1907 Vadilal | Freeze-frame

A small restaurant in a noisy corner of Teen Darwaja in Ahmedabad still bears the sign “Vadilal Soda Fountain”—105 years later.

“My forefather had imported furniture from Italy and we were among the first to get an electric connection in the city,” says Rajesh Gandhi, managing director of Vadilal Industries, the flagship firm of the Vadilal Group.

Initially, founder Vadilal Gandhi used to make ice cream by the traditional Kothi method, using a hand-operated machine to churn milk with other ingredients, ice and salt.

They even offered home delivery, with ice creams packed in thermos boxes.

In 1926, they imported ice-cream making machines, paying custom duty of 300-350%. Vadilal, which had expanded to four ice-cream shops before independence, became popular for its cassata ice cream, which it introduced in the 1950s. It remained a city brand till 1972-73.

The family says they did consider changing the brand name Vadilal in the 1980s. “We decided to stick to Vadilal because when we looked around we found that a lot of brands named after their founders, like Mafatlal and Ford, were successful,” says Rajesh.

In 1972-73, the company had 8-10 outlets in Ahmedabad. They spent five-six years consolidating the business. The group invested ₹ 25 lakh in 1972 in setting up an ice-cream factory at Pundhra, Gandhinagar district. “Ice cream was not seen as an industry then. Everybody said we would go bankrupt. In the first year of operations, our factory got flooded. But we have never looked back,” Rajesh says.

The fact that Vadilal’s ice cream is vegetarian helped them remain ahead. They even ran ad campaigns in the late 1970s suggesting their ice creams could be consumed even by people observing a fast. Rajesh says there were apprehensions in the market at the time about other ice-cream makers using gelatin.

A multinational company tried to buy them out in 1985. “They even sent a muscleman to our office to threaten us. We were told that the sea is rough and it was time for us to jump,” Rajesh recalls, refusing to divulge the name of the company. Vadilal decided to go in for nationwide expansion.

In the early 1990s, there was a split in the family, with Shailesh Gandhi, brother of Rajesh and son of Ramchandra, being given a factory in Tarapur, Pune, and territorial rights in Maharashtra and south India. “Both families continue to use the same brand name but there were territorial restrictions. Today, we are present in 16 states while my brother is in five states,” says Rajesh.

Vadilal has the largest range of ice creams in the country, with more than 150 flavours sold in more than 300 packs and forms. Today, the ice-cream market in India is estimated at ₹ 2,500 crore in the organized sector. Vadilal Industries, which has been growing at about 30% annually for the last 10 years, aims to touch ₹ 450 crore this fiscal.

Like “tea tasters”, Vadilal has a core team of in-house “ice-cream experts” who taste 15-20 products a day.

Vadilal introduces one or two products every month while dropping an equal number to “avoid making the product basket unhealthy”, Rajesh says. It has 50,000 dealers across India and 200 Happinezz Parlours, most franchisee outlets.

Vadilal Industries also entered the processed foods industry in the early 1990s and is today one of the largest players in India. Currently, it exports approximately 175 products under the Vadilal Quick Treat and Garden Fresh brands to nearly 45 countries.

maulik.p@livemint.com