People are relishing the taste. Why did Advait go for this brilliant idea to be an entrepreneur and not a professional in hospitality field?
Entrepreneurship is in his DNA as the Nevgi family is into the production of homemade ice-creams for 50 years now. Taking the family business to next level he is working on new flavours in ice creams and mock-tails. Given that today’s youth who are keen in leaving their hometowns and families in search of jobs to settle in crowded cities, Adwait’s story comes as a fresh example of determination of sticking to the family business and expanding it.
Their family shop, Balakrishna Cold Drink House, offers ice creams all the year round. Vanilla, Mango, Pista, Chocolate, Butterscotch are their flavours. The ice creams are home made. Adwait has also tried to add newer flavours like Gulkand, Guava, Chickoo, Karvande etc. He is sure that these new tastes will be appreciated. It takes time for the customers to develop a particular taste. He is optimistic.
For Balakrishna Cold Drink House, it was a humble beginning way back in 1965 when Adwait’s late grandmother, Vijayalakshmi Narayan Nevgi and her son Shashikant kick started it. “Soda, carbonated water and homemade sharbats were what they offered then,” states Adwait.
It was in 1967 that a family friend from Kolhapur taught the mother-son duo how to make ice cream at home. A year passed before they could purchase a manually operated ice cream maker. It was a small equipment to be manually churned until the ice cream was ready.
There were three flavours - mango, chocolate and vanilla. The sharbats and ice creams were made at home and served at the shop. Even now they serve ice creams that are locally, handmade and taste just awesome. The shop is popular even among visitors from Mumbai and other cities. The grandmother is no more but her taste still lingers on in the ice creams she made 50 years ago and that are still sold here.
After graduation Adwait decided to join his father’s business “ that of making ice creams at home and serving in their shop. But he decided to experiment - with neglected fruits that grew in and around his village. “There were jackfruits and jamuns which had no market value.
The locals did not consume these and so they were sent to Mumbai. But most of the money was pocketed by the transporters who bought from the locals and sold in bigger markets. The owner of the tree was not earning anything. He maintained the trees but went into losses with negligent returns as it was the transporter who decided the rate of the fruit. I saw this and hence decided to use these and such other neglected fruits for ice creams and mocktails,” shares Adwait. This would have added to his already existing flavours that were in demand - chocolate, mango and vanilla.
Initially his father was reluctant to allow Adwait to experiment and initiate something new as their shop was running smoothly. “But I insisted. I was determined. And he finally permitted me.
With the family support I then began my experiments. I chose jackfruit and jamun first. The initial taste was not that great. But I did not deter. I followed my trial and error method and continued experimenting with the taste and formula. Finally I got it perfect. I also invited suggestions from people around me,” quips Adwait who currently makes 30/40 litres of ice cream per batch. He is also experimenting in sugarless ice creams. His argument is people with diabetes are anyways, used to eating without any sweet taste. So why not try making plain ice cream, with zero sugar?
He enjoys cake making too. Home baked cakes and cookies made out of natural, healthy ingredients will be served fresh all the year round at his shop. Wanting to put to use his knowledge of baking into practice he wants to offer something delightful to locals. He has no plans to leave his town. In fact, he wants to generate jobs for the local youth so that they too remain close to their homes and earn their livelihood by utilising locally available raw material.
“I want to offer pure, true and original. I want to highlight the importance of social entrepreneurship. The local fruits will have demand, a local market will be created and natural things are always healthy. This will boost our rural economy and make the farmers in our nation strong,” he claims.
