Uber unleashes on-demand ice cream promotion in India [ Transfreez Mobile Refrigeration - India's Most Effective Refrigerated Trucks ]

BANGALORE: Uber's customers in India will be able to order ice-cream on Friday using the taxi hailing app on their smartphones.

The initiative, which is highly popular in countries where it was offered earlier, will be only for one day in the six cities, including Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai, where the US-based company currently has operations.
"Amidst the heat wave, this kind of an offer seems very exciting," said Delhi-based Ankita Patnaik, who routinely uses the app to hail cabs. In Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai, the offer is priced at Rs 700. At Pune and Hyderabad, it's lower at Rs 450.

"Ice cream takes people back to their childhood and we want our users to enjoy that experience at the push of a button," said Bhavik Rathod, general manager at Uber Bangalore.

Globally, Uber is known for its promotional strategies like delivering kittens-on-demand. In India, the company has run several promotional campaigns, including on-demand rides with cricketers Brendon McCullum and Faf du Plessis in Delhi. Uber has tied with premium ice cream brand Haagen-Dazs for the initiative.

For their part, Indian taxi service providers are also coming up with their own promotions. Taxi aggregatorTaxiForSure has tied up with a Bangalore-based lounge to offer free drops to its customers who participate in its selfie campaign on Friday.

Uber is backed by cash-rich companies Goldman Sachs and Google Ventures, among others, and is reported to have clocked over $1 billion (Rs 6,000 crore) in gross bookings last year.

Thawing market prompts demand for ice cream to soar [ Transfreez Mobile Refrigeration - India's Most Effective Refrigerated Trucks ]

New data indicates that India’s ice cream market is the fastest growing in the world, as the product quickly becomes part of the country’s modern culture.
However, according to the report by Canadean, the rise of ice cream comes on the back of sheer weight of numbers, with per-capita consumption still the lowest across all major global markets in 2013.

Though this is set to quickly rise as more Indians visit the growing number of ice cream parlours and take a greater interest in packaged frozen goods from supermarkets and the increasing number of kirana stores with cold storage.

Changing perceptions

Traditionally, the Indian ice cream market has been dominated by the impulse category, with consumers seeing the product as an occasional treat for the hot summer season.

However, the growth of ice cream parlour culture in India is causing this perception to change, leading to a greater demand for take-home products as more Indians enjoy their ice cream throughout the year and not just during the summer.

Indian consumers prioritise the fun that ice cream products can offer above all else. As a result, the desire among Indian consumers to create fun sharing occasions will cause sales of take-home ice cream to rocket, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15.5% from 2013-2018.

India also experiences an above-average need for ethical ice cream on account of the large vegetarian and Hindu population in the country, and its increasingly active internet users are creating new opportunities for brands.

According to Catherine O’Connor, senior analyst at Canadean: “Buoyed by rising disposable incomes, increasing home-freezer ownership, and the growing reach of cold-chain distribution pathways in the country, the time is now for the Indian ice cream market.”

Ice cream parlours are a booming business in India, and this popularity is making its way to retail. “Manufacturers of packaged ice cream can tap into the popularity of the parlour by presenting fun products for sharing occasions, as well as ice cream party kits that allow consumers to add their own toppings to products, creating a fun, novel experience for all the family to enjoy together,” added O’Connor.

Chains like Baskin Robbins and Mövenpick have recently extended their menus with cakes, coffee and sandwiches to capitalise on high footfall.

Baskin Robbins has also been devising a “celebration” category that will offer ice-cream cakes and rolls, while Mövenpick has been adding locally produced allied products, like waffles and sandwiches to its imported ices.

However, market potential and corporate optimism have yet to translate into soaring sales this summer with some ice cream chains reporting a poor season.

“Dust storms in Delhi were not conducive and have taken its toll on ice-cream sales. Sales did not live up to our expectations during May,” Nitin Arora, chief executive of Delhi-based Creambell, told The Hindu.

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India's Most Effective Refrigerated Trucks

Keeping Milk Fresh — With Frogs [ Transfreez Mobile Refrigeration - India's Most Effective Cold Plate Refrigerated Trucks ]

Before modern refrigeration, people dropped frogs in their milk to preserve it. 

