Unforgotten Brands — Arun Ice Cream

R.G. Chandramogan, a 21-year-old native of Tiruthangal, a mofussil town in the Sivakasi taluk of the Virudhunagar district in southern Tamil Nadu, decided to remain in Chennai and strike out on his own in 1970. His dad decided to pack up the family and go back to the hamlet where he grew up, farming.

In 1971, he opened an ice cream business in a 250-square-foot area at Royapuram, north of Chennai, with a capital of Rs 13,000. He had three workers at the time. To market his Arun Ice Cream, he purchased nine push carts and six tricycles and hired salespeople. R.G. Chandramogan and Co. was the name he chose for his business.

Naming

More the sun, more the ice cream. This is why he named his ice cream brand, Arun.

He didn’t do a tonne of research before launching his ice cream company. Since money was tight and he couldn’t afford the high startup costs of other companies, he took his uncle’s advice and started this business.

Investment in products was a gamble back then because companies like Dasaprakash, Kwality, and Joy controlled the southern market. There were between 3,500 and 4,000 ice cream businesses like Arun’s. Why did this product survive when others failed?

He and his company endured over the following decade. Since he lacked any relevant experience, his company’s growth was slow. In 1971, the sales were Rs 1.15 lakh, but by 1981, they had only increased to Rs 4.25 lakh.

Especially in the beginning, when young Chandramogan relocated his second ice cream base to a less accessible location and saw his clients melt away as quickly as his ice cream, there were significant setbacks. After meeting the Punjabi businessman, Vijay Kumar Syal, he too adopted the “Rita” concept, investing in men with pushcarts who sold Arun ice cream in underserved regions.

By 1991, the company’s revenue had increased to Rs 4 crore, thanks to his education in marketing and finance. No turning back at that point

Aiming For Untapped Markets

Chandramogan found niches that major companies weren’t focusing on because they deemed them too tiny or unprofitable. He began selling high-quality ice cream to college students, knowing that they would be open to testing new flavours. There was a positive reaction. He did the same thing with ship chandlers, another target market, by learning about their packing and shipping needs. By 1974, it was said that about 95% of the college canteen and ship-chandler markets exclusively sold Arun Ice Cream.

Chandramogan’s brand was also introduced to rural regions, which was a smart move on his part as a marketer. By advertising his product as “Fresh ice cream from Madras,” he was able to win over consumers in remote areas. Since they had previously been considered a minor demographic, people in rural areas appreciated the effort a company in “Madras” made to reach out to them. Only in the late 1980s was Arun able to break through to the rest of Madras (now Chennai).

Chandramogan quickly expanded to provide dry ice-chilled ice cream to district-level cafeterias and dormitories. He had his goods sent throughout via Indian Railways. Chandramogan focused on second and third-tier cities such as Pondicherry (now Puducherry), Madurai, Sivakasi, Kumbakonam, and the like since he was not yet prepared to enter Madras.

Brilliant Advertising

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Originally published at https://onlykutts.com on September 29, 2023.