The Ice Candy Man

For almost a decade now,the 36-year-old Chopra (inset) has been rolling out scoops of ice creams to his clientele of swish hotels and restaurants that include The Park,Connaught Place,The Radisson MBD in Noida,The Grand,Vasant Kunj,and Blanco,Ploof and Mosaic. “It is not easy. Hotels and restaurants are very demanding when it comes to colour,texture and flavour,but it is fun working with the chefs,” he says. It was chef Bakshish Dean of The Park who introduced him to sorbets and finally at a wedding at the hotel he rolled out some finger-licking raspberry sorbets. In 2000,Chopra finally walked into a kitchen for good,after setting up the eatery Cafferels in Sector 18,Noida. “Apart from salads and sandwiches,it also had an ice-cream corner where guests could see how their scoops were made and customise them.

Chopra also packs off ice cream tubs laden with brownie chocolate and flavoured with pina colada for partying crowds in NCR and beyond — Ludhiana,Agra and Chandigarh. A litre of cold scoop comes for Rs 100-120,but transport charges will be extra.

If the regulation vanilla scoop does not tickle the taste buds,he has low-calorie desserts and gourmet ice creams. “Yoghurt desserts have picked up this season,but what has really caught the fancy is Dotz,” says Chopra. “We bought the north India franchise for it. They look like small thermocol balls and are eaten the way you pop in popcorn. The concept is popular in the US and the Middle East.” The kiosks Chopra put up at Ansal Plaza and Sahara Mall in Gurgaon did not work,but “they are in demand for birthday parties and I’m getting orders from Agra,Bareilly and Ludhiana”,he says. He himself would slurp on an orange ice stick on a summer’s day but he cribs that “Indians are yet to take ice creams beyond the cart-on-the-roadside concept. It can be a meal in itself and not just an end-of-the-meal dessert”. The ice candy man’s sweet dreams. Contact: 9811723458