Long before modern refrigeration, people in Russia and Finland reportedly placed living Russian brown frogs in milk to keep it fresh.

It turns out the curious practice has a basis in science: Recent research on the amphibians’ skin secretions led by Moscow State University organic chemist A.T. Lebedev shows they’re loaded with peptides, antimicrobial compounds as potent against Salmonella and Staphylococcus bacteria as prescription antibiotics.

To your health!

Transfreez Mobile Refrigeration - India's Most Effective Cold Plate Refrigerated Trucks

Source: Discover Magazine

Ice-cream sales will sizzle despite higher prices [ Transfreez Mobile Refrigeration - India's Most Effective Cold Plate Refrigerated Truck ]

With manufacturers such as Amul, Mother Dairy and Vadilal deciding to pass on the increase in cost to consumers, ice-cream prices have gone up 10-20 per cent.

Yet, ice-cream makers are betting on higher sales this year with the forecast of a prolonged summer due to El Nino. “We increased prices in January by 10-13 per cent due to rise in input prices, mainly milk,” said RS Sodhi, Managing Director of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, which owns the Amul brand.

Sodhi said Amul uses fresh milk to make ice-creams and claimed a market share of 40 per cent across India.

The price of milk powder, a key ingredient, has almost doubled over last year to around ₹280 a kg, forcing ice-cream makers to hike prices, while other input costs have also risen.

Vadilal Industries has hiked prices by 7-9 per cent, said Managing Director, Rajesh Gandhi. For products on which prices cannot be raised, the company has tweaked its packs by reducing volume and size.

“The summer is expected to be normal and estimates are that the industry is expected to see 20 per cent growth, which will be good since last year the early monsoons had impacted the growth of the ice-cream industry,” Gandhi added.

Ice-cream consumption is much lower in India compared to developed countries. Indians, on an average, eat about 400 ml of ice-cream annually, while Americans consume 14 litres and the Chinese, 2.2 litres.

By Euromonitor estimates, the ice-cream market is expected to touch $1.1 billion (around ₹6,100 crore) by 2017. The current market size of the organised sector is estimated at ₹3,500 crore.

Subhasis Basu, Head of Dairy Products at Mother Dairy, said his company has hiked prices for some categories while it is considering increasing for others soon. “We have tried to absorb much of the input costs,” Basu said, adding that price hike was 15-20 per cent depending on products.

Creambell, owned by the Ravi Jaipuria promoted RJ Corp, also raised prices 8-10 per cent at the strat of the year. “If the weather patterns are not erratic, we expect the industry to grow at 15-20 per cent this year,” said Nitin Arora, CEO.

Transfreez Mobile Refrigeration - India's Most Effective Cold Plate Refrigerated Truck

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Source: The Hindu Business Line

Pabrai’s Fresh and Naturelle Ice cream now in spice-flavoured variants [ Transfreez mobile refrigeration - India's most effective Cold Plate Reefers ]

Pabrai’s Fresh and Naturelle Ice Cream has launched a range of spice ice creams in flavours such as ginger and honey; aniseed (saunf); cinnamon; Matcha green tea; Sichuan peppercorn; Wasabi and lemon grass.

Besides these, there are Five Spice and sandalwood ice cream. They are available in sugar-free variants at both outlets of Pabrai’s Fresh and Naturelle - Central Market, East Patel Nagar and Connaught Place Outer Circle (opposite Haldiram’s).

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Source: fnbNews.com

Dhavalikar launches Goa Dairy's ice cream range [Transfreez Mobile Refrigeration-India's Most Effective Cold Plate Reefers]

PONDA: Urging Goa Dairy not to entirely depend on milk supply from local farmers, cooperation minister Pandurang 'Deepak' Dhavalikar has asked the dairy to be self-reliant by starting its own cattle farm to get uninterrupted milk supply to manufacture dairy products.

Dhavalikar was speaking after launching Goa Dairy's ice cream range during a function held at Ponda on Tuesday evening.

The dairy has launched family packs, part packs, big and small cups, chocobars, dolly, kulfi, cones, cassattas in vanilla, strawberry, mango, butter scotch and pista flavours. "The dairy is producing about a tonne litre of ice cream per day and if the demand increases, the dairy has a plan to increase the production to two fold," dairy MD N C Sawant said.

