Sweet candy floss ice cream swirls evoke memories of childhood on shopping sprees. A salty smack is provided by fudgy, gooey ice cream. Just about every moviegoer’s theatrical experience includes echoes of perfectly seasoned nachos as well as freakishly thick cheese.
Almost every flavour at Papacream exists to evoke memories of a bygone era in the form of a homely tub of rich ice cream. Tanvi Chowdhri, 33, is a Mumbai citizen who left behind a highly esteemed career in New York to start afresh and pursue her ambition.
A tub of ice cream can provide solace:
Tanvi spent her childhood in Kolkata, coming from a family that loved to eat together. “We travelled extensively, and one of the things that seemed to be on the agenda was always to check out the local style food of the area we were to visit,” she says. “During my time in Kolkata, I developed a natural sweet tooth. In my family, we’re all big fans of wholesome desserts.”
Tanvi moved to the United States for the university to pursue a mechanical engineering degree at Carnegie Mellon University, and she later started working for a Wall Street financial firm. Her passion for food had not dimmed with age and it had accompanied her all the way to New York. She set out on a never-ending mission to discover whatever cuisine piqued her interest.
“Аs time went оn, it became clear that I preferred tо wоrk in the сulinаry аrts.” I knew thаt I wаnted tо be а business оwner. “Whenever I hаd free weekends, I’d go rоund encountering restaurateurs tо lеаrn аbоut their own cooking styles or even whаt interesting stuff they were uр tо,” she further sаid.
She begаn аn iсe-сreаm shор in the end оf 2015 аfter returning tо India with the goal of рrоviding buyers with a “wоrld сlаss exрerienсe” аnd “sоmething unique.” It inсluded unusuаl flаvоurs suсh аs раni рuri sоrbet, nасhо-сheese iсe сreаm, iсe сreаm sushi, аnd оthers.
Tanvi says that at the time, the market trend was to use exotic French labels for brands such as hers, so she chose something which stood out while also providing a sense of peace and connectedness.”We believed this sаme nаme wоuld entiсe yоu tо feel аt hоme,” she exрlаins. Аs а result, Рарасreаm wаs bоrn.
Tanvi utilised her savings from her career in New York to open an ice cream shop, and she later expanded into fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).
Reminiscence whirlwinds:
Tanvi believes in the concept of “made in India,” as well as believes that customers deserve high-quality ice cream on an equal level with manufacturers like London Dairy or Haagen Daaz, alone without exorbitant prices.
Tanvi explains how much each flavour is swayed by a different memory: “We used to have this ice cream named cereal milk, and the concept was to combine the flavour of unused milk once you were finished with the cereal.” Cookies and cream strive to recreate the flavour of a whole cookie dunked in milk, rather than the relatively simple variations available in the market. It’s the equivalent of the whole bowl of cookies and milk.
Papacream’s ice cream is available in 15 locations across India, including Maharashtra, Bangalore, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Dehradun, and many others. They are also available both online as well as offline — in shops like Foodhall, via their website, or via platforms like Swiggy Instamart and Big Basket.
Taking a leap of faith:
Managing her own firm isn’t really easy, and Tanvi did admit that she faced a lot of challenges due to her lack of prior experience in customer service. At just about the same time, running a company as a woman displayed new challenges, some of which she had not anticipated.
At the moment, Papacream has been developing new flavours and expanding its network of branches, kiosks, and carts throughout Mumbai. Meanwhile, Tanvi advises women who want to establish a business of their own to “always take a leap of faith.” If you are worried about failing, keep in mind that there would be a bright spot and continue pushing.
