When the craving for the cold goodness of ice-cream grabs you there is one place in the city that you should dash off to - Havmor. Yes, without the 'e'. "That's for effect, so no one forgets our ice-cream," laughs its owner Pradeep Chona. It's not likely they will, for Havmor has been around since 1944, even before our independence. That probably makes it the country’s oldest ice-cream company! The brand has over 100 flavours, from the fresh fruit variety, to lollies, bars, ice-cream cakes, roll-cuts and special packs, to a range of super sundaes. There is the current hot favourite - Cookie Cream which has the Australian Cookie Man biscuits, a Black Forest whopper, topped with roasted nuts, one with coffee mixed with honey and cashews, Begum Pudding-Havmor's speciality served with kesar sauce and ice cream and much more. New flavours come up every three months and what's more, they are in line with the times too!  August 15, saw Chona and his team create a tiranga ice-cream that was a huge hit at all their outlets.  And when President Clinton visited Ahmedabad, it was Havmor's Mango Barfi ice-cream that he relished.

"Try our ‘Tall Beauty’," urges the ice-cream man. Served in a tall glass it contains a sweet mélange of kaju draksh and strawberry ice cream and fruit pieces, topped with assorted jelly, whipped cream and nuts. The same is available in a kiddies' version too. For an unusual taste, try their combination of Orange Tang ice-cream with chocolate fudge sauce, it's different alright!  
 
The brand has certainly come a long way since the time Pradeep's father, Satish Chandra started his ice-cream enterprise from a little handcart outside the Ahmedabad Railway Station. "That was here, in India" begins Pradeep, and continues, "but actually, Havmor started in Pakistan. My father learnt how to make ice-cream from my uncle there," he says. Post-partition, Mr Chona senior came to Dehradun in India. He tried to kick start his business here but owing to the cold climate there were not many takers in this place, so he moved to Indore. But trade was bleak there too. Out of sheer frustration he rang up a friend in Ahmedabad who asked him to come and stay with his family. "My father had just Rs. 200 on him, but a whole lot of courage!," recalls the son. At Ahmedabad, lady luck smiled down on Satish Chandra and his wife. The weather was hot, perfect for an ice-cream business and their little cart which they set up outside the railway station sold out its stock of chocolate and cream bars each day. This was his night job, by day he was working as a ground engineer with B.O.A.C., now British Airways.

As business got better, Satish in 1951, rented a small place on Relief Road, one of Ahmedabad's busy, shopping areas. It belonged to businessman Kasturbhai Lalbhai, who readily agreed to give it to the ice-cream man. There was just one condition. No eggs were to be used on the premises. A condition met not just then, but to this day, you will not find eggs in any of the food or dessert items at Havmor.

Presently the brand has 6,000 dealers  with the company plant at Naroda manufacturing 50,000 litres of ice-cream in peak season. Here is a story of hard work and a determination to succeed. Havmor is a business model to reckon with.

Rekha, Pradeep's wife joined the business in 1992. She oversees the Human Resources Development department. The team at Havmor smile brighter because of her. She ensures that they are always motivated, from handing out movie tickets to them on special occasions or treating them to meals and giving out awards like 'Best Sales Man', etc..

Pradeep's son Ankit, has joined the group to make up the trio. He is a young man, a Hrithik Roshan look alike, courteous and every bit as enterprising as his father and grandfather. Ankit returned with a degree from Purdue University two years ago and has since then, been completely involved with the business.  It is he who personally supervises the snacks division of Havmor. That's right, Havmor have snacks too! The eateries run alongside the 12 parlours in Ahmedabad. In addition, there are three stand-alone restaurants in the city in Navrangpura, S.G. Highway, Bopal Ambli and one in Baroda. There are pizzas, chaats, burgers, tikkas, samosas, dahi papdi and jumbo sandwiches made with fresh bread from Havmor's in-house bakery. The chana bhatura is a crowd favourite - a hot, puffed-up-with-steam bhatura with a bowl of tantalising chana.

What works well is the ambience at Havmor's restaurants. All of them are bright, neat and have a spacious feel;  with soothing piped music playing in the background.

"We're starting franchises soon," announces Ankit. "I'm keen on developing the fast food concept." That might be an off-shoot of the specially packed corporate lunches that Havmor have introduced. How exactly  have they managed to do it? "Quality ingredients and no shortcuts," says Pradeep. "Once that battle is won, running a restaurant comes easy," he says.

There is one thing that's on his mind, though. And no, it's not a new ice-cream flavour. "A friend of mine came from Pakistan recently and told me that Havmor still exists over there. I am so excited by the thought, in fact, all of us are! We want to go have a look!" Of course they should, thinks UpperCrust. And click good pictures for us, this is food history and we love such stories.

Havmor Foods PVT LTD. 
Kashmira Chambers, 2nd floor,
B/h Popular House, Navrangpura,
Ahmedabad 380009.
Tel: 079 26577070, 26575454
Fax: 079 26575100
Website: http://www.havmor.com