Shmoozies: Introducing Unique & Delicious Hand-Crafted Ice Creams in Chennai

Our whole lives, we’ve loved ice creams and we’ve always looked for the next best flavour we could get our hands on. Over the last few years, there have been so many great new ice cream parlours opening around the city, but there’s a new ice cream brand in town and if you haven’t heard of it yet, you are missing out.

We caught up with Kshama Adka, founder and owner of Shmoozies Hand-Crafted Ice Creams, who not only makes all of her ice cream flavours from scratch, but comes from a business background and put her everything into making her brand the name that it is today. Kshama runs her ice cream company out of her house, where she one day hopes to open a parlour of her own. But till then, she’s making and selling her ice creams at farmer’s markets and pop-ups around the city and using Facebook to market her brand the best she can.

We got to try two of her flavours – Mint and Masala Tea – while Kshama spoke to us about starting the company and how she comes up with her unique flavours.

How did you start the company? And why did you choose ice cream?

I was in Hyderabad, as a business analyst, and stayed there for about 1^1/2 years. I also used to help a friend make brownies as a part time thing. Hyderabad has a huge sweet tooth place, you’ll see a lot of ice cream shops, cake shops and it’s all really big there.

I was always toying with the idea of starting something, but it was always more of a ‘running around with my ice cream truck’ kind of thing. More than cakes, I think that you’ll always find a tub of ice cream at home. So I thought, okay let’s see how we can make ice cream on a small scale, because if you make it at home, it’s usually for a party or something. I read up about it, there’s a lot more going on behind the process of making ice cream, so I thought okay maybe I can start doing this. I had a plan and I asked my dad, he was okay with it. So I quit my job and came back and did a lot of research, continued my reading because I don’t have a food or ice cream background.

You said you came back earlier this year, so when did you start the business?

The company is about 5-6 months old. I started making ice creams around July, which was the mango season. I would keep trying these flavours and putting them in the deep freezer, my brother and his friends would come in and try these ice creams and that’s how I got my first order. There was no official launch as such, but the biggest was when I did an event with By Hand From The Heart where I did a huge production for that. I made about 60-80 litres of ice cream and spent a week making it all and I was a sell out at that event!

What flavours do you have currently?

Now there’s about 10-11 and every fruit season, that will keep changing. I had mango, sapota and now it’s custard apple. I could add in a lot more flavours, like berries but you only get them in a particular season, otherwise it’s only canned. I didn’t want to get into that, because the taste changes. And everything that goes into the ice cream, I make sure that I make it myself. I don’t use any essence or colour to make it look appealing, it’s more on flavour than just something that captures your eye.

Mint Ice Cream

What do you mean when you say ‘hand-crafted’?

Literally every ingredient that goes into the ice cream, apart from the milk and the cream, the main ingredients that is the flavour of the ice cream and that is hand-made. I make my own butterscotch sauce, I make pomegranate molasses for one of the flavours and I make the toffee sauce for the Banoffee Pie flavour, which takes about six hours to cook to make it into toffee. And the flavours are a little unique, they are not the usual that you find. Of course, there’s the chocolate and the usual ones.

How can people order your ice cream?

I’ve put up my details on Facebook and people can book by calling the number listed. Some flavours are popular and keep moving, so I keep them ready. I give them the choice to either have it delivered or come and pick it up. During Diwali, I had a lot of gift boxes that had to be delivered all across the city, so that was a test and the first time I’ve done that. And now when people get worried that the ice cream won’t last during a delivery, I can assure them that I pack it properly and that it will stay for a few hours, at least till it reaches them.

How did you come up with the name?

It’s just a roll off of my name. Most people can’t pronounce my name right, because of the K, and I have so many nicknames and it progressed from that and ended up with Shmoozies. “To shmooze” means to gossip, and I just put it together and it became the name and it got stuck in my head.

Masala Tea Ice Cream

You can get in touch with Kshama about ice cream orders by calling 099401 14387 or visit her Facebook page to see what all she has to offer.