai who is also Vice President of Indian Ice Cream Manufacturers' Association, said the market for 100 per cent natural ice-cream is minuscule in the Rs 15000-18000-crore category but it is catching up fast due to greater health consciousness.

He said the sugar free ice-cream variant is expected to grow rapidly and the brand is building a portfolio around this. The brand also offers unique ice-cream flavours like Kolkata Meetha Paan and Spices, apart from a host of others.

On the back of strong revival in consumption, the company is targeting a Rs 35-40 crore revenue over the next two years.

Explaining the brand's evolution, he said, ''We used the family surname because it is also unique in a sense.'' ''We originally hail from West Pakistan but my grandfather had a timber business in Kashmir's Baramulla region. But around independence the family moved out due to political disturbances,'' Pabrai said, adding that the surname is unique and used only by their extended family of less than 30 people globally.

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