Speaking further, Dhavalikar said, "Several private dairies may come in the state and take away milk from local farmers. In such a case Goa dairy should have its own animal farm with around 2,000 milk producing cattle like the dairies in other states," Dhavalikar said. Stating that although the government would be there to help the dairy, Dhavalikar said that the dairy authorities must not think that the government would always launch schemes and farmers would continuously supply milk to it. The dairy should think of how it would get continuous supply of milk throughout the year, the minister asserted.

Speaking on the occasion, Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar said that earlier people were reluctant to eat ice creams in winter, but now ice creams are widely eaten throughout the year, adding that the dairy must maintain standards and quality of the ice creams.

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Source: Times of India

Strawberry welcome for tourists to Maharashtra [Transfreez Mobile Refrigeration-India's Most Effective Cold Plate Reefers]

Remember the Beatles hit ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’? Head for Maharashtra, where, after mangoes, grapes, oranges and chickoos, the western Indian state is now wooing tourists with another trademark fruit - luscious, juicy red and dark pink strawberries.

In a first, a nine-day Strawberry Festival got under way over the weekend across the state in select malls to promote it as a tourist destination through strawberries.

"We have selected five centrally located malls in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik and Aurangabad where the farmers will directly sell their produce to the customers during the festival," Nayna Bondarde, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) regional manager at Pune said.

The timing could not have been more apt - markets across the state are flooded with baskets of the fresh fruit which are lapped up by the people, though the prices are a bit on the higher side this year.

Restaurants and ice-cream parlours have joined the fray by adding fresh strawberry as a must item on fruit salads, ice-creams, crushes, juices and milkshakes on their regular menus.

Until now, the Strawberry Festival had been celebrated on a modest scale in the Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani twin hill-stations and Pune, but now, with MTDC backing, it has been catapulted on the state`s tourism map.

"After all, Maharashtra produces around 30,000 tonnes of strawberries annually worth more than Rs 100 crore ($16 million)," Strawberry Growers Association of India President Balasaheb Bhilare said.

This accounts for around 80 percent of the country`s total strawberry produce, with Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani topping in terms of size, taste and quality, he added.

Being a delicate, highly-perishable commodity, around 80 percent of the production makes to the dinner tables, Bhilare said.

The remaining around 20 percent is used for commercial foods production like jams, jellies, confectionery, squashes, juices, ice-creams, and the like, through some of the big players like MAPRO, Mala, Manama, Pure Berries and Madhusagar and smaller companies mostly based in and around Satara district.

Explaining the rationale behind the fest, MTDC General Manager Kishori Gadre said that strawberry needs to be promoted aggressively both among the people of the state and other domestic markets.

"Already the state is famous for its mangoes which are being savoured across the country and even globally. But strawberry being highly perishable needs faster consumption; What better way than tourists coming to Maharashtra to enjoy the fruit fresh?" Gadre said.

Accorded the Geographical Indication (GI) Tag since 2010 (akin to a patent), Bhilare said that strawberry needs a stable, cool but dry climate of 18-25 degrees C to thrive and this is available mostly in the Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani mountains in western Maharashtra.

As far as festivals go, strawberry joins the list of fruits like mango, orange, chickoo and grapes which are celebrated annually in the state. The grape festival has an added incentive - coinciding with wine production - which has successfully lured tourists.

Bhilare said that the main strawberry growing season is October-March on around 3,000-4,000 hectares in the region, engaging around 5,000 farmers.

"It starts after monsoon and ends as the temperature starts warming up. Though it takes around two months to grow and ripen, we can manage only a single crop per season," Bhilare said.

Efforts to increase the output by two or even three crops per season would entail heavy investments in technology and related aspects, which is not at present possible.

"We lack proper cold storage facilities at various points; so we are not able to exploit the export potential and earn forex for the country. But, now with FDI in retail, we are starting to deliver strawberries from the farms to homes directly with great benefits for the growers and consumers," Bhilare explained.

Efforts are also under way to identify other areas in the country for growing strawberry. Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are growing the fruit in small quantities, while experiments are under way to grow it in Arunachal Pradesh.

Globally, strawberries are grown in huge quantities in Australia, the US (California and Florida), Italy, Germany, Spain and France.

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