If You Love ‘Ice Pepsis’, You’ll Be Thrilled To Know India Finally Has Its First Ice Pop
Hyderabad-based Anuja and Ravi Kabra launched what both claim to be India’s first ice pop brand called Skippy. Launched in April 2021, the founders claim that their ice pops are 100% naturally flavored – including natural colours, preservatives and sweeteners. Skippy also made it to the top five favorite brands of Shark Tank India. Interestingly, these ice cubes are sold in liquid form in tubes at room temperature. They need to be frozen for about eight hours to get ice pops.
Launched to bring back the memories of ‘Ice Pepsis’ from school days, Skippy Icepops is the first brand in the country to be sold in organized retail shelves. This feature probably makes Skippy one of the fastest selling products on the online platform and on their website. The two drew inspiration for their product from ice pop brands that they enjoyed when they lived and worked in Australia.
Elaborating on the claims of ‘natural’ flavored, colored and preservatives, Anuja says that the colors and flavors used are all fruit and vegetable extracts. “We took care not to use artificial colors and flavors, while maintaining the fun aspect.” The flavors available now are raspberry, Orange, Cola, Mango Twist, Bubblegum and Lemon On all major online marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Qtrove and also on Skippy website.
Ravi has been a professional commodity trader and an entrepreneur since 2005. Throughout his career, he has been involved in the import and export of a number of industrial and consumer products including food and non-food items. As well as being an entrepreneur, he gained experience working in Australia with Fortune 500 companies such as DuPont, GWF, Kuehne Nagel.
“Having worked in leading positions at leading companies, I decided to use my experience to start something that my wife and I enjoyed during my stay in Australia. When we first saw ice pops it took us back to our childhood days when they were the most taboo thing to suck on purely because our elders were concerned about the quality of the water and the colors used. Even with all those restrictions, they were still the most sought-after treats for anyone to buy with the least amount of pocket money,” says Ravi.
Although the founders don’t want to brand their product as healthy, they are clear about this. Ravi says, “This is a fun product. Post COVID everyone has jumped on the healthy bandwagon. We, as entrepreneurs, were sure not to take the ‘healthy product’ route. Anuja and I felt that we also needed to eat something.”
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