Haagen-Dazs may scoop up more Indian cities

Two months after whipping up a storm over its invitation to ‘holders of international passports’ for an exclusive preview of its Haagen-Dazs ice-cream store in New Delhi, General Mills — the company that owns the brand — has put the episode firmly behind it.

It is now evaluating prospects of taking the premium ice-cream to more metro cities in the country. At the moment, Haagen-Dazs is available in select five-star hotels and retail outlets in Mumbai and Delhi only.

The plan, according to General Mills’ Director (Haagen-Dazs & Business Processes) Arindam Haldar is to take the product to places such as Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune. “We are looking at how we can get there.”

 

A key challenge for the company in its bid to expand is having a cold-chain infrastructure in every city. Currently, General Mills manages the cold-chain infrastructure in Mumbai on its own, making sure its ice-creams are kept at a constant temperature of -26 degrees Celsius from the moment they land in the city from France, where they are made. “We make sure the ice-creams are at this temperature throughout their journey up to the point they reach the retail outlets and five-star hotels, where they are kept in special imported freezers,” says Haldar.

Presently, Haagen-Dazs offers 22 flavours of “creations made with ice-cream” at its exclusive store in Delhi. The five-star and retail outlets, on the other hand, offer seven flavours only.

Items on the menu are nothing less than Rs 400, going up to Rs 1,500. Not only are ice-creams available there, but also milk shakes, beverages, pastries, deserts, etc. “The five-star and retail outlets, in contrast, are meant to promote the sale of pre-packed ice-cream products, such as mini-cups and pints,” he says.

One scoop of ice-cream in a mini-cup costs over Rs 165. The pint costs Rs 625 per flavour.

The company, according to Haldar, will soon launch multipacks consisting of four minicups at an introductory price of Rs 550. “This is also a take-home, which can be given as a gift as well,” says Haldar.