When Shivaan Ghai graduated from NYU Stern School of Business, with a double concentration in finance and management, the most logical place for him to be was Wall Street. But when the fourth-generation scion of the Graviss Group, a family-run business that have been pioneers in the ice cream industry for 75 years, started pursuing that path, he quickly realised that it was a field that was of no interest to him. “I didn’t have to think hard at all to know where my passion truly lay – food and fitness,” he says.
Coming from a family that decides vacation spots based on restaurants and not iconic monuments – they have, after all, given us brands like Kwality, Yankee Doodle and Baskin Robbins – one can understand Shivaan’s passion for good food. As for fitness, it stemmed from his struggle with weight gain issues. “For the last six years, a big portion of my daily life has revolved around exercise and better food choices,” he says.
Once he had discovered his passion, he spent a lot of time researching the health food industry and its products. However, he found that nutrition and taste seemed to be mutually exclusive. This is when the germ of the idea of The Brooklyn Creamery, a low-calorie ice cream, was born. “I began thinking about a way to bridge the gap between nutrition and taste and what better way than to leverage Graviss’s strengths. Diving into the ice cream industry, I realized that there were brands that had begun developing different kinds of products such as sugar-free and high protein but which did not prioritise taste. I wanted to develop something that focused on taste and could help me and all of the other foodies out there to satisfy their sweet tooth, without any guilt,” he says. He tells us more about his baby – The Brooklyn Creamery…
Can you tell us a bit more about the ice-creams and how you have managed to keep them free of sugar and other chemicals? What are some of the flavors that people can enjoy? And which is your personal favourite?
The Graviss R&D team, which consists of veterans of the ice cream industry, has been working on this product for over 18 months. We have experimented with ingredients from all over the world and tried all sorts of permutations and combinations. Our final recipe has given us ice creams that are 60 percent lower in fat and less than half the calories of other premium ice cream brands. Our delicious ice creams are sweetened using only naturally-occurring sugars found in milk and plant-based sweeteners.
The flavors range from NYC-inspired Soho Berry and Brooklyn Bridge Butterscotch to classics such as Sweet Cream Vanilla and Summer Strawberries. They also include Indian favorites such as Kulfi and Holy Moly Mango alongside new-age flavors like Pina Colada and Sea Salt Caramel. The range is topped off with Bubblegum, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Caffe Mocha, and Chocoholic. With only 89 calories per serving, one can truly indulge every day, with no added guilt! Personally, I really love all the products and would have consumed over 100 tubs of it, but my favorite flavor of ice cream is always butterscotch!
Why the name Brooklyn Creamery?
We wanted a name that worked internationally. Brooklyn is commonly known to be a place of great creativity – always buzzing with new trends and concepts.
The Brooklyn Creamery’s ice creams resonate strongly with those traits of Brooklyn – it’s a creative and modern concept to help consumers live a better lifestyle. Additionally, the entire vibe of the brand is very young, fresh and inspired – the famous spirit that both, Brooklynites and TBC customers embody.
I also do have my own personal connection with New York after living there for four years. I felt as though a lot of inspiration for the brand and idea stemmed from the city, so it is only fair to pay some tribute to it. However, that was simply the cherry on top of the cake. At the final stage, we did have a range of brand names to choose from; however, ‘The Brooklyn Creamery’ was the one that was universally liked by most of our team members.
What are the expansion plans for brand The Brooklyn Creamery ? How do you propose to compete with similar brands?
We plan to expand across pan India over the next one year, as well as launch these products in the Middle East in 2020. I think our biggest differentiator is the taste. Usually when a consumer hears ‘low calorie’ they automatically assume the product is not for them. But with TBC, 99/100 people wouldn’t even be able to guess the product was low calorie! That is what makes it so great – it’s for everyone, and who isn’t looking to indulge guilt-free?
With our strong 75+ year knowledge of the ice cream industry we are able to apply all of our learning to use for all angles, from the formulation to the distribution and so on. We also work extra hard to deliver the best overall experience to our consumers. Due to these aforementioned reasons and more, we believe we will be able to compete effectively.
What do you think are going to be the ice cream trends for 2020? What is the consumer looking for?
I believe the Indian consumers taste palette has significantly developed over the last few years. Due to this, they will want a wider range of flavours inspired from all corners of the world. This market, in fact, is pioneered by none other than another Graviss brand – Baskin Robbins. I also think consumers are becoming more health-conscious. They will be looking for lower-calorie products such as our delicious TBC ice creams. Alongside that, I also see vegan/plant-based ice creams becoming a strong trend during 2020/21.
Words: Deepali Singh
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