She’s just started out and has already gotten a taste of sweet success! The love Aishwarya Kalakata has for ice creams is something that runs quite deep. A graduate from IIM Bangalore, she worked in multiple areas and at various IT firms, but her passion for ice cream took precedence. And soon the entrepreneurial bug bit her and she introduced handcrafted ice cream sandwiches made from natural ingredients to Bengaluru.
“I’m a computer science graduate from IIIT Hyderabad and an MBA from IIM Bangalore. After my corporate stint, the charm of the start-up world beckoned. I’ve always wanted to start a quaint little place where people came to enjoy themselves and celebrate their happiness and that’s why I set up Nutty Squirrel. What better way to do it than with ice cream! We make ice creams in innovative ways — in cookies, brandy snaps, brownies, Snicker doodles; like a sandwich and like a taco,” shares Aishwarya of how it all began.
Her inspiration for an ice cream sandwich came from a small stall at a music concert in Brisbane. “It tasted fabulous and more people were lined up at the stall than at the stage. A quick search thereafter revealed how it is quite a popular treat in other countries and we decided it was time our city had it too. Our popular flavours are caramel and hazelnut, chikkoo with cheddar and dark chocolate with brownie. Some of our combos are brownie with blueberry, mocha cookie with filter coffee and snicker doodle with vanilla, besides large and mini bite sized sandwiches. Learning to make ice cream was the easier part. Dishing it out with the same quality and consistency week after week needed to be mastered. A lot of food consultants and chefs trained us. I’ve set up a space at VR Bengaluru and take online orders on Inner Chef,” reveals the winner of the Inorbit Pink Power campaign, who won the contest as she was a perfect example of encouraging other women entrepreneurs.
