Ice pops from Hyderabad going places

Skippi Ice Pops is available in more than 10,000 outlets across India and is now looking to increase its export component

Hyderabad: Rising mercury and a cool ice pop, popular as ‘chuski’, are a pair. City-based Skippi Ice Pops, which bagged an all-shark deal on Shark Tank India’s first season, is now looking to increase its export component. It will focus more on Gulf Cooperation Council countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia.

It is already exporting to Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, Ghana, UAE, Nepal, Uganda and others. The export component now is about 10 per cent of the total sales. It will export the Skippi Ice units in liquid form and the retailers will have to sell them after refrigerating them.

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In line with the rising demand, it now is planning to set up a large manufacturing unit near the city in July. Currently, it is doing about 20,000 litre per day now and it is planning to increase it by five-fold to one lakh litre a day, said Ravi Kabra, Co-Founder Skippi Ice Pops.

Later, it will also look to set up facilities in Mumbai and Gujarat. The company is also looking to increase its EV fleet for last mile deliveries.

“Our revenues have increased 60 times since we came on the Shark Tank. In February alone, we sold more than one crore popsicles. We now have more than 250 employees from the earlier 60. We have the distributor network and channel partners in place. We are also present on food delivery apps. Our revenues are about Rs 5.2 crore,” Kabra said.

The company also started offering smaller packs priced Rs 10 each as part of its plans to get aggressive in Tier II and III locations in addition to the Rs 20 packs it had. The lower pricepoint is aiding in volumes,” he said. New flavours developed in-house will be added by April.

It uses groundwater but filters through an RO system. “We have a patented technology to produce soft ice. This will ensure that Pops do not turn hard and remain teeth friendly. This differentiates us from the rest. Also, there is no need to use a temperature-controlled vehicle while transporting Skippi Pops. They can be transported at ambient temperature in liquid form. This saves the supply chain cost effectively,” said Kabra.

“The market is huge. No single player can cater all of it. However, we are banking on our soft ice technology to stay ahead,” he said. It is now available in more than 10,000 outlets across the country. It is also the first ice pop brand in India to be sold at organised retail outlets.