Dotty about Dotz

Some times, even making ice cream can be about rocket science. Pune-based Space Dots Foods uses cryogenic freezing technology "" the same that's used to cool engines in space craft "" to make tiny beads of frozen dessert, barely 6 mm round. The result is the space-age Dotz ice cream, which has skyrocketed in popularity since it was launched last year.

From just three outlets in Pune in 2004, Space Dots has built a network of outlets and kiosks that covers Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore.

The festival season will see the company introducing other cities to the space-age cooler. Four outlets in Baroda, five franchisees each in Surat and Kolkata and 20 in Bangalore will open shop this month.

Space Dots Director Dilip Jagad adds that plans are also on to double the number of kiosks in Delhi and Mumbai as well, to 20 and 52, respectively, and take Pune up to 15, within the next few months.

That's pretty impressive for a company that doesn't advertise at all, counting instead on word-of-mouth publicity. But Dotz is a concept that's bound to appeal to younger audiences.

Inspired by the American Dippin' Dots, Dotz is only the second "spherical" ice cream in the world. It took account-turned-entrepreneur Jagad and Space Dots' other director Manish Vithalani close to two years to perfect their manufacturing process and another two years to get it patented.

The R&D phase also set it back Rs 1.5 crore, but Space Dots has already recovered more than Rs 1 crore; and turnover will cross Rs 5 crore this year, claim the owners.

That's also because the company is counting on the franchisee model to expand quickly into new markets. That includes overseas territories like Uruguay, Lebanon and Dubai, where marketing will begin mid-2006.

Says Vithalani, "We will appoint master franchisees in these countries that, in turn, will encourage local franchisees." Under the agreements finalised in these countries, Space Dots will share its technology with the franchisee, but the ice cream will be manufactured only at Pune. The Pune factory has an installed capacity of 1,000 kg a day, of which it is currently using just half.

The ice cream needs to be kept at -40 degree Celsius, which requires special refrigeration technology and is airlifted from Pune to other cities. All of which adds to the cost, which the company says it can't absorb. Which is why a 50-gm cup of the frozen dessert carries a Rs 30 tag.

Still, cost shouldn't really be a deterrent to the potential customer as Dotz sells mainly to younger, deep-pocketed consumers. "We intend to stock Dotz only in upmarket malls and multiplexes," says Jagad.