Hello my name is Kshama Adka. Born in Mangalore, brought up in Chennai, Studied in Goa and worked in Hyderabad, I have now moved back to the place I love the most. I am an ice cream lover who took her love for the dessert a bit too seriously 🙂 I run a Chennai based ice-cream business, Shmoozie’s Hand-Crafted Ice Cream.
Q – Was it always your dream to become an entrepreneur, if not how did you made the choice?
From being caught up in the cushiony corporate world and trying to catch the next bus, next meeting, next training, next job – setting up a small ice cream cafe is nothing short of a dream come true. I am a commerce student with an MBA degree from Goa Institute of Management. I have no food background except for the absolute love of it. The love for ice creams made me do a lot of research for more than a year. Once I understood the science behind it and knew that good quality ice cream could be made by hand (without the use of artificial colouring or essence), I discussed it with my folks and they loved the idea. That was all the motivation and support I required to drop everything, move home and start up my dream.
Q – Who or what was your inspiration?
While I worked for an IT biggie in Hyderabad , the independence gave me the confidence and strength to believe that I could make my dream a reality. I helped my friend , part time, baking brownies for his business. so I would work 10 am to 6 pm at office get back home and spread brownie aroma for the next 6 hours by mad baking. From 3 days a week it went on to 5 and I loved the craziness of my situation
Q – Please tell us about your milestone journey, especially the difficulty you faced?
Food industry is itself a tough one to be in. Imagine pleasing every single palette with your offering. It is a huge task. Learning that it is okay to not have to please all tastes and preferences was the toughest hurdle to across. Believing in your offering and going after it, is very crucial. My biggest milestones are when people come back and tell me they have started enjoying more flavours than just chocolate or when the actually like Ice cream
Q – With so much Competition around, How is “Shmoozies” different from the other companies?
Ice cream is more than just a dessert. It is magic. It is a celebration. Imagine making your own ice cream! you get to play around with flavours and create a lovely dessert out of it. Hand -crafted ice creams gives me the privilege of customising a flavour and creating everything from scratch. Most of what we get these days has a ton of colouring, essences and excess sugar. I prefer to keep it simple and give more importance to flavour. Most of the magic happens in that first bite of ice cream
The idea- while eating a scoop of Backyard Mint Refresher , you remember the freshness of the mint lemonade after school in the summers. The kadak garam chai on a rainy sunday evening. The comforting lull of your grandmother’s filter coffee as you sat on the swing. Reliving memories sets shmoozie’s apart
Q – What was the best and the worst advice you received when you started your career?
I had very supportive friends and family encouraging me. “Go for it”. I had them cheer for me . Always!
Q – At this point in your career, are you happy ? How do you feel about your company?
Shmoozie’s has never been about catching the next summer and making a ton of money. It has been a wonderful journey so far and I’m cherishing every moment as an achievement.It’s a overwhelming feeling when people equate ice cream to Shmoozie’s. It is now bigger than me and I am glad to be associated with it 🙂
Q – If someone read your story and wanted to follow your footsteps being inspired by it, what advice would you give them?
You are your only asset and inspiration. Challenge yourself. You might just have a pleasant surprise!
Q – Do you believe in dreams?
Yes I do believe them in this capacity
“Dream is not the thing you see in sleep but is that thing that doesn’t let you sleep.”
― A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
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