Unforgotten Brands – Vadilal Icecream
A small soda outlet became one of India’s largest marketers of ice cream. Each generation of the family has contributed to its success.
In 1907, Mr. Vadilal Gandhi opened a soda fountain in Ahmedabad. At first, Vadilal Gandhi used to churn milk with other ingredients, such as ice, and salt, using a primitive Kothi machine that had to be handled by hand. Ice creams were delivered to customers’ homes in thermocol boxes.
As business boomed, the shop’s creator experimented with combining soda and ice cream, coming up with tasty soda pops that quickly became popular across the state.
Ranchod Lal Gandhi took over from Vadilal Gandhi and opened a one-man shop in a rented space in 1926 using a hand-cranked machine. The first ice cream machine, made in Germany, arrived in the same year.
Before India’s independence, Vadilal had grown from a single store to a chain of four thanks to the success of its trademark cassata ice cream, which it debuted in the ’50s.
Ranchod Lal’s two sons, Ramchandra and Lakshman, eventually took over the company. This formidable team brought a fresh perspective to the enterprise and a willingness to take intelligent risks for the company.
Therefore, by the 1970s, the Vadilal Company had already developed into a contemporary corporate body with 8–10 shops in Ahmedabad.
Kwality, Joy, and Vadilal dominated the newly globalised ice cream market by the late 1970s.
Vadilal’s ice cream has maintained its market dominance in part because it is made with only vegetarian ingredients. In the late 1970s, Vadilal advertised that its ice cream could be eaten even by fasting customers.
Vadilal first expanded outside Gujarat in 1984–1985.
Vadlilal had to face calamities. Its new industrial building was flooded in its first year of operation (1972), and in 1985, a global corporation attempted to acquire it. And it seriously contemplated switching names. But it managed to soldier on.
Vadilal introduced the industry’s first fully automated confectionery line in 1987.
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Shailesh Gandhi, brother of Rajesh and son of Ramchandra, broke away from the family in the early 1990s.
Despite the jurisdictional limits, both families are still using the same brand name.
Vadilal bought the Bareilly plant in 1993 and invested heavily in expanding it. Vadilal began shipping frozen veggies to the United States in 1995, making it the first Indian brand to do so. Around the year 2000, the ice cream business as a whole hit a low point.
Today, Vadilal is the country’s second-largest ice cream brand by sales. Vadilal’s ice cream selection is unparalleled in India, with over 150 flavours available in over 300 packaging varieties.
Its ability to reach out to a wide variety of customers via its several product lines is a big reason for its success.
Vadilal employs a staff of “ice-cream experts” to sample fifteen to twenty different flavours every day. In India alone, there are 50,000 franchisees and 250 Vadilal Parlours. Vadilal Industries is another major participant in India’s processed food market, having joined the sector in the early 1990s.
Under the direction of the fourth generation of the Vadilal family, the one-man soda fountain has developed into one of the most popular ice cream companies in India. The company has grown to include both the Indian and international markets as new generations have brought forth innovative approaches to serve shifting consumer tastes. What hasn’t changed is Mr. Vadilal Gandhi’s long-standing dedication to making the world a happier place.
