Businessman Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath passed away in Mumbai on Friday evening. The founder of Naturals Ice Cream was hospitalised at the H N Reliance Foundation Hospital and died after a brief illness.
The news of his demise was confirmed by his firm via a post on social media platform X. Known as the ice cream man of India, Kamath is survived by his wife and two sons.
“Our thoughts on the sad demise of our patron and founder of Naturals Ice Cream, Late (Shri) Raghunandan Kamath. Indeed a very sad and unfortunate day for us,” the ice cream firm said.
Coming from a humble background, he passed many obstacles and built one of the largest business empires in the country, today worth more than Rs 400 crore.
Kamath grew up helping his father, a mango vendor, in a village in Mangalore. He learned the art of picking a ripe fruit, plucking, sorting and preserving from an early age.
Kamath shifted to Mumbai in 1984 and started his first ice cream parlour with just 12 flavours and a staff of six people in the suburbs of the Juhu scheme. To attract customers, he began serving his ice cream as a side dish to Pav Bhaji. As his business gained popularity, Kamath expanded and opened five more outlets in 1994. Today, the ice cream company has more than 160 outlets in the country.
As his company grew, Kamath kept using his innovation to ensure that his product reaches the maximum number of people. The company introduced a unique thermocol packaging also to help cater to the increasing demand across cities.
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