I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! While that is true, here’s another fact for you — India’s ice cream market, like many other sectors and industries, is getting a flavour shift with consumers actively engaging themselves in healthier choices.
Gone are the days when legacy players like Amul, Mother Dairy, Kwality Wall’s, and Vadilal would dominate the freezers of retail stores and supermarkets, making it difficult for newcomers to break in.
With healthy and conscious eating becoming the new norm among Indians, a wave of new-age ice cream brands (NOTO, Get-A-Way, Minus 30) has buckled up to take the market by storm.
Among them is a new entrant, Go Zero, which plans to scoop up a large chunk of health-conscious customers with its high-protein, low-calorie, sugar-free, and plant-based ice cream options.
“Health-conscious buyers are no longer willing to compromise,” said Kiran Shah, the founder of Go Zero, an ice cream startup.
It may seem quite over-ambitious for an ice cream brand founded in July 2022, but Shah has set his eyes on breaking records in the industry that today fosters more than 5,000–6,000 ice cream manufacturers but none, except Naturals, claims to have churned more than INR 200 Cr in revenues last fiscal.
So, how does Shah plan to achieve this? He aims to position Go Zero as the go-to brand for health-conscious ice cream lovers by leveraging his decade-long experience in the industry and adopting quick commerce as its sole growth strategy. Notably, before launching Go Zero, Shah led Apsara Ice Creams from 2014 to 2022.
The D2C startup is currently available on Swiggy and Zomato, as well as quick commerce platforms like Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit, and Zepto, across 16+ Indian cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, and Chennai.
Go Zero has raised over $2.5 Mn from investors such as DSG Consumer Partners, Saama, and V3 Ventures, along with Arjun Purkayastha (SVP, Reckitt Benckiser).
While several strategies have contributed to the brand’s growth (more on this later), what truly propelled Go Zero into the spotlight was its appearance on Shark Tank India.
The startup is currently generating a monthly revenue of INR 4-5 Cr. From its FY24 net revenue of INR 11.1 Cr, Go Zero claims to be on track for a nearly 3X revenue jump in FY25.
Go Zero: Scooping Out A New Era
Go Zero’s journey dates back to 2014 when Shah joined his family business, Apsara Ice Creams. Before that, the IIM Lucknow alumnus worked as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble Singapore for three and a half years.
Apsara Ice Creams, a Mumbai-based parlour chain founded in 1971, is known for its diverse and seasonal flavours, including roasted almond, blueberry cheesecake, and guava chilli.
At the time Shah joined, Apsara had only one store and was largely focussed on B2B sales, weddings, and events. However, he was dissatisfied with the brand’s approach and felt the brand name was lacking a sharp recall.
“I suggested changing the name because it wasn’t strong enough. Look at Naturals — the name itself conveys what it stands for. But in a family business, you don’t always get to make those decisions,” he said.
Apsara has always been bootstrapped, the founder said, as the family has always wanted to operate independently, keep full equity within the family and grow at a steady pace rather than scaling rapidly with outside capital.
While these factors made the founder eager to start something of his own, it wasn’t until the pandemic that he saw a surge in demand for sugar-free, healthy, and guilt-free ice creams.
“I noticed this trend not just at Apsara but across other brands like NOTO and Get-A-Way, which positioned themselves as guilt-free. The trend was already growing in the US and making its way to India. Post-pandemic, as awareness around sugar’s impact grew and influencers amplified the conversation, the ‘better-for-you’ wave took off,” Shah said.
This was when the founder finally decided to step away from his family business and build a brand in this space.
A Leap From Apsara To Go Zero
While launching the startup, Shah was clear about a few things — the first being that he wanted a sharp, instantly recognisable brand name. Secondly, unlike Apsara Ice Creams, he did not want Go Zero to be just an offline-focussed brand.
From a manufacturing standpoint, instead of owning a plant, he opted to work with contract manufacturers to keep costs low and scale efficiently.
“Instead of investing heavily in capex for physical stores, we took a more efficient approach. We set up small dark stores and got listed on platforms like Swiggy and Zomato. This allowed us to scale faster without the overhead costs of traditional retail,” Shah said, adding that setting up 100 parlours would have required an investment of at least INR 25 Cr.
“It makes more sense for a new brand like us to capture the online market first and then gradually expand offline.”
Once, this was sorted, next on the list for the founder was to decide the USP of the products, and given the founder hailed from the ice cream manufacturing industry, making a low-calorie or zero-sugar ice cream wasn’t difficult, but categorisation of products was a brain freeze moment.
So, he started by setting his benchmark against brands like NOTO, Get-A-Way, and The Brooklyn Creamery. For this, he launched a low-calorie range inspired by NOTO, a high-protein range similar to what Get-A-Way was doing, and a few vegan (dairy-free) options like The Brooklyn Creamery.
Apart from experimenting with what products consumers preferred, he also researched a bit and found that when people think of “guilt-free” ice cream or desserts, their top concerns are zero sugar and calorie count. Protein, carbs, and fats didn’t matter as much. This insight led him to simplify the portfolio, and the brand decided to pivot in 2023 with a complete focus on zero-sugar offerings.
“If a brand has both zero-sugar and regular sugar products, it means they are not committed to the philosophy. I’m not saying sugar is good or bad. But once you decide that sugar isn’t good for you or your consumers, you should stick to that philosophy and build a brand around it,” Shah said.
What’s Next For Go Zero
According to Shah while his learning from Apsara has really helped him shape Go Zero’s journey, what has worked best for the brand is the decision to get listed on quick commerce.
“Within just six months of launching on quick commerce, sales skyrocketed. The brand’s monthly revenue has skyrocketed from INR 25-30 Lakh to INR 3.5 Cr,” the founder said.
Realising this potential of quick commerce, the brand’s sole focus has been on expanding on all quick commerce channels. It is already in initial talks with BigBasket and Flipkart Minutes to launch on these platforms.
Today 20-25% of its sales come from Swiggy and Zomato, whereas 70-80% of sales happen on quick commerce, which is growing at 2X annually, per the founder. The D2C brand also aims to expand its presence to towns such as Ahmedabad, and Jaipur.
Shark Tank has played a crucial role in giving Go Zero a much-needed sales boost. The episode aired in January, typically the lowest sales month due to peak winter. However, the show’s massive reach turned it into Go Zero’s best sales month, even surpassing the previous summer season.
Before Shark Tank, the brand had around 4-5 Lakh monthly users, which jumped to 8 Lakh in January, and has now stabilised to 8-10 Lakh users per month.
According to Shah, Go Zero is also one of the top five most searched ice cream brands in the country. Its net revenue has surged from INR 11.1 Cr in FY24 to INR 35 Cr in FY25 so far, the founder added.
Going forward, the brand wants to enter new categories and launch sugar-free shakes and desserts.
As it moves ahead with its ambitious goal of rapid expansion, one of the biggest challenges that stands in front of the brand is scaling up production. To address this, the brand is actively seeking a third contract manufacturer in Delhi NCR.
Additionally, it aims to increase brand awareness and drive repeat user percentage. While Go Zero primarily focusses on quick commerce, it is leveraging offline events to introduce consumers to its products.
On the financial side, the brand is targeting INR 10 Cr in monthly sales by May 2025. While the D2C ice cream brand is on the right track, increasing competition and evolving consumer demands pose a challenge to its survival in India’s INR 268 Bn ice cream industry. Can it stay at the top of the freezer without melting under pressure of its ambitious growth plans?
[Edited By Shishir Parasher]
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